86 information communication technology (ict) for ...

Proceedings :

Food Conference (2014), Kathmandu, Nepal

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) FOR AGRICULTURE Sibjan Chaulagain1,7, Abinash Jha2,9, Sailendra Dangol3, Arun P. Ghimire4, Deepak R. Joshi5 and Abhishek Khadka6,8* 1 Western Regional College, Pokhara, 2 National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India 3 Nepali Organic Coffee Pvt. Ltd. Kathmandu, 4 Portfolio Analyst NMB Capital Babarmahal, Nepal, 5 South Dakota University, USA 6 Central Department of Food Technology, Dharan Nepal, 7 Creating SMILES building the Nation, 8 SALPA Agricultural and Livelihood Promotional Activities Pvt. Ltd., 9 Wind Power Nepal Pvt. Ltd. *Corresponding author: [email protected] ICT based agriculture (E-Agriculture) is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and information communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. The research was minutely piloted in ward no 1 of Kalimati VDC of Sindhuli District. Farmers lack information and aren’t able to come out of subsistence farming only because of the information gap and lack of awareness of the technology. The problems such as, farmers do not have sufficient agricultural skills to turn seed to seedlings and grow as a healthy plant, the agricultural pattern in rural areas is still traditional, after they harvest and there is exploitation by middle-traders degrading real farmers. An android version of mobile application was developed to mitigate these problems. Soil samples from 22 different sites of the target project area and tested the collected soil samples at NARC. This information was used in exploring the variety of crops that can be grown in that village. Farmers as well as the traders could easily input the price of agro commodities via android application. Potato is the major cash crop grown in the research site. The android application is had connected 355 farmers and 110 traders in research site and the farmers are trading to those whose price value gets matched or nearby their values.

Proceedings :


(MOF, 2012). An agriculture information dissemination system (IDS) was done in India to improve the crop productivity, increase profitability efficiency of agriculture input and reducing the cost of production (Reddy and Ankaiah, 2005). In the mean time Inklaar et al. (2005) concluded that the productivity in US from the year 1995 onwards accelerated due to large focus largely on the impact of ICT. The growth of ICT in developing countries offers a new technology and new opportunities for accessing information in poor countries (Aker, 2010). According to research done by Silva and Ratnadiwakara (2008) concluded that the information and communication technologies (ICT) helped in reducing transaction costs in agriculture by enabling timely and affordable communication but according to Munyua et al. (2008) the ICT had steadily grown in Africa but due to weak policies over there the capacity are among the biggest obstacles to wider use. In recent times, traceability has emerged as a new index of quality and basis for trade in agricultural products (Opara, 2002). Traceability has become a key word in the global food industry due to increased incidents of food contamination. ICT does allow a more rapid and efficient response to food safety problems, enabling quick identification of problem sources and their location in the supply chain (Setboonsarng et al., 2009). MATERIALS AND METHODS The research project was minutely piloted in ward no 1 of Kalimati VDC of Sindhuli district, first of all the base line survey was done. The base line included the production of agro-product, feasible market study and soil sample analysis. Agriculture has the two phases they are pre harvest and post harvest. Pre-harvest Agriculture Activities In the pre harvest agriculture the soil sample analysis was done form 22 different location of project site with aid of NARC. Based on the NARC recommendation the information of chemical fertilizer added was integrated to data base similarly four agriculture information centers (AIC) were also established in the project site. Farmer’s information is collected and uploaded to database via AIC. Each farmer’s record in pre-harvesting phase is tracked: which farmer has planted what, when etc for the traceability. Based upon that information, farmers will get automated alert SMS message about the disease that can occur in that crop, way to solve it etc. Series of these alert messages can help to grow healthy crops in the pre-harvesting stage. Apart from these if any problems gets arise then the problems were collected at the information centers and the online. Similarly to motivate farmers to commercial farming, teach about IPM (integrated Pest Management system), agriculture video documentaries were periodically screened.

Keywords: ICT, Agriculture, Sindhuli INTRODUCTION Information communication technology is often used as the extended synonym of Information Technology (IT) (Murray, 2011) in fact this focuses on the integration of telecommunications, application in any form, audiovisual material which allow users to transmit, manipulate and use the information used. ICT based agriculture (E-Agriculture) is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and information communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture (Anon, 2008). The term ICT was used in year late 1980s (Melody et al., 1986) when Dennis Stevenson when used this word in UK government writing this word became popular (Stevenson et al., 1997). Agriculture is the mainstay of Nepalese economy. The agriculture sector occupies about 35% share of GDP still in 2009/10. However, it is ironic to note that the production of major food staples like paddy and wheat are insufficient to feed its population for a whole year (CBS, 2010). Nepal being an agriculture country the agriculture cannot grow in industrial scale due to one main reason that is farm mechanization (Nepal and Thapa, 2009). In a research done in poor group it was concluded that 95% of income poor or education poor reside in rural areas and agriculture is major source of income and employment (Chhetry, 2003) and about one third of GDP is being contributed by agriculture alone

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Postharvest Agriculture Activities After the harvest, all the farmers’ record is again kept in the database. Which person has what to sell, what is his/her expected price, how long he/she wants to advertise for his/her product. On the other side in the major market areas, traders will put their demands. Like trader A is seeking what product, how much can he give (market rate), how much he can buy. Now since both the information is now in the database. SMS training and registration Firstly SMS training was given to the farmers in the mass, around 300 farmers were in the training. A special roman Nepali coding was done for some of the specific agro commodities like aalu for potato, pyaaj for onion etc.

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INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) FOR AGRICULTURE Sibjan Chaulagain1,7, Abinash Jha2,9, Sailendra Dangol3, Arun P. Ghimire4, Deepak R. Joshi5 and Abhishek Khadka6,8* 1 Western Regional College, Pokhara, 2 National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India 3 Nepali Organic Coffee Pvt. Ltd. Kathmandu, 4 Portfolio Analyst NMB Capital Babarmahal, Nepal, 5 South Dakota University, USA 6 Central Department of Food Technology, Dharan Nepal, 7 Creating SMILES building the Nation, 8 SALPA Agricultural and Livelihood Promotional Activities Pvt. Ltd., 9 Wind Power Nepal Pvt. Ltd. *Corresponding author: [email protected] ICT based agriculture (E-Agriculture) is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and information communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. The research was minutely piloted in ward no 1 of Kalimati VDC of Sindhuli District. Farmers lack information and aren’t able to come out of subsistence farming only because of the information gap and lack of awareness of the technology. The problems such as, farmers do not have sufficient agricultural skills to turn seed to seedlings and grow as a healthy plant, the agricultural pattern in rural areas is still traditional, after they harvest and there is exploitation by middle-traders degrading real farmers. An android version of mobile application was developed to mitigate these problems. Soil samples from 22 different sites of the target project area and tested the collected soil samples at NARC. This information was used in exploring the variety of crops that can be grown in that village. Farmers as well as the traders could easily input the price of agro commodities via android application. Potato is the major cash crop grown in the research site. The android application is had connected 355 farmers and 110 traders in research site and the farmers are trading to those whose price value gets matched or nearby their values.

Proceedings :


(MOF, 2012). An agriculture information dissemination system (IDS) was done in India to improve the crop productivity, increase profitability efficiency of agriculture input and reducing the cost of production (Reddy and Ankaiah, 2005). In the mean time Inklaar et al. (2005) concluded that the productivity in US from the year 1995 onwards accelerated due to large focus largely on the impact of ICT. The growth of ICT in developing countries offers a new technology and new opportunities for accessing information in poor countries (Aker, 2010). According to research done by Silva and Ratnadiwakara (2008) concluded that the information and communication technologies (ICT) helped in reducing transaction costs in agriculture by enabling timely and affordable communication but according to Munyua et al. (2008) the ICT had steadily grown in Africa but due to weak policies over there the capacity are among the biggest obstacles to wider use. In recent times, traceability has emerged as a new index of quality and basis for trade in agricultural products (Opara, 2002). Traceability has become a key word in the global food industry due to increased incidents of food contamination. ICT does allow a more rapid and efficient response to food safety problems, enabling quick identification of problem sources and their location in the supply chain (Setboonsarng et al., 2009). MATERIALS AND METHODS The research project was minutely piloted in ward no 1 of Kalimati VDC of Sindhuli district, first of all the base line survey was done. The base line included the production of agro-product, feasible market study and soil sample analysis. Agriculture has the two phases they are pre harvest and post harvest. Pre-harvest Agriculture Activities In the pre harvest agriculture the soil sample analysis was done form 22 different location of project site with aid of NARC. Based on the NARC recommendation the information of chemical fertilizer added was integrated to data base similarly four agriculture information centers (AIC) were also established in the project site. Farmer’s information is collected and uploaded to database via AIC. Each farmer’s record in pre-harvesting phase is tracked: which farmer has planted what, when etc for the traceability. Based upon that information, farmers will get automated alert SMS message about the disease that can occur in that crop, way to solve it etc. Series of these alert messages can help to grow healthy crops in the pre-harvesting stage. Apart from these if any problems gets arise then the problems were collected at the information centers and the online. Similarly to motivate farmers to commercial farming, teach about IPM (integrated Pest Management system), agriculture video documentaries were periodically screened.

Keywords: ICT, Agriculture, Sindhuli INTRODUCTION Information communication technology is often used as the extended synonym of Information Technology (IT) (Murray, 2011) in fact this focuses on the integration of telecommunications, application in any form, audiovisual material which allow users to transmit, manipulate and use the information used. ICT based agriculture (E-Agriculture) is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and information communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture (Anon, 2008). The term ICT was used in year late 1980s (Melody et al., 1986) when Dennis Stevenson when used this word in UK government writing this word became popular (Stevenson et al., 1997). Agriculture is the mainstay of Nepalese economy. The agriculture sector occupies about 35% share of GDP still in 2009/10. However, it is ironic to note that the production of major food staples like paddy and wheat are insufficient to feed its population for a whole year (CBS, 2010). Nepal being an agriculture country the agriculture cannot grow in industrial scale due to one main reason that is farm mechanization (Nepal and Thapa, 2009). In a research done in poor group it was concluded that 95% of income poor or education poor reside in rural areas and agriculture is major source of income and employment (Chhetry, 2003) and about one third of GDP is being contributed by agriculture alone

86

Postharvest Agriculture Activities After the harvest, all the farmers’ record is again kept in the database. Which person has what to sell, what is his/her expected price, how long he/she wants to advertise for his/her product. On the other side in the major market areas, traders will put their demands. Like trader A is seeking what product, how much can he give (market rate), how much he can buy. Now since both the information is now in the database. SMS training and registration Firstly SMS training was given to the farmers in the mass, around 300 farmers were in the training. A special roman Nepali coding was done for some of the specific agro commodities like aalu for potato, pyaaj for onion etc.

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priceaalubanepa; here aalu is the agro-product and Banepa is the market side. To make farmer aware how much to use chemical fertilizer it can be also done just by sending SMS as IFAmalkhad2 8cauli to 4001in this text 2 as ropani, 8 as anna and cauli as agro product. An automated reply to will be sent giving him/her information on how much chemical fertilizer do he need to put while farming cabbage. Lastly as the SMS calculator service was also provided if a farmer texts as IFAcalckalimatibanepa161000 to 4001 in this coding the kalimiati is the location of the farmer and Banepa is the market area 16 is price per kg of agro-product and 1000 is the weight. An automated reply for the total calculation gets reply including the travel expenses from Kalimati to Banepa. The weather forecast is under construction it will be launched soon after the necessary work gets completed. Talking about the android application the application has the information related to plant diseases, animal diseases, and the information of agro-product for both trader and farmer. Besides these the information on chemical fertilizer to be added per ropani system is also added in the application. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig: Coding of agro-product in roman nepali In the database 29 agro products were registered. In the mean time an android version of mobile application was developed. In this android application the farmers and the traders were required to put the price of the agro products. The android application was only distributed to research site. Registration of agro product could be done with registering with AIC.

From the baseline survey the it was found that potato was widely cultivated in the research site but along with other 28 crops were cultivated there which were coded in roman nepali. Based on the roman nepali the input texts was developed. So after the SMS programme is being launched 355 farmers and 110 traders are being connected via mobile application and there are 4 AIC’s established. Similarly the after the soil sample analysis the calculation for chemical fertilizer per ropani was integrated with server. This was done to make farmer on excessive use of chemical fertilizer and increase the productivity. Similarly the periodical video screenings on various agriculture systems was also screened. The SMS calculator was developed where farmer could easily get the price of all agro products. Conclusions Mobile is the handiest device being got popular on the one side whereas the old farmers are not literate and in the mean time they cannot survey the market price too. Due the middlemen the farmers were not in much profit as they expect so this technique reduced the middle men in agro-trade as which there is no high price in agro products. After the ICT trade was conducted the people are very much familiar with SMS technology, probable market areas where they can make profit. The time is also less consumed after the ICT trade was established research site. Since this research was minutely piloted in small area there may be some difficulties in scaling up the project but there are lots of opportunities in agri-trade via this system. The details can be found at www.ict4agri.com. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to acknowledge US Embassy Nepal for funding this project, Creating Smiles Building the Nation for extending this project in the research site. REFERENCES

Fig: Android Application Software (ICT, 2014) If a farmer need the best price for his agro product in defined market area then s/he could text message as IFAbestspriceagro productmarket side to 4001 as IFAbestspriceaalubanepa; here aalu is the agro-product and Banepa is the market side and if the trader needs to find best price for his agro product then s/he could text message as IFAbestppriceagro productmarket side to 4001 as IFAbestp-

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Aker, J. C. (2010). Dial “A” for Agriculture: Using Information and Communication Technologies for Agricultural Extension in Developing Countries. Conference Agriculture for Development-Revisited,. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/84797-1288208580656/7508096-1288208619603/Aker_Dial_A_for_Agriculture_P%26S_PAPER.pdf. [Accessed 7 April 2014]. Anonyomous. (2008). Retrieved from http://foldoc.org/Information+and+Communication+Technology. [Accessed 2014]. CBS. (2010). Statistical Pocket Book Nepal 2010 (pp. 54). Kathmandu, Nepal: National Planning

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Proceedings :


priceaalubanepa; here aalu is the agro-product and Banepa is the market side. To make farmer aware how much to use chemical fertilizer it can be also done just by sending SMS as IFAmalkhad2 8cauli to 4001in this text 2 as ropani, 8 as anna and cauli as agro product. An automated reply to will be sent giving him/her information on how much chemical fertilizer do he need to put while farming cabbage. Lastly as the SMS calculator service was also provided if a farmer texts as IFAcalckalimatibanepa161000 to 4001 in this coding the kalimiati is the location of the farmer and Banepa is the market area 16 is price per kg of agro-product and 1000 is the weight. An automated reply for the total calculation gets reply including the travel expenses from Kalimati to Banepa. The weather forecast is under construction it will be launched soon after the necessary work gets completed. Talking about the android application the application has the information related to plant diseases, animal diseases, and the information of agro-product for both trader and farmer. Besides these the information on chemical fertilizer to be added per ropani system is also added in the application. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig: Coding of agro-product in roman nepali In the database 29 agro products were registered. In the mean time an android version of mobile application was developed. In this android application the farmers and the traders were required to put the price of the agro products. The android application was only distributed to research site. Registration of agro product could be done with registering with AIC.

From the baseline survey the it was found that potato was widely cultivated in the research site but along with other 28 crops were cultivated there which were coded in roman nepali. Based on the roman nepali the input texts was developed. So after the SMS programme is being launched 355 farmers and 110 traders are being connected via mobile application and there are 4 AIC’s established. Similarly the after the soil sample analysis the calculation for chemical fertilizer per ropani was integrated with server. This was done to make farmer on excessive use of chemical fertilizer and increase the productivity. Similarly the periodical video screenings on various agriculture systems was also screened. The SMS calculator was developed where farmer could easily get the price of all agro products. Conclusions Mobile is the handiest device being got popular on the one side whereas the old farmers are not literate and in the mean time they cannot survey the market price too. Due the middlemen the farmers were not in much profit as they expect so this technique reduced the middle men in agro-trade as which there is no high price in agro products. After the ICT trade was conducted the people are very much familiar with SMS technology, probable market areas where they can make profit. The time is also less consumed after the ICT trade was established research site. Since this research was minutely piloted in small area there may be some difficulties in scaling up the project but there are lots of opportunities in agri-trade via this system. The details can be found at www.ict4agri.com. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to acknowledge US Embassy Nepal for funding this project, Creating Smiles Building the Nation for extending this project in the research site. REFERENCES

Fig: Android Application Software (ICT, 2014) If a farmer need the best price for his agro product in defined market area then s/he could text message as IFAbestspriceagro productmarket side to 4001 as IFAbestspriceaalubanepa; here aalu is the agro-product and Banepa is the market side and if the trader needs to find best price for his agro product then s/he could text message as IFAbestppriceagro productmarket side to 4001 as IFAbestp-

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Aker, J. C. (2010). Dial “A” for Agriculture: Using Information and Communication Technologies for Agricultural Extension in Developing Countries. Conference Agriculture for Development-Revisited,. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/84797-1288208580656/7508096-1288208619603/Aker_Dial_A_for_Agriculture_P%26S_PAPER.pdf. [Accessed 7 April 2014]. Anonyomous. (2008). Retrieved from http://foldoc.org/Information+and+Communication+Technology. [Accessed 2014]. CBS. (2010). Statistical Pocket Book Nepal 2010 (pp. 54). Kathmandu, Nepal: National Planning

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Comission, GoN. Chhetry, D. (2003). Understanding Rural Poverty First Asia and Pacific forum on poverty. I, 34. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.196.9176&rep=rep1&type=pdf. [Accessed 12 Feburary 2014]. ICT, T. (2014). ICT for Agriculture Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/463557623762865/ photos/a.463575927094368.1073741827.463557623762865/564771250308168/?type=1&theater. [Accessed 2014]. Inklaar, R., O’Mahony, M. and Timmer, M. (2005). ICT and Europe’s Productivity Performance Industry-level growth account comparisons with the United States. 51 (4), 31. Melody, W. H., Mansell, R. E. and Richards, B. J. (1986). “Information and communication technologies.”.London. MOF. (2012). “Economic Survey”. GoN Retrieved from http://www.mof.gov.np/uploads/document/ file/EcoSurvey_20130905024213.pdf. [Accessed 5 May 2014]. Munyua, H., Adera, E. and Jensen, M. (2008). Emerging ICTs and their potential in revitalizing small scale agriculture in Africa. World Conference on Agriculture Information and IT 2, Retrieved from http://www.cabi.org/gara/FullTextPDF/2008/20083298152.pdf. [Accessed 2014 May 15]. Murray, J. (2011). Cloud Network Architecture and ICT Techtarget. Retrieved from http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/modern-network-architecture/cloud-network-architecture-and-ict/. [Accessed 2014]. Nepal, R. and Thapa, G. B. (2009). Determinants of agricultural commercialization and mechanization in the hinterland of a city in Nepal. 29 (3), 12. Opara, L. U. (2002). Traceability in agriculture and food supply chain: a review of basic concepts, technological implication, and future prospectus. Department of Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University. Retrieved from http://www.aseanfood.info/Articles/11020000.pdf. [Accessed 2014]. Reddy, K. and Ankaiah, R. (2005). A framework of information technology-based agriculture inforamtion dissemination system to improve crop productivity. 88 (12), 9. Setboonsarng, S., Sakai, J. and Vancura, L. (2009). Food safety and ICT traceability systems: Lessons from Japan for developing countries. ADBI Working Paper Series. 139. Retrieved from http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/53743/1/604642695.pdf. [Accessed 2 May 2014]. Silva, H. d. and Ratnadiwakara, D. (2008). Using ICT to reduce transaction costs in agriculture through better communication: A case-study from Sri Lanka LIRNEasia. Retrieved from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UNPAN/UNPAN037348.pdf. [Accessed 2014].

Proceedings :


IONIZING RADIATION FOR FOOD SAFETY AND AGRIBUSINESS

PROMOTION OF

Dilip Subba* Central Campus of Technology, Dharan *Corresponding author: [email protected]

There are many benefits of using ionizing radiation in food. Irradiation processing of food is already well established industry and is used by over fifty five countries. Nepal has to do different exercises before it can implement this technology. The paper emphasizes on the use of ionizing radiation for the promotion of agribusiness and food trade in Nepal. Keywords: benefits, commercial application, food, prospects in Nepal, ionizing radiation 1. INTRODUCTION Nuclear energy finds application for peaceful purpose in area of agriculture, environment, food, material science, health, etc as following i. Diagnosis, control and treatment of disease ii. Plant and animal breeding iii. Sterilization of non-food materials and changing material properties iv. Analytical techniques v. Treatment and analysis of food 2. BENEFITS OF FOOD IRRADIATION Following are the benefits of food irradiation • Destruction of spoilage microorganisms to reduce food spoilage • Destruction of pathogenic microorganisms to reduce the risk of food-borne disease • Destruction of parasites and microbial toxins (food safety) • Destruction of insects and organisms harmful to plant or plant products (phytosanitary purpose) • Reduction of food loss by early ripening, germination or sprouting e.g. potato, onion, garlic 3. ADVANTAGES OF FOOD IRRADIATION Irradiation is accepted as a novel food processing method. Its advantages are listed below. • Promising preservation technology for fresh cut fruits and vegetables • Meet sanitary and phytosanitary treatment requirement of foods and boost export and import trade of food • Non thermal method suitable for the sterilization of heat intolerant (e.g. ice cream, chocolate, fruits) and heat sensitive foods (containing heat sensitive nutrients) • Suitable for treatment of packaged diets for immune-compromised patients • Provide alternative for bromine containing fumigants used for the treatment of cereals and fruits being criticized for leaving residue and effect on environment • Decreased cooking time of dried vegetables (due to softening effect) • Increased juice extraction from fruits

Stevenson, D., Anderson, I., Nicholas Berwin, Heppell, S., Summers, N., Whatford, C. and Winkley, D. (1997). Information and Communications Technology in UK Schools. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20070104225121/http://rubble.ultralab.anglia.ac.uk/stevenson/ ICT.pdf. [Accessed 2014].

4. STATUS OF FOOD IRRADIATION IN THE WORLD AND ASIA-PACIFIC Food irradiation is a well established technology. 55-60 countries already use irradiation. North America and Europe do little food irradiation e.g. beef and spices irradiated in USA, however they import irradiated foods. In the Asia and Pacific region China has largest number of irradiation facility and is the largest producer of irradiated foods. Other large producers (>1000 ton per year) are Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and Australia. A number of these countries are constructing new irradiation facilities. Mostly gamma irradiators, much less electron beams, and quite a few x-ray accelerators are in use. Some countries e.g. Nepal and Mongolia do not have any irradiation facility. Irradiation is done for sanitary, extend shelf life, phytosanitary and quality improvement purposes. Spices, fresh

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