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Intervention of Icts in Rice Production in Bangladesh: an Impact Study

S Das
Senior Documentation Officer
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dhaka, Bangladesh

M N U Munshi
Professor
Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

W Kabir
Former Executive Chairman
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dhaka, Bangladesh

J K Biswas
Former Director General
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Research led productivity gain in rice has enabled the growth of rice production. Organized research and extension played a great role in the success of rice development in the country. However, there exists scope for further yield gain through minimizing gap between research and farm. Information Communication Technology (ICT) has proved to be significant to enhance agricultural production. Realizing its potential, Bangladesh has currently started using ICT for its agricultural development programmes. The study has revealed the strong relationship of rice production of the ICT farmers with that of non-ICT ones. DiD (Difference in Differences) model was used to analyze the comparison of rice production of two service areas. Recall method was used to collect the data. The result indicates that the production of Boro and T. Aman rice from ICT service areas has increased more than those of non-ICT areas. The counter factual outcome of DiD analysis reflects the perspective weaker treatment of non-ICT service area and stronger one of the ICT service area.

Keywords: DiD, Yield gap minimization, Communication

Location: Randomly data collection from Sylhet, Khulan, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Dhaka areas

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: ICT

Objectives:

To justify the Intervention of ICTs in Rice Production in Bangladesh

Methodology:

Few instruments for the data collection were employed in the study. The main instrument was taken as two sets of questionnaire for two groups of farmers. Formal and informal interviews were held to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and motivations of individual participants. Few Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted for generating information on collective views and the meanings that lie behind those views. Extensive field visits in the ICT and non-ICT areas were made. The population of the study comprises farmers from all over the country and it is categorized into two types- ICT supported farmers and non-ICT supported farmers. Simple Random Sampling (SRS) method was used in this study and the number of sample SRS was 1990. The study area comprises of two types of farmers- those of ICT based service centers like Agricultural Information Communication Centers (AICCs) Farmers Information and Advisory Centers (FIACs), Union Information Service Center (UISC), Community Radios, Krishi Radio, Plant doctor etc and traditional farmers who are not involved in the activities of those service centers. The service area covers 58.8% of ICT and 41.2% of non-ICT based respondents. Out of 1170 ICT based respondents, 56.41% were from AICCs, 18.12% from FIACs, 11% respondents from UISC and 8.72% from community radios and the rest of the respondents were from Krishi Radio, Plant Doctor etc. The non-ICT respondents in the present study are the farmers who for their production and marketing do hardly use tools that are related to information communication technology. Each of the selected 42 districts was visited in two subsequent years (2013 and 2014) for data collection. For random sample sampling, the surveyed areas were unequal. Of these areas, Sylhet Division (21.34%) is the highest responding area in the non-ICT service area. Khulna is the second highest representing 18.29% of 820 respondents. Chittagong is the lowest responding area where only 7.32% of the respondents were collected. Rajshahi and Rangpur having equal number of respondents (12.80%) are outnumbered by Dhaka 16.46%. Barisal is between the two, having 10.98% of the non-ICT respondents. The statistical package SPSS DiD model and another statistical technique were used in econometric and qualitative sociology through experimental research design using observational study data were used to compare the production of two service areas as counterfactual condition. DiD calculates the effect of a treatment (an independent variable) on an outcome (dependent variable) by comparing the average change over time in the outcome variable for the treatment group to the average change over time for the control group. Reliability for internal consistency is calculated using the Cronbach’s (1970) Alpha Coefficient.

Source of Information: Bangladesh Rice J. 20 (2) : 67-72, 2016

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The study reveals that the research output achieved towards enhanced production can be successfully transmitted to the farmers using different modes of ICT tools. Public and private sector partnerships in disseminating the technological innovation may help enhance national level farm productivity of not only rice but other agricultural production. The extension of the present initiatives such as Agriculture Information Communication Centers, Farmers Information Advice Centers, Television and Radio Programmes, Community Radio, Social networks, Rice Knowledge Bank and Mobile apps could be the better parameters of the future production indicators and those may be managed with better organized manner. Besides, mobile based initiatives are the best suited ICT initiatives for quick delivery of information services. Involvement of expert services of those initiatives may benefit farmers in taking the right decisions to harvest higher return in agricultural practices. Designing appropriate networking among the different actors in the knowledge based ICT service centers may be developed through consultation with the research, extension and meteorological experts. A sustainable rural advisory service based business model may be worked out in continuation of the existing ICT hubs working in the country. Experiences of similar practices may be examined in the other rice growing countries.

Knowledge Management: Journal