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The Impact of Icts on Agricultural Production in Bangladesh: a Study with Food Crops

Susmita Das*
Senior Documentation Officer, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dhaka-1215

M. Nasiruddin Munshi
Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

W. Kabir
Former Executive Chairman, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Dhaka-1215

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Agricultural development cannot be understood without the use of modern technologies like Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The recent developments in ICTs offer a unique opportunity to bring the production enhancing tools and technologies to the growers with much cost effective manner. Worldwide, many studies were published on the role of application of ICTs in agricultural production. However, only a few studies were carried out to know the impact of ICT based service delivery system on agricultural production aspects in Bangladesh. Therefore an attempt has been made to find the impact of ICTs on agricultural production, especially in the food crops. Using a randomised survey with a questionnaire, interviews and focus group discussion, a study was carried out with a sample of 1990 farmers from a population comprises farmers all over the country. The findings from the study after counterfactual analysis and difference in differences analysis as well showed that with the application and use of ICTs, agricultural production was accelerated which was evident from the degree of increase of ICT to that of counterfactual is 0.49 and proved that the Boro rice production from the ICT based service area has increased more than that of non-ICT based area.

Keywords: Information communication technologies, ICTs, Counterfactual, Agricultural production, Difference in difference, Impact analysis.

Location: Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Rangpur and Sylhe

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Knowledge Management

Non-commodity: ICT

Objectives:

The present study examines the impact of ICTs on production measuring the findings of the data. It investigates farmers’ proper access and utilization of agricultural information towards increased production of various crops. The study further examines the potential of the farmers of both groups in a production gain correlating their present production with that of the past.

Methodology:

The study was conducted in all administrative divisions of Bangladesh- Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Rangpur and Sylhet and it covered almost 42 out of 64 districts (65.63%) of ICT area and 39 districts (69.94%) from non-ICT area under direct supervision of the researcher. Districts were purposefully selected to take care of healthy proportion of ICT dependent areas as well as non-ICT based traditional farming areas. Areas range from Southeast Rangamati to Northeast Netrokona and South-west Satkhira to Northeast Sylhet. The population comprises farmers all over the country and it is categorized into two types. One type was ICT supported farmers who responded to the uses and applications of ICT in farming. Another set of respondents was non-ICT supported farmers. One thousand nine hundred and ninety are the sample size of the study. Out of this, 1170 are found ICT based and 820 are non-ICT based farmers. The population comprises farmers all over the country and it is categorized into two types- ICT supported farmers and non-ICT supported farmers. Random sampling was applied along with re-call method. Two sets of questionnaire were formulated for two groups of farmers- ICT service area and non-ICT one. Formal and informal interviews were held to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and motivations of individual participants. Few focus group discussions (FGDs) were also 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 data of two consecutive years were collected from the farmers through recall method. These periods are called the baseline year (2012) and the follow-up year (2014). The original data were collected in 2014 from the respondents of two service areas. For the impact analysis, the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) analysis model which estimates a degree of treatment effect of a policy change for two groups and for two time periods (Ashenfelter and Card, 1985) are used to compare the production of two service areas through counterfactual. The counterfactual analysis, which compares what actually happened and what would have happened in the absence of an intervention, was carried out to know the actual impact of ICTs on production aspects of the food crops. Reliability for internal consistency is calculated using the Cronbach’s (1970) Alpha Coefficient. The findings are graphed to allow a clear view of understanding at a glance. The two categories of service areas (ICT) and (non-ICT) respectively, have been collaborating to allow for comparative discussion of the results.

Source of Information: SAARC J. Agri., 14(2): 78-89 (2016)

Article Link (Online Journal): doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sja.v14i2.31247

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The study is envisaged to play a greater role in using the ICTs in farming, optimizing the uses of ICT tools and filling the gap that exists between the productions of the two service areas. The result of this empirical analysis suggests that ICTs play a significant role in enhancing agricultural production of two rice (Boro and Broadcast Aman), potato, wheat, maize and pulse (lentil). It also points out that the use of ICT tools remains a significant contributor to agricultural growth. The survey results show that the use of ICT tools varies from ICT service area to non-ICT one. There should be a focus on the spread and development of technology supported tools to use in farming and the farmers must be aware of the proper use of these tools. The use of ICT tools can be equalized both in the areas. The findings indicate that there is a production gap of the two category farmers and it could be minimized by using ICT tools more in farming of non-ICT service areas. A more organized approach to using ICT tools involving relevant knowledge based organizations is expected to bring better improvement to the total production system.

Knowledge Management: Journal