Application of ICTs in Rainfed Agro-ecosystem: Issues and Strategies

Abstract

Rainfed agro-ecoecosystem represents the largest agricultural production system of India. It accounts for over 65 % of the net cultivated area, houses 40 % of human and over 60 % of cattle population. Yet this region witnesses deprivation and high incidence of poverty. Agriculture here depends entirely on the erratic and ill-distributed rainfall. High risk associated with low investment capacity of farmers often results in higher rate of migration, school dropouts, food insecurity and poverty. Though there is a considerable fund of knowledge to help tackle the problem of low agricultural productivity, it has often not succeeded in translating the gains into reduced poverty and improved rural livelihoods. The awareness that the problems faced by the rural society are far more complex and that better technology alone is not the answer (Ramachandran and Mahipal 1999) is gaining ground. And that facilitating rural communities with an enabling environment will go a long way in tackling the problems is being increasingly realized. In the present context of ‘global village’ the gap between the urban ‘knowledge society’ and the rural society is much wider and felt more significantly than perhaps two decades ago. Technological divide between the rich and the poor, and the rural and the urban have long existed. But this has never been so strongly felt as is felt in the present era of ‘information age’. It is being strongly recognized that agriculture sector in general and rainfed agriculture in particular has been bypassed by the advancements in information and communication technology (ICT) that has swept the industry and the service sectors. It is heartening to note that this opinion is echoed in several fora and the government and the civil society are debating this issue at length. The paradigm of agricultural development and poverty alleviation through out the developing world is assuming far more complex forms. Thus, conventional ways of delivering to the agrarian societies and the rural poor are being challenged. Aside from biotechnology, the on-going revolution in ICT is being seen as holding tremendous hope for ‘reaching the un-reached’ (Dar 2004). Developments in ICT have transformed traditional societies into knowledge societies. When used as a tool for providing the rural poor with knowledge that helps them to avail a better livelihood, ICT can potentially herald a new era in development sciences. Technically, it can build communities across great distances and bring people together. It can complement and supplement the existing extension and communication systems and improve efficiency. It can expand information flow, make knowledge more accessible to people across a wider area and to facilitate the poor to make better choices, articulate opinions, demand rights, and to have more control over the way they want to live. 217 The potential is enormous. The problems are plenty. And the options are many. There is evidence of many pilot projects having made significant changes in the lives of the rural poor. These are highly sporadic and too few to significantly impact the magnitude of problems rural India is facing. But there is a long and tough way ahead. The need of the hour however is a carefully planned ICT4D policy to be implemented efficiently