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Mobile changes lives of Thai farmers

Kowsher Jahan Khaled
THAILAND has become an excellent example of how mobile technology can create immense opportunities for farmers in improving their crops and selling their produce to the right people at fair prices.
The technology has also opened doors for Thai farmers to reach overseas markets without going through middlemen.
Farmers can access useful information on agricultural developments from their mobile phones for free by using a service - * 1677 Farmer Information Superhighway.
Farmers said they can improve productivity, reduce costs and increase income by using the service in Thai language.
"After I got information from the service, I started using biofertiliser instead of chemical fertiliser because of what 1 learned from the superhighway," said Rungnabha Yordmai, a rice farmer and subscriber since May 2009.
This saved her two-thirds of the cost of fertiliser, down from 15,000 baht to only 4,700 baht, she said.
"I've increased my productivity from 85 bags of jasmine rice to 115 bags, and sticky rice from 50 bags to 60 bags."
Three categories of information are available: rice and grain, fruits and vegetables, and cattle, livestock and fishery that they can also share with fellow farmers.
Besides SMS, if farmers call * 1677, they will have access to free advice from experts who will be answering questions on agricultural production and other related topics.
The project was introduced in 2008 as an SMS-based service by Telenor-owned mobile operator Dtac. Since then the project has evolved into MMS, videos over 3G, mobile phone apps and a mobile marketplace.
Subscribers may also access information through a 'help centre' dedicated to farmers. The information centre, which is accessible throughout the country, also provides a network of successful farmers and academics for experts' consultation.
The mobile operator and its partners in the project also organise seminars and workshops for farmers all over the country to make the services easier to understand.
Not only that, in May this year, Dtac launched Farmer Info mobile application through which farmers can check the latest agricultural prices and news.
The two key features of the application is the daily update on the prices of key household farm products at every key farmer's market in the country. In this way, farmers would know what to grow and where best to sell them. The second key feature is the collection of short and easy to understand "How To" video clips in the application that teach farmers how to grow and care for their crops.
Somsong Sangtawan has been growing pomelo (a citrus fruit) for more than 30 years. An advocate for organic plantation and environment preservation, he came across a secret of how to naturally sweeten the fruits by mixing byproduct of salt pans into the soil. His agricultural technique has also won several awards.
"I have shared this secret on Dtac's SMS service and Farmer Info app," said Sangtawan who owns several pomelo orchards. "This will benefit the Thai farmers and contribute to national growth."
As of October 2013, the operator had 250,000 members for the SMS-based service and 22,000 members for the Farmer Info app. The company aims to increase the number in both the categories by 50,000 soon.
There will be increased exchanges of news, information and knowledge about agriculture, and the services will serve as one of the best sources of information on agriculture in Thailand, said Jon Eddy Abdullah, CEO of Dtac.
"I am confident that Dtac will bring even more opportunities for farmers. They can check and compare latest prices so that they can plan ahead when and to whom they should sell their agricultural produce to receive the
highest returns," he said in email replies.
"This will certainly lead to a higher standard of living for farmers, which in turn will contribute to the growth of our national economy."
Next year, the operator plans to launch e-commerce service to make it possible and convenient for farmers to conduct financial transactions such as buying and selling farm produce on cellphones, according to Abdullah.
Norwegian telecom giant Telenor has 55.80 percent share in Bangladesh's leading mobile operator Grameenphone.
Dtac officials said farmers in Bangladesh can also benefit from such a service. Farmer Information Superhighway and Farmer Info app are excellent examples of how
telecom operators can harness the power of technologies to benefit the farmers, they said.
News and information company Thomson Reuters has also rolled out similar services in India to bring commodity prices, crop and weather data to the farmers via mobile phones.
The World Bank has upgraded Thailand's income categorisation from a lower-middle income economy to an upper-middle income one in 2011.
Thailand's GDP (gross domestic product) grew by 6.4 percent in 2012 and is forecasted to continue growing at 5 percent in 2013, according to the WB. Its agricultural sector produces around 9 percent of the GDP.
khaleddstar@gmail.com