Youth, ICT, Agriculture and

Rural Development

SPC - Land Resources

Division (LRD)

“The role of SPC in facilitating the use of ICT to promote agriculture for young people”

• Today, young people tend to choose a field of study that they find sexy, that creates opportunities in the business sector, that generates money

• Changing the mindset of a young person can be quite tricky when they have to choose agriculture over pharmacy, medicine or any other popular field of expertise

• The question is, why should young people be interested in agriculture? And how can ICTs play a significant role in making agriculture an attractive field to young people?

• It is unusual to find young people to choose agriculture as a career and there are many reasons behind it. We are proud to say that our SPC – Land Resources Division has young agriculture field officers and technicians that chose agriculture as their field of study.

Voices of young aspiring leaders

Miri, a talented young colleague who is currently an agriculture and forestry policy network administrator (PAFPnet) said that she was always interested to learn more about the extension officers in the field. She chose agriculture as a degree because it was something she enjoyed in high school. She also commented “Agriculture study was offered in Samoa at the University of

the South Pacific Alafua campus and being away from home, having an independent life intrigued her interests in the field of agriculture”. She uses ICT to reach out to other young professionals in

the field of agriculture. She currently manages the PAFPNet Pacific youth and agriculture facebook page and the PAFPNet mailing list which generates a lot of interest on youth and ICT

activities

Voices of young aspiring leaders

This young communications expert

in SPC-LRD has an agriculture background and he uses Facebook, Forestry mailing lists,

blog to promote share information on

agriculture

Voices of young aspiring leaders

Colleague in his 20’s described agriculture as a field which is not imaginary. “Agriculture is based on real life

situation and its application on day to day basis has always been fruitful”. He wanted to become a vet or a plant botanist and the agriculture field offered both

plant and animal science which he found very interesting. In the field of agriculture, there are more

opportunities to get a job or to start your own business. “I never thought ICT was useful in my work but today I’m using ICT to promote my work to colleagues in the

Pacific region.

Voices of young aspiring leaders

A friend/colleague also mentioned that the field of agriculture is relevant to his upbringing as an islander in

the rural areas where agriculture is part and parcel of life. He grew up working for his father in their farm as a young boy and started liking agriculture. He decided to pursue

his study in the field of agriculture through the University of the South Pacific and is now the Plant Health Specialist in SPC-LRD. He rarely uses ICT to promote his work but he is constantly emailing and using the Plant health mailing

list to network with his stakeholders in the region.

Is there an opportunity to regain what we have lost … ??

I have an ICT background and under my SPC-LRD-ICT project, I coordinate information and knowledge

management-ICT activities for the Pacific Island Countries and Territories. I’ve always been interested in agriculture

but never pursued a career --- as a kid I was surrounded by a family of talented farmers and business/entrepreneurs.

My family owned 480 acres of freehold land (17 miles away from the old capital of Fiji called Levuka). It was a dairy farm, vegetable and copra farm. 100 + people worked every day on the farm and they were from the nearby

islands (my family provided food, shelter and income to these families)…

Pacific Context

• In the Pacific, we are facing challenges like climate change, economic instability, high incidence of pest and diseases, high cost of production, increased dependency on imported foods, low exports, high rates or rural-urban migration, high levels of youth unemployment, connectivity etc…

• Increasing the participation of youth in agriculture could be an important means of improving food security, youth livelihoods and employment in Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs).

• SPC through its LRD -Pacific Agriculture and Forestry Policy Network (PAFPNet) is examining the role played by different actors in helping young people to participate in agricultural activities and enterprises – this was emphasized in the Pacific Heads of Agriculture and Forestry meeting in 2008.

Pacific Youth in Agriculture Strategy

Showcasing Youth success

stories, entrepreneurs

hip, family support

Mainstreaming youth issues,

mainstreaming agriculture in

school curriculum,

ICT, Education, Learning, Training

Stakeholder Consultations in Fiji, Tonga,

Kiribati

Youth consultation opportunity

‘This award recognises the potential of the Pacific and its ability to change global

market requirements to satisfy market and socially-

conscious shoppers,’ said the 24-year-old from PNG.

Young entrepreurs Mr Gary Tarte from Fiji and Ms Sharmayne Ryan received outstanding

awards for their contribution towards trade and value adding in agricultural and forestry

products. Facebook and mailing list networks were used to promote their achievement

PAFPNet Essay and Blog Competition

• PAFPNet Essay Competition: “Finding solutions to information poverty alongside negative attitude towards agriculture and adapting to climate change in the Fiji Islands”

• Riten Gosai represented the Pacific region at CTA youth exchange and Web 2.0 training in Ghana --- This was organised through ARDYIS essay contest.

Essay competition was promoted

through facebook, youth ICT networks,

Universities, PAFPnet mailing

list, LRD mailing list

Perception?

• What is the link between agriculture, youth and ICTs? Young people love exploring innovative ideas and they feel the need to constantly use ICTs. ICTs can change the perception of our young people and it can also promote agriculture through programs supported by government organizations and other partner organizations.

• Majority of our young people are always using the internet but it’s not always clear as to how they could apply ICT in agriculture to make agriculture an interesting subject.

In order to do this, organizations such as

Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the The Technical Centre for Agriculture

and Rural development (CTA) are working together to empower youth on the use of ICT

in agriculture.

ICT for Agriculture in the Pacific

The Heads of Agriculture and Forestry Services meeting agreed to: (i) Acknowledge that ICT is an important tool that contributes to the development of the agriculture sector and rural areas; (ii) Noted the potential of the Framework for Action on ICT for Development in the Pacific in assisting the agriculture sector; and (iii) Noted LRD ICT initiatives in agriculture and rural development.

SPC-LRD initiatives

Web 2.0/Social media

In 2011, SPC in collaboration with CTA conducted the web 2.0 and social media workshop in Fiji. SPC invited staff representatives from the different divisions with SPC to be trained as trainers on the use of web 2.0 and also Fiji ministry representatives from the different thematic divisions.

After the successful 2 week training, SPC will organize another 2 workshops in Fiji --- one for the Ministry of Agriculture staff and the other workshop will target youths in the Fiji Ministry, civil society, NGOs, Universities etc (currently planned for 2012

Majority of the participants were under 35 --- some were already using social media tools to promote their work

on agriculture, food security, reproductive

and health

Agriculture is life – a blog created after the web 2.0/social media workshop in Fiji

http://miriamabrown.blogspot.com/

Blog site: Improving Youth Livelihoods

through Agriculture

http://youthlivelihoods.blogspot.com/

Thoughts on the use of social media/web 2.0

Web 2.0 can play an important role :

But what’s crucial is:

What is the right tool to use ?

Who uses these tools in your organization's name?

How do you manage your interactions and discussions?

What’s appropriate and what isn’t appropriate to say?

Who handles your social media profiles?

And should you develop a strategy or a guideline?

Organisational point of view It is important to develop a guideline – LRD

in collaboration with SPC publications section developed a guideline on the use of web 2.0/social media tools

Guidelines:

Purpose

Background

The use of web 2.0

Risks on the use of web 2.0

Planning/design

Complying with Organizational ICT policy and Acceptable use policy

Rules of engagement --- how to interact with your stakeholders and how to respond to queries

Implementing guidelines for personnel use

Always keep your

Director/Team

Leader and ICT

Director/Manager

in the loop

Market Information System (MIS) • The use of mobile phones in agriculture has proven to be

effective in rural areas. Everywhere you go, you will see more and more people using mobile phones to communicate with their family, friends, colleagues etc.

• SPC-LRD has just introduced a pilot project in the Ministry of Agriculture in Fiji on the use of Market Information Systems (MIS). This was successfully funded by UNCTAD and ITC.

• The Fiji ministry is currently using this MIS to manage farm data, marketing of their prices on products and to be in touch with their clients (exporters, importers, middle man etc).

• We encourage young field officers who are managing this database system. During the implementation these young agriculture officers were working with our team as they had hands-on ICT skills

GIS solutions for agriculture

• Through the support of German Forestry programme, LRD is organising a training workshop for Fiji Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry staff which “fosters the learning of geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning satellite systems (GPS)…

• We have also requested directors of the divisions to nominate young field officers who are currently using technology to improve field mapping, to promote informed decision making, promote farm planning, field mapping, soil sampling, variable rate applications, and yield mapping.

• Part of this project is to promote participation from young officers who are keen to learn more about the technology and to be able to act as trainers in their field of expertise to promote the use of GIS/GPS

ICM, Information and Knowledge Management, Internet Governance opportunities

• SPC in collaboration with FAO facilitated the ICM-IKM workshop in Fiji. The workshop identified key recommendations. One of the recommendations is to promote the use of ICT – The workshop was promoting IK management (IKM) for agricultural development --- the ideas was to move beyond strategies and undertake relevant action-oriented programmes.

• One of the key points highlighted was the lack of youth and ICT for agriculture activities --- recommendation was to work with other partner organizations to implement activities for youths

• In collaboration with Diplo Foundation, SPC organised an Internet Governance workshop in Fiji and Cook islands --- workshop targeted the ministry reps and also youth organisations that discussed cyber security issues, emerging issues, youth and ICT etc…

• Knowledge awareness seminars --- this is in-house and also targeted towards University and secondary school students. SPC promotes field visits to allow schools and universities to meet with technical staff who are experts in the field of agriculture, climate change, gender, youths etc.

•

The use of

web 2.0 in

LRD

Monthly

Newsletter

distributed by

snail mail

Newsletter on

the website

Existing LRD

social

networks

Facebook

Twitter

Existing

LRD

Social

Networks Wiki

Blog

Google

docs,

Google

calendar

Innovations vs. Complexity

Information and Communication Technology:

Is shaping the way we communicate and collaborate.

helps us to facilitate interaction and knowledge work

allows us to become trend-setter to help us connect with other experts and create a network of experts

gives us an opportunity to learn about food security, agriculture, climate change etc

But what about the implications, impact, advantages and

disadvantages of using ICTs --- do young people understand the

threats?

Use of ICTs as a challenge? ICT can play an important role in the field of agriculture:

But what’s crucial is:

What is the right ICT tool to promote agriculture?

How useful do you see ICT as a tool to promote or encourage young people ?

Is it necessary to develop a strategy or a guideline for the use of ICTs or social media tools to promote agriculture?

How do we tackle connectivity issues in rural areas? Who should tackle this issue? Tonga just won a contract for laying the 827-kilometre submarine fibre optic cable between Fiji and Tonga has been awarded to French telecommunications giant Alcatel --- capacity of 320 Gbits

How to continue strengthening?

Role of internet has changed --- it’s now the era of digital age

But today, the radio, television, newspapers, print-publications are still popular mediums for accessing news and information and activities on agriculture sector

Media plays an important role in creating awareness on areas such as climate change, food security, agriculture etc. Perhaps we need to integrate “The role of ICTs and Media to promote and strengthen youth opportunities in agriculture”

Using real scenario case studies --- Conducting a workshop for a group of

youths in rural sector and use role models to talk to them about agriculture ,

document all this online

Promoting activities for youth farmer associations --- Youths to lead this

Mentorship --- Agriculture experts to act as mentors to promote interns etc

Thoughts/concluding remarks

Are we monitoring and evaluating the impact ? Is this the right way ? How can you learn from the

young farmers?

How do we convince the leaders (ministers,

directors and ourselves) that ICT plays an important role?

How do we work together? How do we collaborate and use

success stories to implement in other

countries?

Winning the trust of target beneficiaries – without trust

youths will not use the service – how can we

demonstrate the benefits of ICTs/services?

....

ICT is a POSSIBLE tool but not entirely a solution. When we

think of development, we should not only relate it to technology, it should promote a discussion that is centred on people and

content.

For more information, email me: anjum@spc.int or you

could always go through our LRD helpdesk

lrdhelpdesk@spc.int

Website: http://www.spc.int/lrd