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Digital Green– Video and mediated instruction for agriculture extension

Outline

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Agriculture Extension

Dissemination of expert agriculture information and technology to farmers

“Training & Visit” extension popularized by the World Bank in 1970s

– Face-to-face interactions of extension officers and farmers

100,000 extension officers in India– Extension agent-to-farmer ratio is

1: 2,000– 610,000 villages in India with

average 1,000-person population

Typical extension officer salary isRs. 4,000 per month

Extension officer “commuting” between farms

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??

Main source of information about new technology and farm practices over the past 365 days (India: NSSO 2005)

Agricultural Social Networks

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How can the speed and effectiveness of agriculture extension be improved at a reasonable cost?

The Problem

Extension officer on-field demonstration

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Video provides…– Resource-savings: human, cost, time– Accessibility for non-literate farmers

Digital Video for Extension

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Six months in field trying various combinationsOver 200 days of surveys, ethnographic investigation, and iterative design

Background of actors in video, Types of content, Location and timing of screening, Method of dissemination,

Degree of mediation, Background of mediator, etc.

Background of actors in video, Types of content, Location and timing of screening, Method of dissemination,

Degree of mediation, Background of mediator, etc. 6

Early ExperimentationParameters VariedEarly Experimentation

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Digital Green System

1. Participatory content production

2. Video database

3. Mediated instruction

4. Structured sequencing

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Participatory Content Production

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Digital Green System

Introduction to innovations– Standard extension

procedure

Rough “storyboarding”– Repetitive pattern; easy to

learn– Minimize post-production

Local farmers on their own fields– Reduce perception of

“teachers”– Promote “local stars”

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Digital Green System

Video Database

Online video database (http://www.digitalgreen.org)

>250 videos of ~8 minutes each

Quality-control, minor video editing, and metadata tagging

Indexed by type, topic, locale, season, crop, etc.

Distributed via DVD

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Digital Green System

Mediated Instruction

Local mediator– Performance-based honorarium

Human engagement– Field questions, capture feedback,

encourage participation– Balance genders

On-demand screenings – Choice time and place– Not “stand-alone” kiosk

Support and monitoring – Daily metrics and feedback– Official extension staff

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Digital Green System

Structured Sequencing

Group Participation

Practices with

longer-term

visible rewards

Practices with short-

term visible

rewards

Community AssessmentCommunity Assessment

Audience

Awareness

Season

Location

Time

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20 villages in Karnataka:– Language: Kannada– Crops: Ragi, banana, mulberry, coconut– Population: 50-80 households– Irrigation: 10-20 households with access– Television: 15-20 households

Metrics:– Knowledge: Before-and-after– Attendance: Farmers at each screening– Interest: Intent to take-up a practice– Adoption: Number of households taking up

each new farming practice or technology

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Experimental Set-UpPreliminary Evaluation

ExpertExpert

Extension Officer

Extension Officer

Farming Community

Farming Community

Farming Community

Farming Community

Farming Community

Farming Community

Research AssistantResearch Assistant

Local MediatorLocal Mediator Local MediatorLocal Mediator Local MediatorLocal Mediator

Poster Green(4)Same as Digital Green with local mediator, but no TV/DVDMediator makes posters and holds regular group sessions

Classical GREEN (8)Same as usual

Digital Green (8)3 sessions per weekCost:

Rs. 9,500 ($240) for TV/DVD per villagePC / camera costs sharedExtension officer sharedMediator salary

Accountability:Daily metrics and feedbackOfficial extension staff

9-month study

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7 times more adoptions over classical extension

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9 months: 12 villages, 3 nights a week, 1,000 regulars

Sustained local presence

Mediation

Repetition (and novelty)

Integration into existing extension operations

Social homophily between mediator, actor, and farmer

Desire to be “on TV”

Trust built from identities of farmers and villages in videos

Digital Green: Early Results

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System Cost (USD)/Village/Year

Adoption (%) /Village/Year

Cost/Adoption (USD)

Classical GREEN $840 11% $38.18

Digital Green $630 85% $3.70

Poster Green $490 59% $4.15

Cost-Benefit

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Note: Decreasing amortized cost of hardware with time and scale

Digital Green is at least 10 times more effective per dollar spent than classical extension!

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Network Effect

Viral Web 2.0 in the Web-less world - Content ecosystem: education, entrepreneurship, entertainment - Cost-realistic access: TVs, DVD players, and camcorders

Reinforce existing social networks to diffuse innovations through communities

Local “idol” competitions to be a better farmer

Digital Green System

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At reasonable cost, potential ten-fold increase in effectiveness of agriculture extension via Digital Green

Current one-year experiment to isolate the

effects of DG “social engineering”

Future work - Research

Create more motivational “currency”, without money

Improve mediation by annotating videos

Build instant feedback mechanisms

Develop an easy-to-use platform for sharing content

- Practical

Spin-out an independent NGO to scale Digital Green

DiscussionGandhi, R., R. Veeraraghavan, K. Toyama, V. Ramprasad. Digital Green: Participatory Video for Agricultural Extension, in Proc. IEEE/ACM Int’l Conf on Information and Communication Technologies and Development ( ICTD2007) and in Proc. Annual Meetings of American Society of Agronomy (ASA, CSSA, and SSSA), 2007.