2017 ICT4D Conference

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Changes in rainfall pattern and seasonality are evident. Frequency and intensity of natural calamities have increased. To cope with the climate change there are adaptation in agriculture. The 7th five years plan has targeted ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021, number of mobile SIM in country is around half of the population. The use of information technology is flourishing for the knowledge management of adaptation tools and technologies in agriculture. Growing interest on climate change adaptive agriculture among the farmers and easy availability of mobile phones and network service created an opportunity for information sharing on sustainable agriculture and dissemination. However, because of language and tech-literacy barriers, the mobile device, in some instances, still remained an unfamiliar channel for accessing and sharing the information. Development of the digital content requires a complex process because of regulation and technological limitation. Apart from mobile phone SMS, IVR, OBD and Call centers community is also using Facebook and other Apps. Oxfam in Bangladesh has been implemented the project mAgri to develop digital content on 23 crops and farmers are being benefited with the support. Currently Oxfam and Monash University is implementing an action research namely ‘Participatory Research and Ownership with Technology, Information and Changes’ in two fragile ecosystems of Bangladesh. Two hundred female farmers from costal and sandy river bank are using mobile phone as the research animator. The action research has been conducted in two villages along with another two control village for the comparison. Understanding the information ecology is an essential component in designing an ICT intervention for farmers. Farmers have interest on seeds, irrigation and market price mostly. Because of climate-induced migration and economic migration there is feminization in agriculture; female farmers can be a targeted stakeholder of designing ICT potential for adaptive agriculture.