Using mobile to improve farming skills

“It’s a convenient approach of providing information, but can also be a good comforting support to farmers”, says Mrs Rungnabha Yordmai, a 36 years old rice farmer and subscriber of *1677.

The service was introduced in 2008 by the Telenor Group Thai mobile operator dtac together with the Rak Ban Kerd foundation and the Ruam Duay Chuay Kan Happy Radio Station.

Free agricultural SMS updates

The subscription service is free for Happy (dtac’s youth brand) and dtac customers. Farmers will receive SMSes to their mobile phones every day, containing updated agricultural information:

• market trends

• commercial crops

• new farming techniques

• interesting know-how

• important news update

• warnings on weather conditions etc.

Mrs Yordmai has received daily information on ‘rice cultivation’ since May 2009:

“I’m eager to learn about farming and agricultural techniques, but I seldom have the chance to attend any training courses. So I think it’s great to learn from *1677 as the info is sent daily to my mobile phone,” Mrs Yordmai says.

Experts’ consultation at help centres

Subscribers of the service may also access the information through the farmers' help centre. The information centre, accessible across the nation, provides access to the network of successful farmers and academics for experts' consultation.

Traditional farming techniques

Thailand is an agricultural country with over 60 per cent of the population working in this sector. However, more than 80 per cent of the Thai farmers are still poor and in debt. This is because most of them still base their productivity on outdated farming processes and follow traditional farming techniques which imply

• high production costs,

• no marketing knowledge to sell their product and

• inefficient know-how to improve the farming techniques.

*1677 empowers the farmers with knowledge

The Thai farmers living in remote areas tend to be too far away to gain new knowledge on agriculture. The *1677 Farmer Information Superhighway is thus adopted in order to solve these problems and empower the farmers with knowledge in their hands through the use of mobile phones.

“Since I started my subscription, I have been jotting down all the useful information and started experimenting on the formulas I have received via SMS and the staff of *1677. For example, I have learned the formula for making Enzyme Ionic Plasma from green leaves and then experimented with it on my rice farm. I have also tried to make bio compost as suggested via SMS and rinsed it in the rice field. The results are overwhelming!” says Mrs Yordmai.

Improve farming skills and techniques

Based on the techniques Mrs Yordmai has received from *1677 Farmer Info, she has applied self-made biological fertilizer on the same plot of land. The production cost and the cost of fertilizer have been significantly reduced with 67 per cent while gaining an increased production capacity of 40 per cent.

An important driver of social and economic development

Studies by the Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte show that the telecom industry makes an important contribution to economic and social welfare and is an important driver of social and economic development.

As the example of Mrs Yordmai clearly shows, farmers who subscribe for this service can gain knowledge to advance their farming skills and techniques that help them improve productivity, reduce costs, and increase income while also getting maximum benefits from mobile phone usage.

200,000 active subscribers

Since the launch of the service on 12 August 2008, there are now more than 200,000 active subscribers.

Seminars and workshops to establish farmers’ network

Apart from sending info via mobile phones, dtac and partners have also organized seminars and workshops to help the Thai farmers establish the “farmers help farmers' network” and learn agricultural techniques based on the “sufficiency economy”. The workshops and seminars have been held in every region and more than 20,000 farmers from all over the country have joined the activities so far. 

Shared value for the society

This initiative of dtac has successfully contributed to the formation of farmers’ network throughout Thailand and enabled them to exchange knowledge, share expertise and help each other by using communication technologies.

“This innovation shows how we successfully integrate information and telecommunication technologies to create a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity that is of benefit to the society as a whole”, said Perapong Klinla-or, Vice President for CSR Office of dtac.

In 2008 *1677 Farmer Information Superhighway service won the Thailand ICT Excellence Awards 2008 in the category for Business Enabler for Service Sector from Thailand Management Association (TMA)