2017 IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference (R10-HTC)
21 - 23 Dec 2017, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Design and Development of a Persuasive
Technology Method to encourage Smart
Farming
Ramalatha Marimuthu,
Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering, Kumaraguru College of Technology,
Coimbatore, India. email: ramalatha.m.it@kct.ac.in,
Alamelu. M
Department of Information Technology,
Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore,
India. email: alamelu.m.it@kct.ac.in,
Abstract— Information systems on Agriculture can be a
boon to any country, but for the farmers of India, particularly
Tamilnadu, this can be the one which saves farmer’s lives. But
the farmers are to be given a big push towards using
technology for their needs since the trust factor on technology
among farmers is very low. This paper discusses about a
persuasive technology method (PTM) developed to change the
mindset of the farmers towards technology supported
farming. The ICT system developed hass a website component
and a mobile app component. The mobile app is linked to the
website with details of marketing and farming accessory like
dairy, organic products and farm machineries. Based on the
requirement, the farmer can learn about the crops, marketing
his products and by products or getting support for the field
operations. Designing the persuasive technology method was
done by choosing the different persuasive methods like
promotion gifts, awareness get togethers and targeting the
younger generation of the farming families. Effectiveness of
the method chosen was tested in real time and metrics were
analysed to bring out the best possible PTM.
Keywords— Persuasive Technology, Smart farming, ICT for
Smart agriculture, technological adaptation.
This project was funded by IEEE Foundation, USA.
I. INTRODUCTION
According to research, it is expected that a population
explosion by an additional one third of current quantity will be
seen within 4 decades starting from 2010. This increase will
be seen mostly in developing countries which brings us to the
problem of feeding them. According to the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) an increase of 60 percent in
total agricultural production is required, leading to a 20%
increase in water consumption by 2050.
India is primarily an agricultural country where the
national economy is highly dependent on the agricultural
sector. In addition, the population explosion is an already
acknowledged problem. This dependency calls for drastic
978-1-5386-2175-2/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
165
Suresh. A
Department of Information Technology,
Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore,
India. email: suresh.a.it@kct.ac.in,
Kanagaraj. S
Department of Information Technology,
Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore,
India. email: kanagaraj.s.it@kct.ac.in,
measures to be used by the farmers using modern day
technology to grow high yield crops. The diversity in the
staple foods across the country like rice in South and wheat in
the North also requires the farmer to have a good knowledge
about the amount of land, water resources available, farming
practices and marketing. Over the years, the farming lands are
exploited by the people as their sheltering place; inorganic
fertilizers have made the farming land to become infertile and
availability of fresh water decreases because of climate change
and deforestation, thus reducing the resources for food
production and hence creating a tangible threat in terms of
decreasing supply against the increasing demand. One solution
to this situation suggested by experts is smart agriculture. The
term smart agriculture means utilizing technology to provide
solutions and methods to equate the supply and demand and
guide production decisions. It includes ICT solutions for
determining the fertility of the soil, predicting yields,
identifying best farming practices to increase yield with less
resources and so on.
Information systems on agriculture are on demand
today because of the amount of diversity the issue will
encompass. The factors driving the diversity in agriculture
includes demand for staple foods based on the country, culture
and society, availability of resources like land, water, sunlight,
manpower and technology, geographic and socio – economic
factors, best practices, governmental policies and so many
others. With all these factors playing a crucial role in the
development of agriculture, farmers and government need all
the help in getting the correct information for decision making
purposes. The information can include availability of
cultivable lands and water resources, the best cash crops and
other crops that can be cultivated, the type of soil and its
property, the available market for the produce among other
things.
But the first hurdle to the use of ICT solutions to the
farming comes from the farmers themselves. The assertion is

from the fact that the farmers are way deep in traditional
methods and awareness on ICT solutions are not available.
There are many ICT solutions already available but none of
them have been effective for small farmers. The reasons can
be multifold, but the most important ones are as below:
• The reach of technology is still very poor in the rural
parts of the world and hence the distribution and use of
technologies is not uniform among the farmers.
• The lack of literacy among the farmers is a major
problem, which are being exploited by the middle men
who use their ignorance for their own prosperity but
keep the farmers ignorant.
• There is a general fear of the technology among the
farmers and, so they fail to get awareness even if the
opportunity arises.
• Resistance to change from old traditional methods is
another reason.
II. RELATED WORK
A. ICT for Agriculture
According to Reuters Market Light Digital India
Initiative of India Government will address two important
issues of farmers – reliable agri information and alternate
marketing channels. It says that the preferred source of
information for 94% of farmers is “fellow farmers” which
means that the trust on the information sources from
companies or government is perceived as either biased or less
actionable. Alternate marketing channels are required owing
to the fact that small and marginal farmers realize only 20% -
25% of the value paid by the end consumers for their products
because of the presence of several layers of middlemen. To
solve this issue, a professionally managed ICT platform
designed with “mobile- first approach” to maximize the on
ground adoption will be the best solution [1].
Arpit Narechania has developed a mobile application using
android platform to act as the farmer’s assistant in the field by
imparting the details on government helplines, weather
forecasts, news and market prices for the products of the
farmer. In addition, it also controls the water delivery systems
based on the conditions of the soil and weather using wireless
network [2].
Megan suggests that by introducing ICT for
agriculture, the agricultural community can be empowered
through increased efficiency and improved competitive
dynamics. The author focuses on marketing as the issue for
which ICT solution is developed and introduces the list of
guiding questions which are to be asked by the developers to
make their ICT solution popular among the target audience.
Behavior Changes required for the farmers to adopt the ICT
solution has been listed as one of the important parameters and
discussed [3].
Frederick Awuor et al., has created a framework for
the ICT tools on agriculture with the vision of increasing its
popularity among the end users. According to them, the
framework should accommodate the dynamicity of technology
advancement, broadness of the application spectrum and
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2017 IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference (R10-HTC)
21 - 23 Dec 2017, Dhaka, Bangladesh
facilitate adoption and usage. They argue that the reasons for
the lack of adaption of ICT can be due to varied reasons like,
lack of technological infrastructure in rural areas, fear of the
unknown, perceived expensiveness of technology or simply
the lack of awareness [4].
Another case study is on a proven success of the ICT
solutions for E Agriculture program in Odisha This addresses
the issues in whole supply chain of the farmers and provide an
entrepreneurial hand holding for introducing the technology
supported farming and thus increasing the profits even for
small time farmers. E Kutir, an odisha based business
launched this program by establishing kiosks across the state
serving 6000 farmers totally [5].
Manav Singhal et al, have developed Krishi Ville a
mobile app to give updated agriculture related information on
weather, product availability and agricultural news thereby
empowering the rural farmer communities [6].
B. Persuasive Technology
Persuasive Technology is a term coined by B.J. Fogg of
Stanford University which is roughly described as “a
noncoercive attempt to change attitudes and behaviors”. He
defines Persuasive interactive technology as the fourth wave
of computing, the first three waves being basic function,
entertainment using computers and HCI application.
J. Fogg et al explains that computers, though were not
intended to use behaviors or attitude, using interactive
technology to motivate and influence users have become an
important component of persuasive technology. According to
them, commerce is a major domain where persuasive
technology is succeeding beyond imagination. They explain
that computers can persuade in increasing self-efficacy,
providing tailored information, triggering decision making and
guiding people through a process [7].
With the help of guidelines provided for creating a
Persuasive Technology model by BJ Fogg, it was decided to
develop a persuasive technology model for increasing the use
of technology in farming [8].
III. DESIGN OF THE PERSUASIVE TECHNOLOGY
MODEL
It would be madness to think that ICT solutions,
when developed without first understanding the farmers, can
succeed. It would be equally foolish to attempt to create the
solution without studying the precedences. So it was decided
to choose the target audiences first and choose them in small
numbers. Fig 1 shows the Persuasive Technology Steps
recommended by Fogg customized for agri application.
STEP 1: Choosing the target audience:
So the target audience for this project was selected as
the farmers in one block of a district in Tamilnadu state of
India. The block selected was “Thondamuthur” which is in the
 2017 IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference (R10-HTC)
21 - 23 Dec 2017, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Coimbatore District. In parallel, it was decided to study the Successful implementation of e governance which has enabled
various ICT solutions available for them. the farmers to claim their rightful lands thus creating
transparency and saving the livelihood of the farmers.
Goal:Popularise Audience:farmers Marketing:
ICT among
farmers
Removing the middlemen concept, this can increase the
returns for their produce by giving them accurate demands and
increasing the profitability.
Reasons: Distrust, Lack of A survey was conducted for the farmers of
Awareness, unavailability of Thondamuthur block interviewing them about the various ICT
technology platforms and information on their knowledge about these
portals and apps were collected. About 50 small land farmers
were contacted and this serves as the basic data base of our
ICT choice – website, mobile app
model. It was found that about 95% of the farmers were using
the traditional methods and not using any of the agri portals
available. So the behavior for the change was chosen as
PT tools: promotional Introduction method: making them use ICT methods for their farming.
vouchers workshops, surveys, one to
one discussion STEP 3: Reasons for the Behavior:

The reasons for not following the ICT solutions

Tests: Post workshop surveys offered to the farmers were discussed and the percentage was
and follow ups tabulated. There were various reasons listed and the farmers
were asked to choose the reason that best describes the non-
Fig 1. Persuasive Technology Steps popularity of ICT among them. The following chart shows the
breakup of the data collected. (Fig 2)
STEP 2 : Choosing the behavior to change:

Many of the services available for the farmers in the

available portals were information services on crop rearing
and yield with the following objectives:
• The farmers of any selected location can identify the best
crops to be planted in various seasons.
• With the help of location selection from the map usually
available from the website, the farmer can identify the
type of soil inherent to his area.
• The best practices for the farming of the crops listed will
also be available.
• The website comes with an app which will help the
farmer to get information from the website and other
useful agri portals.
• They are in regional languages to help the farmers
without formal education.
Various agri portals we studied had complete data
required for the farmers to increase crop yields, marketing Fig 2. Distribution of the reasons for not using ICT
them and having day to day information for the best practices
to be followed. The information can be categorized as follows: So it was clear that increasing the awareness about
1. information for empowering the farmers. the available technology should be the solution to the issue
2. information for enabling them. since the most common reason for the non-usage of the
3. information about marketing. available technical help is the lack of awareness as per the
table. So, the next step is to choose the appropriate
technology channel to provide the persuasive technology.
STEP 4: Choosing the appropriate Technology Channel:
Empowerment: From the survey, it was clear that most of the farmers
Timely and relevant information regarding the supply chain use cell phones, but they use it only for communicating
system is portrayed by these portals thus increasing the yield through voice. Most of them had android phones or they had
and ensuring better returns. younger generation who used android phones. So the channel
Enablement: selected was android app for improving the awareness. The

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 2017 IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference (R10-HTC)
21 - 23 Dec 2017, Dhaka, Bangladesh

most important problem the farmers expressed was the 1. Push notifications through mails and SMS
marketing and hence it was decided to use marketing as the 2. Promotional gifts
focus of the app during the early stages. 3. Discount coupons
At the same time a website to give simple technology 4. Seasonal Offers
to the farmers was also necessary since it will be difficult for 5. Reminder emails
the farmers to search in the abundant data available in the 6. Referral gifts
existing portals. So as an add on, a website bearing 7. Appreciation messages (games in Android)
information on the services available through portals and apps Out of this, as a first step, promotional gifts were
from various government and private agencies was decided to decided. And it was also decided to extend the range of the
be developed. The purpose of the website is to provide a target audience by including the younger generation who will
knowledge base for the farmers providing information related be closer to the farmers identified. This was done by
to agriculture practices, agriculture related services available approaching some of the sons of the farmers and some of the
in Coimbatore and more. students who were living in the territory and who were
The Government and Private Organizations involved friendly with the farmers. To create interest in the new app
in agriculture promotion, research and various other services and website, referral gifts were introduced.
like Dairying, animal husbandry, Value added products
manufacturing and marketing and also cooperative concerns STEP 6: Introducing the technology to the audience:
dealing with machinery, marketing of products and other This was followed by a demo workshop for the
services will also be available here. Fig 3 shows the website farmers with the younger generation as the facilitators. A
architecture and mobile app architecture. session on the benefits of the ICT for the farmers was
followed by a demonstration of what can improve by using the
website and app was conducted. Fig 4 shows the pictorial view
Information on funding, of the steps taken to develop the model.
support from govt and
others
Govt agri Input from farmers Website, app Input from
Marketing portals, manufacturers,
development
best consumers,
, Prices,
Farmers and agri related practices, marketing
Dealers,
database controlled by crop professionals
places, Awareness notices, flyers,
micro entrepreneurs nutrients,
warehouse eextension SMS, social media
water
requiremen
ts, ambient
Supports conditions
Farmer groups:
Business/accessories, dairy One to one discussion survey, discussion,
and poultry farming with promotional gifts feedback

login Awareness workshops

with peers and
officials

Personal Need based interactive

Website
and agri data translation
database
data of
Requirement identification from inputs
farmers

Evaluation of each method using known

Personal and business
Push notifications, metrics
data of producers,
machinery news updates, new
manufacturers, rentals product information
etc Conclusion based on success rate, hit rate

Fig 3. Website and App architectures Fig 4. Development of Persuasive Technology model

STEP 5: Decide on Persuasive Technology tools:
A study on the various websites and apps was
conducted, particularly the various e Commerce sites like
Amazon, Flipcart, Firstcry and so on, and the following tools
were found to work well for the increase in marketing:
STEP 7: Testing the model and redefining the steps:
To test the effect of the persuasive model developed,
one of the metrics was decided as the number of visitors to the
website returning and accessing the information. In addition,

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 2017 IEEE Region 10 Humanitarian Technology Conference (R10-HTC)
21 - 23 Dec 2017, Dhaka, Bangladesh

it is also decided to conduct post workshop surveys, follow up The persuasive technology model was developed as a
visits to the village and meeting the farmers after a time of result of a year’s research in studying various ICT models,
three months. assessing their success with the farmers, discussing with the
government and private agencies who developed those models
and finally arriving at the conclusion that a push is required to
IV. RESULTS make these technologies successful. The follow up on this will
be trying various persuasive technology tools and testing their
As a first iteration of the persuasive technology success to find the best possible tool for this problem.
method, introduction of the persuasive technology method to
the farmers has been completed. A survey of the farmers in an
awareness workshop was conducted to understand the earlier
and used methods and to introduce the new method. 23
farmers were selected and questions on the amount of land, References
yield expected, best practices followed for crop rearing, [1] Amit Mehra, Ankur Rathi, “Addressing Farmers problems through
harvesting and marketing was enquired. All the farmers are Digital India Initiative”, Reuters Market Light, 2015
small farmers with lands ranging from 3 acres to 20 acres. [2] Arpit Narechania, “KisanVikas – Android Based ICT Solution in Indian
Agriculture to assist farmers”, 7th International Conference on
Information, Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food and
s.no Types of crops Problem faced Technology used Environment, Kavala, Greece, 2015
currently [3] Megan O’Donnell, "using ICT to enhance marketing for small
agricultural producers", USAID’s Fostering Agriculture
1 sorgam marketing 1.Information Competitiveness Employing Information Communication Technologies
2 coconut marketing from radio (FACET),2013
3 Others – Information on 2. information [4] Frederick Awuor, Kimutai Kimeli, Kefah Rabah, Dorothy Rambim,
paddy, pakku seed availability, through friends “ICT Solution Architecture for Agriculture” IST-Africa 2013
Conference Proceedings, 2013
and tomato water and networks [5] Srinivas Garudachar, “eAgriculture: Using Technology to Empower
requirement, 3. information Farming Communities”, Intel World Ahead Program, 2012
weather through [6] Manav Singhal, Kshitji Verma, “Krishi Ville — Android based solution
prediction community for Indian agriculture” IEEE 5th International Conference on Advanced
Networks and Telecommunication Systems (ANTS), 2011
[7] B. J. Fogg,* Gregory Cuellar, David Danielson, “Motivating,
Influencing, And Persuading Users”, pg.358-370, The human computer
For all of the above problems technology support can interaction handbook 2002
help a good deal. So these farmers were requested to use the [8] BJ Fogg, “Creating Persuasive Technologies: An Eight-Step Design
Process” Persuasive Technology Conference, Claremont, California,
web portal and app of the government sites already available 2009
and were asked to register in them. After a fortnight, only two
of them had registered and used them minimally.
As a second step, 75 students who are doing a degree
and are having agriculture background were shared the mobile
app and asked to help these farmers get started. A promotion
gift of mobile recharge was announced for the students based
on the number of distinctive entries. After 2 weeks, it was
found that 15 farmers have registered their products for
marketing. Other persuasive methods are to be tried to
compare the results and the method producing the best result
has to be used.
V. CONCLUSION
The world of persuasion is an ever advancing one
with new technologies coming up every other day. Games,
Commerce, Education, Entertainment, Politics are some of the
areas that are heavily dependent on persuasion to change
behaviors or attitudes. Agriculture is one field where
persuasive technology has not taken hold owing mostly to the
non-availability of the technology. Hence, we attempted to
change this for a positive result in improving the technology
supported farming in the rural India and hence enhance their
chance of livelihood.

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