GROUP C PROPOSAL

PROPOSAL ON LIVE PROJECT

Impact of
Information
Dissemination through mobile SMS
on profit margins of local Agri produce and Increase in
the income of the hill farmer of Uttarakhand

NATIONAL INSTITUTE AGRICULTURAL MARKETING, JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN Page 1

 PROPOSAL
INTRODUCTION-
The global information services company operates an Indian-based mobile enabled
Information business for farmers, Reuters Market Light (RML). Farmers
purchase a three-month, six-month or 12-month subscription, which entitles them to
daily agricultural information through text messages.

The company has been providing the information to farmers in various parts of the country
including Uttarakhand. It mainly thrusts on the “value chain development “for launching
market driven development initiatives, in the agriculture & allied sector of Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand is a state with diverse climatic conditions which allows the growth of various crops
like paddy, wheat, millets, and pulses and more importantly off seasonal vegetables and fruits.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

To identify the problems arising while disseminating the information through

SMS mobile services.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES:
 To study the potential effects of information & communication technologies on the
farmers in Uttarakhand.
 To study the farmers behavior in using information to make production & trading
decision.
 To show how availability of national and state market prices and climate information
(using SMS technology) affects farmers decisions to produce & sell their crop.

Since farmers will have a reference price, we anticipate that accurate and updated local &
national price information could improve producers bargaining power & hence farmers welfare.
Furthermore, climate information could reduce the probability of crop failure or loss due to
climate shocks.
RESEARCH DESIGN

To carry out the research a two stage design would be most apt. the first stage would be an
exploratory research. The next would be the descriptive design.

RESEARCH METHODS
To identify the success of the program and the impact on famers’ economic welfare we
will look at outcomes such as: price differential (market price relative to sale price for each
crop), probability of transporting the crops to the markets instead of selling it in the farm,
reduction of crop loss due to weather or plagues, household income and expenditure changes,
and child labor.

We will test whether access to this information changed farmers’ behaviors. In particular,
we will analyze whether farmers were able to extract a higher price for their products, and if they
changed their decisions on whether to transport their products to a bigger market. If the
intervention is successful, we expect that farmers will have higher incomes and improve their
welfare.

In addition, we will evaluate if the use of SMS technology can have positive externalities
on the communities, by encouraging family and neighbors to share the information.

The method of survey would be a personal interview and a focus group discussion.

A structured questionnaire can be prepared for the interviewer so that no important point is
missed out. The extra details which come out during the questioning will be noted down by the
interviewer.

To carry out the research we can target the farmers who are already using the service ,those who
were using it in the past but are currently not using it as well a s those who are the potential users
of the service(not using the service currently).

A focus group discussion in areas where the service is extensively used can be held. While
discussing , the moderator of the group can initiate the group to talk on the benefits of the service
in monetary ,the problems encountered by them, whether they intend to use it further or not etc,
which can lead to some concrete decisions.
Another focus group discussion can be held for the people who are aware of the service and still
not using it (control group) or for those who have used it in the past or a mixed group of both.
This can bring out a clear picture of what are the drawbacks of the service and where the
improvement can take place.

Our sample size would consist of 400 farmers approximately.

Our sampling method would consist of the stratified sampling. As Uttarakhand consists of two
parts garhwal and kumaon consisting of 7 and 6 districts respectively. Out of these only 2
districts lie in the plain areas so the respondents would be chosen from the remaining 11 districts.
From these the farmers would be chosen randomly out of the list of users of the service.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

The pattern of land ownership is unlike that found in the rest of India. Most Uttarakhand
farmers are owner-cultivators. Tenant farming and sharecropping are rare, and landholdings
generally small and limited to family farms (Approximately 50% of all landholdings are less than
0.5 hectares in size, and 70% under 1 hectare). As such, the zamindari system of big landholders
is limited to the plains. (Source- http://uttarakhand.prayaga.org)

"The advanced nature of traditional farming in the region is illustrated by the practice of
barahnaja (literally, '12 seeds'). This is the name of a sophisticated intercropping system of
rainfed hill farming. Mandua (finger millets), ramdana/chua (amaranthus), rajma (common
kidney beans), ogal (buckwheat), urad (green gram), moong (black gram), naurangi (mix of
pulses), gahath (horsegram), bhat (soybean), lobiya (French beans) kheera (cucumber), bhang
(cannabis), and other crops, are grown together in a mixture which is finely balanced to optimize
productivity and maintenance of soil fertility, and is geared towards meeting diverse household
requirements.

Some facts about Uttarakhand

Total Geographical area 51125 Sq. Km
Hill Area 92.57%
Plains Area 7.43%
Area Covered By Forest 63%
Total Literacy
Total Population
Male
Female
Rural Population
Urban Population
Literacy Rate
Total No. Of Districts
Name Of Districts
Total No. Of Villege
Total No. Of city or Urban
Major
Resources
Industry
Major Species Of Trees
Major Species Of Herb
(Some of the species of herb
are very rare and these are
included in the list of
endangered species.)
65 %
8479562 (Male : Female =1000 : 976)
51.91 %
48.81 %
74.40 %
25.60 %
65 %
13
Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Chamol, Nainital,
Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Puari,
Udham Singh Nagar, Pithoragarh and Rudraprayag
15620
Area 81
Water, Forest, Dairy, Woolen, Herb, Medicine,
Fruit, Land etc.
Tourism, Dairy, Agriculture, Horticulture,
Floriculture, Sugar and other small scale industries
Shoria Robusta, Agile Marmilos, Embica
Aaficinelis, Cigigime Quiminy, Bombex Shiva,
Ajadyrecta Indica, Junglash regia, Cidres Devdaar,
Betula Utilus, Rhododendhren Arbhenium, Pine,
Tectona Grandish etc.
Cordyceps sinnesis, Sinoarundinaria falcata,
Aehmanthera gossypina, Meizotropic pillita,
Morchell esculenta, Terachycarpus takin, Wyrtex
Nirgundo, Geradernia hetrofila, Barebris aristata,
Scentla ascetica etc.

Major Mandis in Uttarakhand- there are 18 Mandis operating in Uttarakhand namely

 Bajpur
 Chakrata
 Dehradun
 Gadarpur
 Haldwani
 Haridwar
 Kashipur
  Khateema
 Kichha
 Kotdwara
 Lakshar
 Manglaur
 Ramnagar
 Rurkee
 Rishikesh
 Sitarganj
 Tanakpur
 Vikasnagar

DELIVERABLES

To give the information about the problems faced by the farmers while using the service.

QUESTIONNAIRE

General Statistics- Know the Farmers

Location …………………........................…
RML/ IKSL/ FF/ only mobile (service)
Frequency (No. of participants in villages)
How did you get to know of the service? Why did you decide to join?
Size of land holdings (ask each participant)
Family size
Average Household Income
Average Population of Village

Crops grown Crop Marketable Surplus Mandis produce is

(Kgs) sold in

Kharif

Rabi
1. Do you have mobile?
2. Do you have SMS services activated on your mobile?
2a). if yes then of which company?
RML Idea Others

2b).If NO, then are you aware of this service?

3. What is the information provided through the service?

4. How often do you receive the information?

5. How does it vary by growing stage? Has the nature of the service/information changed
over time? (Better/ Worse)

6. Of the information received, what information do you value the highest? What
information the least? Why? How would you rate the quality and timeliness of the
information provided?

7. How would you prefer to receive the information (S.M.S, voice-mail, calls)?

8. What percentage of current messages received through these services do

you listen to/read?

9. What percentage of the messages that you read/listen to

do you find useful to you?

10. What do you like/dislike about receiving?

Information through S.M.S/voice?

11. What problem you face while accessing this service?

12. Whether the information is fruitful to you to enhance your profit?

13. Before these services how did you get this information?

14. What were your sources? Are they sources are more efficient than S.M.S system? How?
 15. Do you keep records on the price, quantity, date and location of the products sold?

16. How would you rate the quality and timeliness of the information received
through these services against the information you received from other sources
Before these were introduced?

17. How would you rate the quality and timeliness of the information received
through these services against the information you received from other sources
Before these were introduced?

18. Do you feel you get value for money from the service? How has your income
Increased (or losses decreased) as a result of using this service? If the cost of
The service is doubled, would you continue with it?

Time frame- the research would require a ground study of about 10-12 days and the rest
would be to prepare the report on the data collected.

Budget

Field work including: survey, travelling expenses, cell phone use, stationary,
accommodation. The cost will be as given below:

Team members:

1. Anil Suroliya
2. Kamal Verma
3. Kr. Saurav
4. Sandeep Rakholia
5. Sudhir Nandeshwar
6. Sarode Kalpana
7. Sunil Meena
8. Vishal kalotara
9. Vijaylaxmi
10. Shikha Bhatt
Source of population- www.indianetzone.com/3/uttarakhand.html.

www.uttaranchalonline.info/ua/state_info.html