Food and Nutrition Security

Community

ICT for Development Community

Solution Exchange for the Food and Nutrition

Security Community
Solution Exchange for the ICT for Development
Community
Consolidated Reply
Query: Curricula for Agricultural Information Technology -
Advice
Compiled by Gopi N. Ghosh and Sajan Venniyoor, Resource Persons and T. N.
Anuradha and Gitanjali Sah, Research Associates
Issue Date: 15 October 2007

From Surya Gunjal, Yashwantrao Chavan Maharastra Open University

(YCMOU), Nashik
Posted 20 September 2007
Dear all,

The Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU), Nashik, is engaged in open
and distance education in agriculture, including a post graduate and research program (PGR) in
agricultural communication, agricultural extension and agricultural development awarding
masters and doctoral programmes, since the last five years.

The emerging boom of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) makes it essential for us
to educate the future generations on the use of ICTs in various sectors, and agriculture of course
has seen a number of initiatives using ICTs that are helping the farmers to improve their
production and marketing.

Presently, we have one PGR course (http://www.solutionexchange-

un.net.in/food/cr/res20090701.pdf) on Agricultural Information Technology (AIT) that covers
hardware and software components of computer applications, various IT/ICT tools and their
applicability in agricultural production, research, extension and rural development. We are
seeking to upscale this course and would like to have inputs from the Solution Exchange
Community members on:
• What should be the core content of the course, sectors in agriculture that could benefit from
the use of ICT, considering that the learner is a graduate in agricultural sciences?
• To what extent the basic principles of information technology / ICT and handling of user
software need to be covered?
• Do members know of any existing syllabus related to AIT or computer application in
agriculture approved by any university in India?

Looking forward to an enriching discussion

Surya Gunjal
Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University
Nashik

Responses were received, with thanks, from

1. Manoj Kumar Meher, i-Concept Initiatives, Bhubaneswar

1. K V Peter, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur
2. M Moni, National Informatics Centre, New Delhi
3. T P Trivedi, Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), New delhi
4. Balasaheb K Dhame, National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune
5. Sachin Tendulkar, Mineral Foundation of Goa, Panaji
6. Appavoo Dhandapani, National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New
Delhi
7. Kiran Sigdel, Forum for Public Information Technology(FOPIT), Kathmandu, Nepal
8. Mrinal Kanti Dasgupta, Independent Consultant, Santiniketan
9. V P Sharma, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE),
Hyderabad
10. Anup Kumar Das, Independent Consultant, New Delhi
11. Awanish Somkuwar, Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project, Bhopal
12. Bidisha Pillai, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), New Delhi
13. D C Misra, Independent Consultant, New Delhi
14. G K Agrawal, Independent Consultant, Mumbai
15. K Rajasekharan, Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), Thrissur
16. Ajay Kumar, ClassApart.ORG, New Delhi
17. Apoorva Mishra, Knowledge Networking for Rural Development in Asia/Pacific,
International Development Research Centre (ENRAP, IDRC), New Delhi *

*Offline Contribution

Further contributions are welcome!

Summary of Responses
Comparative Experiences
Related Resources
Responses in Full

Summary of Responses
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are being widely used in the agriculture
sector enabling access to information, resources, and market for improved agricultural
productivity. With the growing influence of ICT it becomes essential for the future agricultural
graduates/post graduates to be acquainted with these technologies. Responding to the query
seeking advice on improving the curriculum of Agricultural Information Technology (AIT),
members suggested improvements to the existing curriculum, highlighted various ICT based
initiatives and recommended course models of various institutions.

Discussants welcomed the effort in promoting AIT among the agricultural graduates that has
direct bearing upon student's employability. The synergy between computer science and
technology on the one hand and agricultural science and technology on the other is essential for
"Agricultural Informatics" to emerge as a discipline.

Members outlined a few considerations while designing a course curriculum. These included -
curriculum development to be a systematic exercise with periodic revision/upgradation, modular
and logically sequenced content focusing on making students information-literate as well as ICT-
literate. The overall objective has to be helping students acquire practical knowledge and skill
that would improve their employability in step with the emerging market demand.

On the existing course content, members felt that overall the course was well structured and put
forward suggestions for its comprehensive update. A significant suggestion was that the course
could be organized in two parts as ‘ICT for Agriculture: Basic Course’ and ‘ICT in Agriculture:
Applied Course’ with the following sub-sections:

ICT for Agriculture: Basic Course

• Computer Systems and Development – This section need not to go in detail into history
of ICT but focus on it’s fast-paced development
• Computer Hardware – Include multiple operating systems on same hardware like Linux
and Windows, with very strong lab inputs and practical exercises
• Computer Software – Open source and proprietary software, introduction to IT-based
software for accessing information or development of software for various user groups on
contract farming, retail networking
• Computer Applications for Office Use – Inclusion of basic computer knowledge covering
emerging trends in word-processing, table-handling and database management, HTML etc as
most agri-graduates may not be computer-literate
• Telecommunication and Computer Networking - Tele-conferencing, Video
Conferencing
• Remote Sensing, GIS and MIS – Use in land use management, soil resource
management, crop surveys, water resources management; Global Positioning System and
Community Agricultural Information System included with examples of Yahoo/Google Maps,
Google Earth etc.

ICT in Agriculture: Applied Course

• Internet Technology and World Wide Web – On the Internet as a ‘depository and
provider of information’, to include data mining/searching from different agro related web
sites; its applications like online agricultural marketing
• Communication and Electronic Web – Importance and role of communication and its
outreach through traditional modes like direct dialogue, cartoons, audio, video, print, pictures
and emerging technologies for One-to-One Communication (email, chats), One-Many
communication (blogging, podcasting, creating webpages), Many-Many communication
(instant messaging, multi user chat rooms, discussion boards, editing wikis).
• Introduction to Multimedia – Community radio as a viable medium for information
dissemination, webcasting, programme production etc
• Agro-informatics and Agro-Polyclinics – Practical examples of initiatives like community
cyber cafes, cyber extension, virtual farm clinics, use of online expert systems that enable
Agricultural Information Networking
• Farm Information Management – Translation and local language content development
• Electronic Commerce in Agriculture - Mathematical / Computer Modeling Statistics (R
language)
• IT in Agricultural Production – Use of IT in best cultivation practices, land use, fertilizer
use, seed quality, remunerative price for products, reducing wastage during farm transit and
storage
• IT in Agricultural Research Management - Weather forecasts, change in cropping
depending on the climate, rainfall, agricultural geography, cartography, meteorology and
modelling
• IT in Agricultural Extension Management - Linking with commodity markets and
information on upcountry market prices, state support and banking services/schemes
• Agri-business Agri-marketing Management – Market intelligence and market
information dissemination, forward trading, e-trading

In addition the respondents strongly felt that students need to be acquainted with the ongoing
ICT projects and initiatives like e-sagu, Lifelines India, aAqua, Information Management Resource
Kit (IMARK), and Kisan Call Centres which will prompt them to relate their knowledge with real-
life examples and experiences. Field visits to project sites would be an added advantage.

They suggested various ICT tools that could be used by students and teachers as online
information source and software like moodle, Atutor, AGROVOC, ItrainOnline Multimedia Training
Kit (MMTK), Open Course Wares (OCW) and Open Training Platform that shares agricultural
information and training resources on the web as self-learning resources.

Members also drew attention to the course-model adopted by a number of institutions who have
been undertaking AIT courses and suggested reviewing the Mississippi Curriculum Framework on
Information and Communication Technology. The proposed setting up of "Centre for Agricultural
Resources Information System (C-AgRIS)" in all 300 Agricultural Colleges and State Agricultural
Universities, including establishment of Agricultural Polytechnic and Industrial Training Institute
(ITI) for promotion of IT/ICT education in Agriculture was mentioned.

The respondents generally agreed that such courses would help minimise the existing challenges
of IT penetration in rural areas. They collectively hoped that the knowledge of IT application to
the farm sector would help farmers using the technology innovations to their best advantage and
bring about a qualitative change in their knowledge base and information seeking behaviour.

Comparative Experiences

Philippines

“School on Air”, Cordillera (from Apoorva Mishra, ENRAP, IDRC, New Delhi)
In the mountainous Cordillera region, farmers had the opportunity to learn of new and improved
agricultural practices through the pilot “School on Air’” (SOA) programme. The conduct of SOA
was similar to a classroom experience, but instead of farmers travelling to attend classes, they
could listen to the lessons aired over three radio stations. The programme was so successful that
the Department of Agriculture Reforms adopted the programme once the pilot was over. Read
more
Related Resources

Recommended Documentation

B.Tech. (Agricultural Information Technology) Syllabi (2007-11) (from V P Sharma,

National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad)
Syallabus; Tamilnadu Agricultural University; Coimbatore
Available at http://www.tnau.ac.in/ugadmi/syll07/ait.pdf (PDF, Size: 160 KB)
Syllabus outline for agricultural information technology B.Tech course offered by the
university, provides details of core and supporting content of the syllabus

Kisan Call Centre

Programme Details; Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture
Available at http://agricoop.nic.in/PolicyIncentives/kisanCallDetail.htm
Service provides information to farmers through a toll free phone number at national
level, suggested inclusion of such programmes in the curricula for students of AIT

Community Radio Gets its Day

Artilce; by Subramaniam Vincent; India Together; 18 November 2006
Available at http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/nov/sbv-cradio.htm
Reports issuance of community radio licence in India, state agricultural universities can
use it for dissemination information on agriculture by setting up community radio stations

ItrainOnline Multimedia Training Kit – ICT Policy, Advocacy and the Digital Divide:
Social Exclusion in the Information Age (from Anup Kumar Das, Independent Consultant,
New Delhi)
Training Kit; by Amy Mahan; Open Training Platform; UNSECO
Available at http://opentraining.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/page.cgi?g=Detailed%2F1056.html;d=1
Provides an integrated set of multimedia training materials to support community media,
community multimedia centres, telecentres and other initiatives using ICTs

From K V Peter, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

Diploma Course in Agricultural Extension Services for Input Dealers

Newsletter; National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE); Hyderabad; July-
August 2003
Available at http://manage.gov.in/daesi/DAESI-Jul-Aug2k3.pdf (PDF, Size: 737 KB)
Provides details of diploma course conducted by MANAGE which covers aspects of
agricultural technology and extension through media and information technology

Rural Educational Programmes- offered by National Institute of Rural Development

Course Contents; National Institute of Rural Development
Available at http://www.ncri-mhrd.org/images/2.nird.pdf (PDF, Size: 36 KB)
Course content that includes course on information technology, computer applications
along with agriculture and rural development

From Bidisha Pillai, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), New Delhi

The Application of ICT in Indian Agriculture: The Case of eSagu Model of Web-based
Agricultural Expert Advice Dissemination System
Article; by Dr. Sudarshan Aligireddy Reddy and Krishna Reddy; International Institute of
Information Technology; Hyderabad; 2005
Available at http://t06.cgpublisher.com/proposals/343/index_html
ICT based agriculture information dissemination service for farmers with the help of
agriculture graduates, stresses on the need for the agri graduates to be IT literate

Lifelines India
Article; British Telecom; 2006
Available at http://www.btplc.com/Societyandenvironment/Videoandaudioclips/LifelinesIndia.htm
Phone based service that provides answers to farmer’s agricultural related queries within
24hrs, suggested inclusion of such programmes in the course curricula

From Ajay Kumar, ClassApart.ORG, New Delhi

2006 Mississippi Curriculum Framework

Course Curricula; Mississippi Department of Education
Available at http://redesign.rcu.msstate.edu/ICT/ICTCurriculumDRAFT.pdf (PDF, Size: 818 KB)
Instructional program on Information and Communication Technology that prepares
individuals to effectively use technology in learning, communication, and life skills

R Language Definition
Manual; R Development Core Team; 3 October 2007
Available at http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-lang.pdf (PDF, Size: 420 KB)
Manual documents the details of the expression evaluation process useful to know
prgramming R functions, suggested as a course content for AIT

From T. N. Anuradha, Research Associate

Agricultural Education: the changing face

Article; by T. Ramavarman ; The Hindu; Kerala; 26 October 2004
Available at http://www.hindu.com/edu/2004/10/26/stories/2004102600010100.htm
Reports Kerala Agricultural University plans to set up an agri-informatics centre to offer
courses on application of information technology in agriculture

Curriculum for Agricultural Engineers and Economists Specializing in Informatics

Science
Article; by Miklós Herdon, János Kormos and Zsolt Mago; University of Debrecen; 5-9 July 2003
Available at http://www.date.hu/efita2003/centre/pdf/0902.pdf (PDF, Size: 43 KB)
This course meets demand of well qualified candidates for Hungarian agri-food sector,
governmental offices and institutes, which all need a wide range of computerized tools

Agriculture Informatics "Ushering a New Revolution"

Article; National Inforamtics Centre (NIC)
Available at http://informatics.nic.in/archive/inf2001apr/cover.htm
Provides information on various initiatives in bringing IT led development which includes
web enabled applications by the Agricultural Informatics Division of NIC

Recommended Organizations and Programmes

Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA

IICT), Gandhinagar(from Balasaheb K Dhame, National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune )
Post Bag No. 4, Near Indroda Circle, Gujarat 382007; Tel: 91-79-30520000; Fax: 91-79-
30520010; http://www.daiict.ac.in/pgprograms_msictard.html; msictard@daiict.ac.in
 Offers post graduate and doctoral degrees in Information Technology, Information
Communication Technology and its application in agriculture and rural development

From K.V. Peter, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad

Rajendranagar, Andhra Pradesh 500030; Tel: 91-40-24008472/526; Fax: 91-40-24015277,
24016500; anil@nird.gov.in; http://www.nird.org.in/faculty_profile.html
Faculty includes centre for information technology, geo-informatics, technology and
market development along with other allied centres

National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad

Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Rajendranagar, Andhra Pradesh 500030; Tel: 91-40-
24014808; Fax: 91-40-24581452; naarm.hyd@naarm.ernet.in; http://icar.naarm.ernet.in/;
Contact Dr. D. Rama Rao; Head, Information and Communication Management Division; Tel: 91-
40-24581334; ramarao@naarm.ernet.in
Promotes agricultural research, education and extension education and has a dedicated
faculty for Information and communication management in agriculture

Media Lab Asia, New Delhi (from Sachin Tendulkar, Mineral Foundation of Goa, Panaji)
708-723, 7th Floor, Devika Towers, 6 Nehru Place, 110019; Tel: 91-11-26288189;
http://www.medialabasia.in/index.php
Have developed various ICTs based agricultural services for the farmers; could support in
handson training for students ongoing course on agricultural information technology

Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi (from Appavoo Dhandapani,
National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi)
Library Avenue, Pusa, Delhi 110012; Tel: 91-11-5787122/26 ; Fax: 91-11-5741479;
root@iasri.delhi.nic.in; http://www.indiaeducation.ernet.in/insitutions/courses1.asp?no=U00891;
Contact Dr. P K Malhotra; Head, Computer Application; pkm@iasri.res.in and Dr. S D Sharma;
Director; director@iasri.res.in
Offers Masters in computer applications, agricultural statistics covering various aspects of
agriculture data management

From V P Sharma, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE),

Hyderabad

Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology , Pantnagar

College of Agribusiness Management, Uttaranchal 263145; Tel: 91-5944-233884 ; Fax: 91-5944-
233533/473; deancabm@cabm.ac.in and vpsa@rediffmail.com;
http://www.gbpuat.ac.in/acads/cabm/index.htm
Offers MBA in Agribusiness covering aspects of computers for managers, management of
information systems, communication for management and business

Satellite Communication Group (SATCOM), New Delhi

Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Block A, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, 110003; Tel: 1800-11-2489 (toll free number); customer-
relations@alpha.nic.in; http://satcom.nic.in/
Nodal information technology organization for informatics development and networking
in Government, information on satellite communication suggested inclusion in curricula
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi(from T P Trivedi, Indian
Council for Agricultural Research, New Delhi and V P Sharma,National Institute of Agricultural
Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad)
Maidan Garhi, 110068; Tel: 91-11-29535924/32; Fax: 91-11-29536588 http://www.ignou.ac.in/
Offers MBA in Agribusiness management covering key areas on possible use of ICTs for
agricultural management

MITOPENCOURCEWARE, Massachusetts (from Ajay Kumar, ClassApart.ORG, New Delhi )

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm; ocw-mail@mit.edu
Shares knowledge resources available online from courses, exams, lab demonstrations to
facilitate knowledge sharing

Knowledge Networking for Rural Development in Asia/Pacific Region (ENRAP), New

Delhi ((from Apoorva Mishra, ENRAP, IDRC, New Delhi)
IDRC Regional Office for South Asia, 208 Jor Bagh, 110003; Tel: 91-11-24619411 Ext. 102 ; Fax:
91-11-2462-2707
Supported a community radio project in Philippines that helped disseminate useful,
livelihood-related information to farmers in rural areas

Recommended Portals and Information Bases

Agriculture Information Management Standards (AGROVOC), Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United Nations (from V P Sharma, National Institute of Agricultural
Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad)
http://www.fao.org/aims/ag_intro.htm
Database of multilingual, structured vocabulary provides terminology of all subject fields
in agriculture, suggested inclusion in agricultural information technology curricula

From Anup Kumar Das, Independent Consultant, New Delhi

Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK)

http://www.imarkgroup.org/index_en.asp;IMARKenquiries@fao.org
IMARK is an e-learning initiative in agricultural information management developed by
FAO and partner organizations

Open Training Platform, UNESCO

http://opentraining.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/page.cgi?g=Categories%2FAgriculture;d=1; Contact:
Armelle Arrou; Programme Specialist; a.arrou@unesco.org
A collaborative access to existing free online training courses, promotes open licensed
resources to local communities, has a specific category on Agriculture and ICTs

aAqua (from Bidisha Pillai, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), New Delhi)
http://aaqua.persistent.co.in/aaqua/forum/index
Online agriculture related question and answer service in multiple languages being used
by farmers through information centres

National Forum on Information Literacy (from D C Misra, Independent Consultant, New

Delhi)
http://aaqua.persistent.co.in/aaqua/forum/index
Looks into Information Literacy that tries to understand information need, able to
identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem
From K Rajasekharan, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Thrissur

Moodle
http://moodle.org/
Course management system on Open Source software package designed using sound
pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities

ATutor, Adaptive Technology Resource Centre

http://www.atutor.ca/
Learning Content Management System which educators can customise according to
need, develop web-based instructional content, and conduct their courses online

Related Consolidated Replies

Contribution of Agri-graduates in Farming Sector, Ajit Sharma, Indian Society of

Agribusiness Professionals, New Delhi, (Experiences)
Issued 28 March 2007. Available at http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/food/cr/cr-se-food-
12030701.pdf (PDF, Size: 168 KB)
Analyses the challenges and constraints in the existing agriculture education and farming
system, suggests strategies to enhance contribution of agri-graduates in agriculture

Responses in Full

Manoj Kumar Meher, i-Concept Initiatives, Bhubaneswar

Agriculture in India has its own importance as most of the rural people are directly or indirectly
engaged in this sector and provides employment opportunity to 67% of rural population and
27% of GDP in India. The Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) cannot be achieved until this
sector is given more priority. The growing importance of Information Technology is one of the
best tools to achieve the desired set of goals.

The Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System
(GPS), Community Agricultural Information System (CAIS) and the Community Radio which is
open for civilian will be valuable to the above query.

Remote sensing, accusation of information of earth with the help of censors from the space
which provide information on the land, water and forest, where as the GIS help the interpretation
of the spatial data and provide valuable information related to land, GPS is the technology which
provides location of the earth surface, the Community radio will provide information to the
Agricultural Community on the current knowledge for the better management of the land and the
market information to the farming community. The Community Agriculture Information System is
the most important component for the modern day information system for the agricultural
community as the information technology is costly which generally agricultural population unable
to pay because of the low profit from this sector.

So, the core content of the course could also include

• Application of Remote Sensing (RS)
• Application of Geographic Information System (GIS)
• Application of Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Community Agricultural Information System (CAIS)
• Use of Community radio
K V Peter, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur

It is a welcome move to start courses on Agricultural Information Technology and related

disciplines. Agricultural Extension continues to be a discipline of its own in Graduate, Post
graduate, Doctoral and post doctoral programmes.

Communication, Extension methodologies, Information, Rural Extension, Market Extension,

Demonstrations, Community Development Projects etc. are a few branches of Extension. With
development of ICT, cyber extension has received attention. Virtual Universities have come to
stay. In a country like ours where only less than 8% of scientific information are percolated to
farmers, use of ICT is extremely relevant.

Community Cyber cafe, virtual farm clinics, use of expert systems, etc become all the more
important. National Institute of Rural Development, National Academy of Agricultural Research
Management (NAARM) and Manage in Hyderabad and NIRMA Anand are a few well established
institutions offering courses on ICT.

M Moni, National Informatics Centre, New Delhi

I have been promoting "Agricultural Informatics & Communication" since 1995. It is essential to
synergise Computer Science & Technology and Agricultural Science & Technology to facilitate
"Agricultural Informatics" to come out as a discipline.

To facilitate this, I have proposed establishment of "Centre for Agricultural Resources Information
System (C-AgRIS)" in all 300 Agricultural Colleges and State Agricultural Universities, and each
agricultural college shall have a mandate to develop AgRIS for the district in which they are
located. The entire District Agricultural Planning shall be based on the Research and
development of the local agricultural college only.

As the Chairman of the Taskforce on "IT in Agriculture" under the State Commission on
Agricultural reforms, Research and Development, of the Government of Jharkhand (India), I have
recommended many measures, including Agricultural Polytechnic (1 per district) and Agricultural
ITI ( one per district).

T P Trivedi, Indian Council for Agricultural Research, New Delhi

The subject under reference is important as a tool for transfer of technology to masses. The role
of communication is outreach for well connected masses through any form or mode viz. direct
dialogue, audio, video, electronic, print, digital photos, cartoon, logo and blog etc.

Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana has recently introduced a Diploma course in Agricultural
Journalism and School of Agriculture in IGNOU offers MBA agribusiness available with the select
Agricultural Universities in India. State Agricultural Universities do offer courses under Agricultural
Extension in PG course.

Balasaheb K Dhame, National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune

With reference to your posted query regarding on the curricula on "Agriculture Information
Technology", I would like to mention that Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and
Communication Technology (DA-IICT), Gandhinagar was the pioneer in its introduction. I did my
master in IT in Agriculture from the same.

For more information on it please refer to (www.daiict.ac.in).

Sachin Tendulkar, Mineral Foundation of Goa, Panaji

I am happy to learn about the course on ICT in agriculture. I feel beside the normal hardware
and software there should be emphasis on localization of the content. If it is context of
Maharashtra, it should be getting the information in Marathi and also feeding the information in
Marathi. Also an active collaboration with Medial Lab Asia can be sought to replicate few of their
piloted program. I would also suggest that the graduate be thought about the data mining from
different agro related web site. The assignment could be based on developing a database of the
seed companies, fertilizer companies, progressive farmers, organic practitioners etc.

Appavoo Dhandapani, National Centre for Integrated Pest Management, New Delhi

Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (www.iasri.res.in) for the last 20 years is
conducting a Master's level course, previously called Computer Applications in Agriculture later
renamed it as Computer Applications. Agricultural graduates are eligible for this course. The
contents of this course as offered now, can be obtained from Dr. P.K. Malhotra, Head, Computer
Applications, IASRI (pkm@iasri.res.in) or contact Dr. S.D. Sharma, Director, IASRI
(director@iasri.res.in).

The course is equivalent to that of any M.C.A. degree offered by any university. For agricultural
students, there is a bridge (Remedial) course on Mathematics which is compulsory and there is a
bridge course on Agriculture for non-Agriculture students.

Kiran Sigdel, Forum for Public Information Technology(FOPIT), Kathmandu, Nepal

This is really useful for Nepal too, It will be good to see a joint implementation for more
integration

Mrinal Kanti Dasgupta, Independent Consultant, Santiniketan

The following may be included:

Agricultural Geography and cartography, Agricultural Meteorology, Remote Sensing applications,

Agricultural Inputs and Applications, Language and Journalism: Practicing ability to individual,
mass communications. Agricultural Information Networking, Meteorology, Modelling, Marketing,
Appropriate Precision Agriculture. Site-specific GIS, GDS, ground data, and empirical data.

Software programming - user friendly composite programmes to facilitate individual farmers,

farmers' groups (SHGs), and Women's groups, Neo-Youth and Young farmers' groups,
communities, cooperatives and corporates for contract farming, retail networking.
V P Sharma, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE),
Hyderabad

I appreciate your quest to enrich the YCMOU course content on “Agricultural Information
Technology”. Solution Exchange is the most appropriate platform to get the advice and guidance
from best experts in the field. You might have already read the suggestions from K.V. Peter on
the subject by now. I am sure Solution Exchange will provide you the “consolidated reply”, which
will go a long way in enhancing the quality and impact of your course-content.

My observations and suggestions on the subject are as hereunder:

1. Your existing course content of “Agricultural Information Technology” were prepared and
printed in 2003. For that time the content was really contemporary, as not many “Successful
Cases”, were available in Cyber Extension, and also the ICT were just getting initiated into
Agricultural Extension domain. Last three years have seen real evolution of “ICT in
Agriculture” and a number of State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) have worked out in-depth
curriculum for the subject. The lead taken by Tamilnadu Agricultural University (TNAU),
Govind Ballabh Pant University Of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT)
(http://www.gbpuat.ac.in/index-old.htm) and IGNOU may be of good help to you.

2. The course content of “Agricultural Information Technology” needs comprehensive updating.

• The focus of Units 1 to 9 may be reorganized and shifted to specifics in Computer
Hardware, Software, Telecommunications and Networks, Computer Networks followed by
Internet basics and WWW. These units need a very strong lab inputs and/ or exercises. A
number of assignments can be helpful.
• The assumption that all Agri-Graduates have basic Computer knowledge may be cross-
checked. In case of otherwise, there will be a need to include topics on basic “Word-
Editing”, “Table-Handling” and database management, apart from necessary input on
HTML.
• If the student does not understand basic Database Management System (DBMS)
concepts, his/her capability to use ICTs will be limited. If this is the only course the
Student is undertaking on ICTs then there is need to include all the basic topics (may be
OS and MS-Office) also in this course. This can replace existing Units 10-15.
• The last 5 Units-16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 (I.T. In Agricultural Production, I.T. in Agricultural
Research Management, I.T. in Agricultural Education Management, I.T. in Agricultural
Extension Management, I.T. in Agro-Based Rural Development) may be replaced/
enriched with good case studies (one each on the above topics), and a good reference to
on-going projects in the concerned areas. This will prompt the student to relate his/ her
knowledge with real-life examples, experiences.

3. Finally I suggest that the total course may be organized in to 2 courses, and re-christened
as “ICTs for Agriculture: Basic Course” covering the Hardware, Software, Operating
Systems, Telecommunications and Communication Networks, Tele-conferencing, Video
Conferencing and GIS and Remote Sensing, GPS and “ICTs in Agriculture: Applied
Course” covering Internet, WWW, Virtual Libraries and Publications, Cyber Extension,
National and International Agricultural Service, Portals and their usage, Commodity Trading
and Agricultural Marketing on the Web. Cases on Public-Private Partnership in Information
sharing in Agriculture and FAOs initiative on AGROVOC
(http://www.fao.org/aims/ag_copyright_countries.jsp) may also be considered for this
course. The applied areas like Kisan Call Centre
 (http://agricoop.nic.in/PolicyIncentives/kisanCallfirst.htm), Community Radio, and use of
SATCOM may also be covered at least as cases.

These are my first observations and comments. I will be happy to provide more details on any
topic mentioned above.

Anup Kumar Das, Independent Consultant, New Delhi

An agricultural extension worker is a mediator of knowledge resources and knowledge

applications. He/she needs to know so many fascinating ICT tools for knowledge sharing and
facilitating lifelong learning to the farmers. Although, a PG diploma course is not sufficient to
keep abreast of recent development of knowledge applications, particularly in the areas which
are growing faster, some basic ICT skills should be imparted through a well-structured
curriculum. Two well-structured online training courses can be consulted in this regard:

Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK) (http://www.imarkgroup.org/), developed

and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),
UNESCO, and other international agencies, having online modules on:

Management of Electronic Documents

• Building Electronic Communities and Networks
• Investing in Information for Development
• Digitization and Digital Libraries

ItrainOnline Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK) (http://opentraining.unesco-ci.org/cgi-

bin/page.cgi?g=Detailed%2F1056.html;d=1), developed and implemented by the Association for
Progressive Communications (APC), UNESCO, FAO and other international agencies, having
online modules on
• Technical skills
• Content development skills
• Developing thematic content
• Organizational development and planning
• ICT policy, advocacy, and the digital divide

In this connection, I would like to mention an initiative of UNESCO, called Open Training
Platform (www.opentrainingplatform.org) that shares training resources on the web. This portal
has a specific category on Agriculture, where self-learning resources are freely available. I
hope many other online courses from India will also be listed there soon.

Awanish Somkuwar, Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project, Bhopal

In remote rural areas there are many constraints which have prevented the penetration of IT
interventions. I think that the knowledge of IT application in farm sector should also be
translated into farmer to use the technology. The knowledge of farmers and information seeking
behaviour should improve with the qualitative improvements in IT applications.

Two groups of professionals need to be developed, one who work for development of farmer-
friendly softwares and other should work for raising the level of understanding among the user
farmers to appreciate the efficacy of IT operations. Also the kiosk operators should be trained on
use of various ICT applications.

The IITs and IIMs should contribute towards improving the quality of primary schools which
would finally feed students to these premier institutes. If it is not happening, then we have
deliberately reserved the higher studies for very few, who can financially afford it. Similar is the
case with IT application in farm sector. The course designers must consider the gap.

I think this way we can actually offer the initiatives like web-based answering systems to masses
beyond only a few rich farmers, who are equipped with computer sets are using it.

Bidisha Pillai, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), New Delhi

I think it might be important, while designing curriculum for use of ICTs in Agriculture, to also
keep in mind, that ICTs are really a means to an end, rather than an end in themselves,
particularly in the context of use of ICTs in development, whether agriculture, education or
health services.

I would therefore suggest, that in addition to training the students on hardware and software
applications, they be exposed to case studies of projects where ICTs have been successfully used
in agriculture both in the classrooms as well as through actual field exposure visits. This would
then give them a practical idea of how and where the technologies they have studied, can be
best leveraged for improved agriculture services.

There are several areas in which ICTs can be effectively used in agriculture such as disseminating
strategic information to farmers, government authorities and other actors; providing farmers
better and more strategic access to markets; using ICTs for more effective natural resource
management and early warning systems etc. Some examples of projects that may be included as
case studies are:

The Application of ICT in Indian Agriculture: The Case of eSagu Model of Web-based
Agricultural Expert Advice Dissemination System
In view of technology/extension gaps in Indian agriculture and to exploit ICT revolution,
International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, A.P., India had developed eSagu
model of extension system and implemented it for the cotton crop in three villages of Oorugonda,
Gudeppad and Oglapur covering 749 farmers and 1041 farms during 2004-05 crop season. The
main objective was to build a cost effective and scalable agricultural expert advice dissemination
system to all the farmers. The three-tier system consists of farmers as end users, coordinators as
intermediaries to obtain crop status through digital photographs and text and communicate the
advice to the farmers.
http://t06.cgpublisher.com/proposals/343/index_html

Lifelines India
Lifelines is a phone-based information service which provides vital information to rural
communities, particularly farmers, in India key to improving their lives. Until recent ICT initiatives
like Lifelines, the only source of veterinary and agricultural information available to farmers in
rural India was through community meetings and agriculture extension workers.
http://www.btplc.com/Societyandenvironment/Videoandaudioclips/LifelinesIndia.htm

aAQUA
aAQUA –IIT B's web based query answering system that helps farmers with their agricultural
problems, is a multilingual (Marathi, Hindi, and English) system which provides online answers to
questions asked over the internet and has been deployed successfully in over 10 kiosks covering
50 villages around the Pabal area in the 3 talukas of Rajgurunagar, Shirur and Haveli (Pune
District). 60 farmers in Pabal and around use aAQUA forums on a regular basis in aAQUA clubs
and over 300 users have sent about 475 questions.
http://aaqua.persistent.co.in/aaqua/forum/index

D C Misra, Independent Consultant, New Delhi

I want to congratulate you on raising this very important issue of curriculum development (which
has direct bearing upon a student's employability after their education at the university and
capability to serve the society at large). Recognition of a problem is beginning of its solution. I
am sure the group will make enough contribution to enable you to launch a path-breaking
curriculum.

Curriculum Development is a Systematic Exercise: Note, and this is important, curriculum

development cannot be undertaken in an ad hoc and haphazard manner and as one-shot affair.
It is a systematic exercise to be undertaken regularly, say, once in two years. More the effort
made to develop it, better will be the end-result.(As Extension Commissioner in Ministry of
Agriculture quite some time back I had written a paper on New Directions in Extension Training
published by the Directorate of Extension. Although this work requires revision due to passage of
time, it still has sufficient relevant material including for curriculum development.

Make Your Graduates and Post-Graduates ICT-literate as well as Information-

Literate: A basic foundational course in ICTs is essential at the graduate level and that for two
reasons: 1. ICT-literacy (including information literacy*) is essential at the graduate level (so that
if a student terminates education at the graduate level, should leave the university as an ICT-
literate person), and 2. The very valuable time thus saved could be very usefully utilized on
enhancing their core competencies in agricultural education, agricultural research and agricultural
extension, etc.
(*Information literacy has been defined as "the ability to know when there is a need for
information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the
issue or problem at hand." Check for details http://www.infolit.org/.

Lay Emphasis on Knowledge and Skills which Improve the Post-Degree Employability:
Has there been any any market survey to find out what knowledge, skills, attributes, and other
things (K,S,A,Os) are required? Your curriculum should be developed to meet this requirement.
(There is currently a big mismatch between what market wants and what our universities supply
as a result of which there is a serious unresolved paradox of unemployable graduates on one
hand and jobs going begging for suitable candidates on the other. Note that not every one will,
and depending upon her attitudes, should, go to study for the next higher degree- a B.Sc for
M.Sc, a M.Sc for Ph.D., etc. At every stage a student should have the option to exit the system
with high degree of employability). Note that I am not opposed to theory per se, which should be
taught, but would like your curriculum to lay emphasis on acquisition of practical knowledge and
skills as against acquisition of purely theoretical knowledge.

Existing Curriculum is Satisfactory but its Value lies in the Details: The existing
curriculum, by and large, is satisfactory but you have to work out the details. Make the
curriculum modular, that is, units, by whatever name called, should be logically sequenced but
free-standing. Also lay emphasis on "hands-on" experience and add one module on
existing/emerging tools of significance to agriculture, namely, call centres, email, online
discussion groups, blogs, wiki and social networking. Also include a lecture on history of
computer development and another lecture on history of e-governance in India during last 60
years (1947-2007). Success will depend upon how much up to date is your curriculum as
developments in ICTs are taking place at unprecedented speed but take care not to overload
curriculum or intimidate students.

Hope the above helps and all the best in your endeavour.

G K Agrawal, Independent Consultant, Mumbai

What is more important from farmers' point of view in Agriculture Information Technology
should relate to:
• Best cultivation practices
• Land use
• Use of fertilizers and quality seed
• Improving production and productivity
• Weather forecasts
• Change in cropping depending on the climate, rainfall etc.
• Remunerative price for products
• Reducing farm, transit and storage wastage
• Linking with commodity markets and information on upcountry market prices
• Information on state support and banking services/schemes
• e common services etc

K Rajasekharan, Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), Thrissur

The existing PGR Course content covers most of the potential areas. In a computer familiarity
course, the most important aspect is how you approach the subject rather than what is the
subject heading. For example Internet can be dealt with as a technological system by a
Computer Professional whereas it can be approached as a knowledge repository by
an Information Manager. The same topic can be dealt with in the classes totally with different
focus.

I had made an attempt to re-formulate the subject headings in the PGR Course content as
follows:

A suggested Curricula for Agricultural Information Technology

1. Computer, networks and emerging telecommunication technologies

2. Internet as a depositor and provider of information
3. Web server & website development technologies, including content development
4. Emerging trends in the file formats, multimedia technologies and diverse use of them in
agricultural education, research and productive enterprises
5. Remote sensing, GIS & MIS : Their uses in resource and land management in agriculture
6. Computer and information technology application in agricultural sectors like
• Learning and educational activities – use of presentations, easy ways to prepare
assignments
• Conducting E-learning courses using free software like moodle / Atutor etc
• Research activities , project management, statistical calculations, report writing etc
– existence of virtual/digital libraries as sources of information
• Dissemination of innovations to the farmers – divergent digital dissemination
possibilities
 • Farm management and agricultural production areas –expert systems etc
• Marketing of agricultural products – websites for market information dissemination
etc

What we right now require in computer familiarity courses is a bundle of so many associated
technologies rather than any specific sectoral technology at length as the emergence of
convergence of technologies is a key characteristic of our age. We should not teach them the
traditional subject like history of computers, history of development of Internet etc at length as
being followed in many courses. Information technology course should start with drawing the
attention of students on excellent and amazing practical applications and not on monotonous
areas. Otherwise it will spoil the interest of the students in IT.

Ajay Kumar, ClassApart.ORG, New Delhi

It is really great that you are looking out for feedback. I looked through the curriculum you
posted and am very happy with a lot of things. For instance it is very generic, and does not
mention specific software. This will be very helpful as the best software in every discipline keep
changing and the curriculum would not need frequent revision. However, there were also some
scopes for improvement that I could think of. I must confess, that I am not an agriculture
specialist, and hence may be off on some points.

Firstly, consider splitting it into two courses. One generic ICT overview course, and the second
delving a little deep into advanced but specialized things. The generic one can be shared with all
the departments, and the specific one can be used by budding agriculture scientists. I am going
to split my suggestions according to the basic/general and advanced/specialized skills. Under
every topic I try to mention some examples which can be used in the lab (No reason not to have
a lab with ICT courses).

Advanced / Specialized
• Land visualization and modeling
o Specific GIS techniques relevant to Agriculture
o Online maps and other tools - Yahoo / Google Maps; Google Earth
• Mathematical / Computer Modeling (or scenario planning)
o Spread Sheets - OpenOffice (Open Source); Excel (Proprietary); Google
SpreadSheets (Proprietary but free to use)
o Scientific Computing- Scilab (Open Source); (Open Source); Matlab (Proprietary);
Mathematica (Proprietary)
• Statistics
o The R language
o Scientific Computing (as above)

General / Basic Skills

• Multiple Operating Systems on same hardware
o Virtual machines - Virtual Box (Open Source); Xen; Virtuozo; UML (User Mode Linux)
Microsoft Virtual PC; QEmu
o Taking Snapshots of virtual machines
o Dual/Multiple Booting
o Emulation
¾ Linux on Windows - Cygwin; Mingw
¾ Windows on Linux - Wine
• Web - Passive Skills – Search; Translate
 • Web - Active Skills
o Personal Communication (1-1 Communication) - Email and Net-etiquette; Instant
Messaging and Emotions via icons; Voice over IP; Skype; GoogleTalk; Other
messengers
o Public Broadcasting (1-Many Communication) –
¾ Blogging – Text; Pictures; With Audio (Podcasting); With Video (Video
Blogging);
¾ Creating webpages - pages.google.com; geocities
o Working with communities (Many-Many Communication)
¾ Instant Messaging Segment- IRC Chat; Jabber rooms; Other multi user chat
rooms
¾ Participating in forums and discussion boards
¾ Editing Wikis
o Collaborative Working
¾ Screen Sharing – VNC; RDesktop; NetMeeting
¾ Document Sharing and Collaboration- Google Docs and SpreadSheets;
Revision Control – RCS; CVS; SVN etc.
• Easy multimedia production
o Screencasting : Recording a computer's screen as a movie - Wink (Proprietary but
free to use); XVidCap (Open Source); Istanbul (Open Source); Adobe Captivate
(Proprietary)
o Podcasting
o Recording using a webcam
o Various software
• Post production edit: Mencoder (Open Source); ImageMagic (Open Source); Adobe
Creative Suite (Proprietary);
• General Diagramming – Dia; Inkscape (SVG); Paint; Gimp;
• Data Visualization
o Graphing & Charting - Spread Sheets; OpenDX Data Explorer (Advanced topic);
Function Plotters (Geogebra, Dr. Geo, Kig, Kmplot, LabPlot etc.)

There are computer societies trying to create these courses. In addition, there are some MIT
OCW courses that you may want to look at:

• Information Technology Essentials

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-561Spring-
2005/CourseHome/index.htm
• Environmental Engineering Applications of Geographic Information Systems
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Civil-and-Environmental-Engineering/1-963Fall-
2004/CourseHome/index.htm
• Syllabus
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Materials-Science-and-Engineering/3-093Fall-
2006/Syllabus/index.htm
• Lecture Notes
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-
564Spring2003/LectureNotes/index.htm

Also look at 2006 Mississippi Curriculum Framework Information and Communication Technology
http://redesign.rcu.msstate.edu/ICT/ICTCurriculumDRAFT.pdf
Hope that helps. Let me know if I have not elaborated. Happy to clarify. Your challenge, I can
see, is going to be in keeping only the relevant stuff in the curriculum while covering the breadth.
Hope to see the final result.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this query!

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