1. ICT4RL session at IFAD event, Nanning, China, 1-3 Nov 2010 B.Batpurev CEO, InfoCon Co.,Ltd Email: batpurev@infocon.mn / Website: www.infocon.mnbatpurev@infocon.mnwww.infocon.mn Mongolia 1

2. Mongolian Rural families Herders – 170,000 families or 400,000 people 60% are young people below 35 years old Farmers – 130,000 families or 300,000 people Mongolia: Land - 1,564,115.75 km 2 ; Population - 2,736,800 ; GDP (ppp) per capita - US$3,481 2

3. Mongolian Agriculture sector in a glance 600 000 hector land has been processed for crop, wheat and vegetable production out of 1.2 mln hector land The output of livestock production comprises 86.5% of the total output of agricultural production 100% of potato need is provided domestically 20% of milk need is provided domestically 50-97% of vegetable and crop needs are provided domestically 40.9% of GDP, 58% of total employment Total livestock has reached over 50 million herds by 2009 Source: Dugarjav Ganpurev, FIFTA 3

4. Harvested Area and Collected Harvest of Wheat The output of livestock production comprises 86.5% of the total output of agricultural production Source: Dugarjav Ganpurev, FIFTA 4

5. Planted Field and Collected Harvest of Potatoes The output of livestock production comprises 86.5% of the total output of agricultural production Source: Dugarjav Ganpurev, FIFTA 5

6. Planted Field and Collected Harvest of Vegetables The output of livestock production comprises 86.5% of the total output of agricultural production 6

7. Policy documents and national programs in Agriculture sector The output of livestock production comprises 86.5% of the total output of agricultural production Government Policy on Food and Agricultural Sector (2003)Development Strategy of Agricultural Sector (2006-2015/ADB)Comprehensive National Development Strategy (2008)Government Action Plan (2008-2012)“Crop -3” National Program for Rehabilitation of Agriculture(2008)“ Food security” program (2009)“State policy towards herders” (2009)“Industrialization” program (2009) 7

8. Examples of ICT4RL projects… 8

9. Prepares fortnightly report on pasture and agriculture land Growth of Pasture land 100kg/hector Tickness of snow, centimeter Pasture land usage/grazed 9

10. New technologies for ICT4RL Share information among PIU and other interested parties. New technologies. It allows all levels of website users to create their own content at ease. It is must to train people who are the main producers of content. ICTs help project results dissemination and networking Attach the website to Government’s ICT center. Which eliminates ICT support task from project. Stats since 2007: Total visitors: 146,755 Of 38,959 (27%) returning visitors Total page views: 581,119 10

11. Price/Market watch project Objective of Roaming Business is to improve the flow of business related information to nomadic rural communities in Inner and Outer Mongolia. Specific objectives: Apply new ICT business information developments in support of dispersed nomadic rural communities, encouraging business-related information seeking behaviour amongst the sector Strengthen the flow of information of nomad products between regions and Inner Mongolia and Mongolia Create for the dissemination of the project results in other Asian countries and regions, such as PRCs Xinjiang Autonomous Region, and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan). 11

12. “Business Information Agency” system architecture 1 – Linux, Apache MySql, PHP and Drupal 2 – CENTOS, Asterisk, MYSQL, PHP and PHPAGI 3 – Mobigator for SMS and IVR 12

13. “Business Information Agency” SMS system User sends/receives SMS to special number – 95960550, 95970550 and 99013039 One SMS costs ~ 1.5 US cent Total number of users – 1300 – Uvurkhangai – 200 – Dornogobi – 240 – Khuvsgul – 300 – Khovd -260 – Khentii – 200 – Other provinces – 100 http://www.bia.mn/en/sendsms 13

14. “Business Information Agency” Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system Integrated Voice Response (IVR) – 95960550, 95970550 and 99013039 Outgoing call Incoming call Leave voice message Call redirecting Place a call based on special SMS Send special SMS after call 1 minute calling costs ~ 4.5 US cent – http://www.bia.mn/en/ivrs http://www.bia.mn/en/ivrs 14

15. Lessons learned The result is that the SMS was mixed as the website is working, but the cost of managing and using the software is an issue. The 3,000 client database was not a viable business model for local private business or NGO The result of the IVR system was mixed. The concept and execution was good, but the deployment to usage was slow. Due to developer from India: The internet connectivity was slow and thus during deployment the development meet many issues 15

16. Conclusion Problems in rural livelihoods can be solved by ICT. – But to implement ICT we have to find the right technology that can be accessed by the users. Rural people are facing a digital divide, – do not have infrastructure (network, PC etc.,), – Appropriate information systems (web, software etc.,) – Lack of relevant content. – Lack of computer literacy etc., 16

17. Thanks for your attention Any questions welcome Contact me at batpurev@infocon.mnbatpurev@infocon.mn www.infocon.mn 17