1 Digital Green –Video and mediated instruction for agriculture extension Outline

22 Agriculture Extension Dissemination of expert agriculture information and technology to farmers “Training & Visit” extension popularized by the World Bank in 1970s –Face-to-face interactions of extension officers and farmers 100,000 extension officers in India –Extension agent-to-farmer ratio is 1: 2,000 –610,000 villages in India with average 1,000-person population Typical extension officer salary is Rs. 4,000 per month Extension officer “commuting” between farms

3 ? ? Main source of information about new technology and farm practices over the past 365 days (India: NSSO 2005) Agricultural Social Networks 3

44 How can the speed and effectiveness of agriculture extension be improved at a reasonable cost? The Problem Extension officer on-field demonstration

55 Video provides… –Resource-savings: human, cost, time –Accessibility for non-literate farmers Digital Video for Extension

6 Six months in field trying various combinations Over 200 days of surveys, ethnographic investigation, and iterative design Background of actors in video, Types of content, Location and timing of screening, Method of dissemination, Degree of mediation, Background of mediator, etc. Background of actors in video, Types of content, Location and timing of screening, Method of dissemination, Degree of mediation, Background of mediator, etc. 6 Early Experimentation Parameters Varied Early Experimentation

77 Digital Green System 1.Participatory content production 2.Video database 3.Mediated instruction 4.Structured sequencing

8 Participatory Content Production 8 Digital Green System Introduction to innovations –Standard extension procedure Rough “storyboarding” –Repetitive pattern; easy to learn –Minimize post-production Local farmers on their own fields –Reduce perception of “teachers” –Promote “local stars”

99 Digital Green System Video Database Online video database ( >250 videos of ~8 minutes each Quality-control, minor video editing, and metadata tagging Indexed by type, topic, locale, season, crop, etc. Distributed via DVD

10 Digital Green System Mediated Instruction Local mediator –Performance-based honorarium Human engagement –Field questions, capture feedback, encourage participation –Balance genders On-demand screenings –Choice time and place –Not “stand-alone” kiosk Support and monitoring –Daily metrics and feedback –Official extension staff

11 Digital Green System Structured Sequencing Group Participation Practices with longer-term visible rewards Practices with short-term visible rewards Community Assessment Audience Awareness Season Location Time

12 20 villages in Karnataka: –Language: Kannada –Crops: Ragi, banana, mulberry, coconut –Population: households –Irrigation: households with access –Television: households Metrics: –Knowledge: Before-and-after –Attendance: Farmers at each screening –Interest: Intent to take-up a practice –Adoption: Number of households taking up each new farming practice or technology 12 Experimental Set-Up Preliminary Evaluation Expert Extension Officer Farming Community Research Assistant Local Mediator Poster Green(4) Same as Digital Green with local mediator, but no TV/DVD Mediator makes posters and holds regular group sessions Classical GREEN (8) Same as usual Digital Green (8) 3 sessions per week Cost: Rs. 9,500 ($240) for TV/DVD per village PC / camera costs shared Extension officer shared Mediator salary Accountability: Daily metrics and feedback Official extension staff 9-month study

13 7 times more adoptions over classical extension 13 9 months: 12 villages, 3 nights a week, 1,000 regulars Sustained local presence Mediation Repetition (and novelty) Integration into existing extension operations Social homophily between mediator, actor, and farmer Desire to be “on TV” Trust built from identities of farmers and villages in videos Digital Green: Early Results

14 System Cost (USD) /Village/Year Adoption (%) /Village/Year Cost/Adoption (USD) Classical GREEN$84011%$38.18 Digital Green$63085%$3.70 Poster Green$49059%$4.15 Cost-Benefit 14 Note: Decreasing amortized cost of hardware with time and scale Digital Green is at least 10 times more effective per dollar spent than classical extension!

Network Effect Viral Web 2.0 in the Web-less world - Content ecosystem: education, entrepreneurship, entertainment - Cost-realistic access: TVs, DVD players, and camcorders Reinforce existing social networks to diffuse innovations through communities Local “idol” competitions to be a better farmer Digital Green System 15

16 At reasonable cost, potential ten-fold increase in effectiveness of agriculture extension via Digital Green Current one-year experiment to isolate the effects of DG “social engineering” Future work - Research Create more motivational “currency”, without money Improve mediation by annotating videos Build instant feedback mechanisms Develop an easy-to-use platform for sharing content - Practical Spin-out an independent NGO to scale Digital Green Discussion Gandhi, R., R. Veeraraghavan, K. Toyama, V. Ramprasad. Digital Green: Participatory Video for Agricultural Extension, in Proc. IEEE/ACM Int’l Conf on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD2007) and in Proc. Annual Meetings of American Society of Agronomy (ASA, CSSA, and SSSA), 2007.