TEXTO:
How Smartphones Help Farmers ∈Rural India
In India, small farmers cultivate 50 percent of the
land, but they are often held back by inefficient methods.
The goal of the development project I work on is to help
spread information on agriculture among farmers through
[5] information technology. In 2009, I traveled to Devarahati,
a village three hours from Bangalore ∈ order to better
understand the situation.
At first glance, Devarahati’s residents seem to use
little technology. In fact, few things ∈ this poor community
[10] remind me of life ∈ the 21st century. No toilets are
available except for a foot-wide (0.3 meter) hole ∈ the
ground. Drinking water comes from a well. However, the
pump for the well can only be used during a six-hour
period each day when electricity is available.
[15] When one looks again, however, one sees signs of
20th century developments. A few homes that look like
they were constructed a thousand years ago have satellite
dishes. Plastic garbage covers the ground, and ∈ the
distance, two cell phone towers mark the age of mobile
[20] communication.
Mobile phones allow residents of rural India to
communicate with their families ∈ cities and obtain
information on market prices. They also provide
unexpected side benefits. As I am walking around the
[25] village, my translator Suma points out farmers wearing
earphones. According to her, they “don’t even have a SIM
card but just use their phones as music players.”
Suma seems upset that people ∈ her home
community use technology for such everyday activities
[30] as entertainment, but I’m thrilled. It is clear that people
are spending money on technology, charging their phones
when power is available, and using phones not designed
for illiterate people.
For our project, the mobile phone is the most
[35] promising way to spread information throughout the
farming community. The application we have developed
for touch-screen phones lets literate and illiterate farmers
share information about prices, seeds, fertilizers, and
pesticides. Touch-screen technology combined with
[40] sound and video enables illiterate people to use digital
information.
In a trial this summer, we hope to learn if and how
farmers ∈Devarahati will use this new technology ∈ their
decision-making. For farmers who do not own TVs, the
[45] mobile phone will probably become a source of
entertainment and serve as a flashlight during power cuts.
However, we hope that farmers will adopt agricultural
innovations if trusted peers have had good experiences
with them. Our goal is to use the word-of-mouth approach
[50] that locals trust, rather than coming into communities
and telling them what to do. It’s just that we’re using
technology to make word-of-mouth bigger and better.
Disponível em: <http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/05/mobilelearning- how-smartphones-help-illiterate-farmers-in-rural-india/>. Acesso em: 21 jul. 2016.
The author provides statistics about Indian farmers ∈ the first paragraph to
