Datagro Project Short

DATAGRO

Supporting Agricultural Production in Chile with SMS Rural areas have proved especially difficult to connect to the ‘Knowledge Society’ due to their low population density and the generally low-income levels of rural populations that, together, make it difficult for market solutions to connectivity to emerge. Overcoming the ‘digital poverty’ of rural areas, however, is an urgent challenge that receives particular attention in Chile, where social equity (and therefore digital equity) is a major governmental focus and rural food production and exportation is such an important part of the economy. We are taking advantage of the high penetration rate of cell phones in Latin America to allow rural farming cooperatives in Latin America, beginning with Chile, to define the types of information most critical to their lives and livelihoods and receive it via text messages. Based on extensive consultations with the Chilean cooperative performed by project partner FIA, the Fund for Agrarian Innovation, we have created content for distribution via SMS in the following areas: • Agricultural Innovation: technical agricultural information to increase crop yields or decease expenses; • Emergency Alerts: Urgent messages regarding changes such as unexpected temperatures, or earthquakes; • Micro-climate Weather: Accurate, hyper-local weather conditions and forecasts as reported by 100 new weather monitoring stations currently being created by FIA; • Coopeumo: News and messages from the local farming Cooperative of Peumo (COOPEUMO); • News: Locally relevant news gathered from web-based RSS streams and forwarded in the form of SMS messages.

The system, which uses MIP technology created by DataDyne.org, is designed to work even over slow, less-thanGPRS networks, by using the latest techniques in data compression/decompression to transmit and receive by enhanced SMS. This aspect of the project, by allowing viewing of news and information on commonly used cell phones, will enormously expand the population able to benefit from the system. Partners: Project Implementing Organization The Zoltner Consulting Group (ZCG) is a Santiago-based small business dedicated to the creation and implementation of initiatives involving the innovative appropriation and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to promote human and economic development and social inclusion processes. ZCG played a large role in project design, and is leading the pilot project implementation and management in a rural, agricultural region of Chile. (Pilot) Project Supporting Organizations FIA, the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation, is a Chilean governmental agency that works closely with agrarian communities to understand their information interests and needs and to locate, edit and/or create appropriate content to meet those needs (resulting in the creation of micro-weather stations, for example). FIA is therefore a key partner responsible for sending a content stream of locally relevant information to rural agricultural producers. UNESCO, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is responsible for financial support, and the provision of educational content for rural agricultural producers. Coopeumo is a local agrarian cooperative of fruit farmers in the town of Peumo, and responsible for the local implementation of the project among cooperative members. National Chilean newspapers El Mostrador and El Mercurio are responsible for sending up-to-date news feeds, for which users will be able to choose preferred news streams.
 Contact: Meghan Cagley, DataDyne.org 1804 Vernon St NW, Washington, DC. 20009 USA Email: info @ datadyne.org

Phone: +202-470-0810

Fax: + 202-986-0799

Web: www.datadyne.org John Zoltner, The Zoltner Consulting Group Elena Blanco 973-D, Santiago, Chile Email: info @ zoltner.com Phone: +56-2-895-6922 (Chile) Phone: +202-657-4239 (Washington, DC) Web: www.zoltner.com •