Neil Patel: Jatan Certification System and Avaaj Otalo

Neil Patel, a CS PhD student at Stanford, visited my Designing Rural Computing Applications course on Tuesday. Neil is studying ICT in agriculture in rural Gujarat, India. He presented two projects he’s been working on: Avaaj Otalo and Jatan Certification System. Neil explained that most international certification systems are designed with a global standard in mind. The problem is that local farming practices are diverse – organic doesn’t mean the same thing in all countries. Additionally, certification systems often leave out smallholder farmers, as they often require the infrastructure provided by cooperatives and other organized farmer associations.

The Jatan Certification System is designed by farmers for farmers. The requirements of Jatan reflect the realities of organic agriculture in Gujarat, which is locally known as Sajiv Kheti (sustainable farming). Jatan includes farmers in the inspection process, but as appraisers rather than inspectors. These volunteers serve as mentors to farmers that are pursuing certification. Another important aspect of Jatan is that certification under this system is not binary (organic/inorganic), but rather scalar in three criteria: environmental sustainability, health, and social. Farms receive a sustainability score that recognizes farmers who are going above and beyond in their practices. Farmers believe that this will help them gain a market premium, but the concept is still too new for real metrics of the success of the program. Certificates are in the local language (different from most certification systems where the certificates are provided in a European language). I asked Neil about the cost to become certified. There is a nominal fee to join the system, somewhere in the hundreds of rupees (50 rupees = US$1), and Jatan will assist farmers who cannot afford this (this is similar to the Fair Trade certification financial requirements, where a nominal fee is required but a scholarship is available).

I was particularly interested in Neil’s second project: Avaaj Otalo. Avaaj Otalo is a project where farmers are exchanging agricultural information via mobile phones. This is very similar to a personal project I am pursuing. In Avaaj Otalo, a local radio program serves as a “development support center” for natural resource management information and communications. The information is broadcast as a radio program translated as “Network of NGOs” in English. This program is about 2 years old, and is a public state broadcast. In this system, farmers call into the program via a toll-free number (which is subsidized by the NGO) with a question or comment. The question or comment is then featured in the next broadcast of the radio program.

Avaaj Otalo is an example of a mechanism for the exchange of agricultural information. Other examples include Question Box and Kiwanja.net. I will integrate these projects in my next post, where I will also propose an ICTD project that I would like to pursue over the remainder of my graduate education (through May 2010).