"[COOPEUMO farmers using DatAgro] can find out information about prices: supply prices, product prices, the weather, and what’s going on in international markets. It’s because today, everything that goes on outside Chile affects us too. When there’s an excess of production in one place, the prices go down here. Or when there is a sudden disaster or catastrophe somewhere else, the prices improve here. When demand goes up in China or India the prices here get better. Everything is related in this connected world, and small-scale farmers aren’t left out of that reality."

- Ricardo Danessi, Executive Manager, COOPEUMO

Sometimes simple a little bit of information can make a world of difference. To those that are geographically and digitally isolated, sometimes even the most basic information is hard to come by.

The DatAgro project is taking advantage of the high penetration rate of cellphones 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 Foundation for Agrarian Innovation, we have created content for distribution via SMS.

The system, which uses MIP technology created by DataDyne.org, is designed to work even over slow, less-than-GPRS 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.

DatAgro uses open source technology for farmers to use text messaging to access locally-relevant information that improves productivity--including market prices, local weather reports, agricultural information and news reports.

Background

Rural areas have proved especially difficult to connect to the Information 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.

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.

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 agrarian farmers.

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.

Entel PCS, a national Chilean telecommunications company, is helping to support the project with the technological platform, telephony equipment and competitive pricing for mass SMS messaging.

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.

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The DatAgro Project is the proud recipient of the Yahoo! Green Award and as one of the five laureates of the FACT Social Justice Award. Here are the announcements from Yahoo! and the French American Charitable Trust (FACT). For more information, click here.