Comments on: Farmers in a knowledge fair exhibition! http://aitecgroup.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/20/ Sharing ICT4D stories Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:15:50 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Maria Nakirya http://aitecgroup.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/20/#comment-13 Maria Nakirya Fri, 04 May 2007 08:29:39 +0000 http://aitecgroup.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/20/#comment-13 Thanks Abu,may be to answer some of your questions,these were our main objectives of the day: 1.To enable farmers to explore new market opportunities for their products.Atleast we were able to invite a few buyers from Kampala who attended the fair,and were able to contact farmers as the major producers. We were also able to get phone contacts of the leaders of market vendors who are willing to connect farmers to major genuine buyers who asured us of ready market in Owino of all crop types produced.These contacts were put up on the day's notice board and farmers were able to copy the numbers. 2.To expose the farmers to alternative ICT methods used by the CELAC project.This was achived especially to the new districts.And this was done mainly by: o Use of the mock radio program the farmers conducted them selves o The debate on whether mobile phones are useful to a grass root farmer. Where they concluded that they have done a lot using SMS and many learnt how they can use them for improved livelihood o The projector and the I river which most of them had never seen before.And by the end of the day we expect to put the voices recorded on CDs so as we give them out to different district networks for learning purposes. 3.To enable the farmers have face to face discussions with fellow farmers from other districts.Which we achieved and by now the farmers know each other and are able to contact each other on phones for extra farmer to farmer advice. 4.To encourage the farmers have a sense of competition so as they can realize better quality and more produce.This was witnessed when every district laboured to be the winner of the day and those who all along thought were the best realised there are better farmers than them and they all promised to work even harder. Farmers wrote their views on the noticeboard about the event and will be up soon at the CELAC website. Another reason for chosing the theme of the mobile phone is because its one of the cheapest medium of communication farmers can use to access market information and knowledge sharing.We wanted them to learn more about how they can use phones for improved livelihood.From the debate,they learnt alot about them,moreover it was led and conducted by farmers them selves. Thanks Abu,may be to answer some of your questions,these were our main objectives of the day:
1.To enable farmers to explore new market opportunities for their products.Atleast we were able to invite a few buyers from Kampala who attended the fair,and were able to contact farmers as the major producers.
We were also able to get phone contacts of the leaders of market vendors who are willing to connect farmers to major genuine buyers who asured us of ready market in Owino of all crop types produced.These contacts were put up on the day’s notice board and farmers were able to copy the numbers.
2.To expose the farmers to alternative ICT methods used by the CELAC project.This was achived especially to the new districts.And this was done mainly by:
o Use of the mock radio program the farmers conducted them selves
o The debate on whether mobile phones are useful to a grass root farmer. Where they concluded that they have done a lot using SMS and many learnt how they can use them for improved livelihood
o The projector and the I river which most of them had never seen before.And by the end of the day we expect to put the voices recorded on CDs so as we give them out to different district networks for learning purposes.

3.To enable the farmers have face to face discussions with fellow farmers from other districts.Which we achieved and by now the farmers know each other and are able to contact each other on phones for extra farmer to farmer advice.

4.To encourage the farmers have a sense of competition so as they can realize better quality and more produce.This was witnessed when every district laboured to be the winner of the day and those who all along thought were the best realised there are better farmers than them and they all promised to work even harder.

Farmers wrote their views on the noticeboard about the event and will be up soon at the CELAC website.

Another reason for chosing the theme of the mobile phone is because its one of the cheapest medium of communication farmers can use to access market information and knowledge sharing.We wanted them to learn more about how they can use phones for improved livelihood.From the debate,they learnt alot about them,moreover it was led and conducted by farmers them selves.

]]> By: Lillian http://aitecgroup.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/20/#comment-12 Lillian Thu, 03 May 2007 15:25:38 +0000 http://aitecgroup.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/20/#comment-12 Nice questions you have raised Abu! Answering one by one 1. Is there any lesson you drew from this event that you would like to share? Yes, I think this is covered this in paragraph 10, when i talk about the way these farmers diversify their produce to make other products like cakes, dougnats, soap and vaseline!! Something that I found quite interesting!! 2. How different was it from that of last year? This year's event was in many ways different from last year. First the deployment of the truck to provide the PA system spiced up the event, then second the use of the I-river to record farmers' interviews was another success to be recorded. Here is a link giving a more detailed account of the success story, this link also answers question 4, http://celac.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/the-knowledge-fair-that-was/ Our expectations were to get the farmers familiarise with each other as well as for them to meet other farmers at the same time expand their market base and i think this was achieved. We chose the theme around the mobile phone simply because this the main gadget used by the CELAC project as a means of communication with the farmers as far as knowledge sharing is concerned. That explains why the activity of the debate on whether mobile telephones have improved the lives of the rural grassroots farmers was carried out and some of the differing views have been given. Nice questions you have raised Abu!
Answering one by one
1. Is there any lesson you drew from this event that you would like to share? Yes, I think this is covered this in paragraph 10, when i talk about the way these farmers diversify their produce to make other products like cakes, dougnats, soap and vaseline!! Something that I found quite interesting!!
2. How different was it from that of last year? This year’s event was in many ways different from last year. First the deployment of the truck to provide the PA system spiced up the event, then second the use of the I-river to record farmers’ interviews was another success to be recorded. Here is a link giving a more detailed account of the success story, this link also answers question 4, http://celac.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/the-knowledge-fair-that-was/
Our expectations were to get the farmers familiarise with each other as well as for them to meet other farmers at the same time expand their market base and i think this was achieved.

We chose the theme around the mobile phone simply because this the main gadget used by the CELAC project as a means of communication with the farmers as far as knowledge sharing is concerned. That explains why the activity of the debate on whether mobile telephones have improved the lives of the rural grassroots farmers was carried out and some of the differing views have been given.

]]> By: Abubaker Basajjabaka http://aitecgroup.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/20/#comment-11 Abubaker Basajjabaka Thu, 03 May 2007 13:31:43 +0000 http://aitecgroup.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/20/#comment-11 This is a blow-by-blow account of what happened. Is there any lesson you drew from this event that you would like to share? How different was it from that of last year? Was this particular one well organised? Did you get the farmer's views about this event, whether it met their expectations if they had any? What were our expectations anyway? Why did we choose the theme around the mobile phone? This is a blow-by-blow account of what happened. Is there any lesson you drew from this event that you would like to share? How different was it from that of last year? Was this particular one well organised? Did you get the farmer’s views about this event, whether it met their expectations if they had any? What were our expectations anyway? Why did we choose the theme around the mobile phone?

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