CAMBODIA / SOFTWARE RICE EXPORTS

Cambodia is a small country with big goals – it plans to become a major rice exporter by the end of 2015. This means almost tripling their current exports.   But how can struggling rice farmers step up their production when they often barely produce enough to feed their children? Surprisingly, the answer may be found in software. IFAD

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:09
• Production Date: 6 September 2014
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT - IFAD
• Subject Topical: AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; FISHING; SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
• Geographic Subject: CAMBODIA
• MAMS Id: 1160581

Description

STORY: CAMBODIA / SOFTWARE RICE EXPORTS
TRT: 3:09
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / KHMER/ NATS

DATELINE: 8-11 AUGUST 2014, KANDAL PROVINCE, CAMBODIA

Shotlist

1.Wide shot, farmers in rice field
2.Close up, woman planting rice
3. Med shot, women planting rice
4.SOUNDBITE(English)H.E. Mam Amnot, the Secretary of State from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries:
"To reach the goal as a major exporting country there has to be a major contribution by the farmers."
5.Close up, Mut Sukha harvesting rice
6.Wide shot, Mut Sukha harvesting rice
7.SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Mut Sukha, Rice Farmer:
"The rice we farm doesn’t fully support my family for the whole year, so sometimes it is really difficult to earn a living. It's hard for us to find any way to solve this."
8.Med shot, entrepreneur showing Mut Sukha software on tablet
9.Close up, software on screen of tablet
10.Close up, Mut Sukha looking at tablet
11.Wide shot, Srinivas Garudachar typing on laptop near rice field
12.Close up, laptop screen selecting early wet season
13.SOUNDBITE(English)Srinivas Garudachar, Director of Strategic Business Development, Grameen Intel Social Business:
"When you talk about technology, what we bring to the table is software that solves small problems that are encountered in each part of the crop cycle for the farmer."
14.Close up, Srinivas Garudachar in training room
15.Wide shot, experts in training room
16.Close up, screen and instructor in training room
17.Med shot, expert using software on laptop
18.Close up, of laptop screen selecting reproductive crop
19.SOUNDBITE (English)Sakphouseth Meng, IFAD Country Programme Officer for Cambodia:
"We use the IT system to bring the connection between the farmer and the expertise people who are at the capital level."
20.Med shot, tilt down entrepreneur showing tablet to the farmers
21.Close up, software on tablet screen
22.Wide shot, entrepreneur testing soil, farmers watching
23.Wide shot, entrepreneur looking at soil test results in test tube
24.Close up, test tube and colour chart
25.Close up, Mut Sukha listening
26.SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Mut Sukha, Rice Farmer:
"I have one dream. It is to work hard and to have a better living standard. I want to focus on my children's future and I hope they can get a higher education and get a good job."
27.Close up, Mut Sukha drying rice
28.Wide shot, Mut Sukha drying rice

Storyline

Cambodia is a small country with big aspirations. By the end of 2015 it aims to become one of the world's major rice exporters - which means it will have to almost triple exports of milled rice in the next sixteen months. How does it plan to do this? The solution might come from a surprising place.

"To reach the goal as a major exporting country there has to be a major contribution by the farmers," says H.E. Mam Amnot, the Secretary of State from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

But for rice farmer, Mut Sukha, it is often a struggle to feed her family with what she produces, let alone grow more for export. "The rice we farm doesn’t fully support my family for the whole year, so sometimes it is really difficult to earn a living. It's hard for us to find any way to solve this."

But one solution can be found on a simple tablet or laptop. On it there is software that agriculture experts hope will help Sukha, and others like her, to become better farmers. This software is the brainchild of Srinivas Garudachar from Grameen Intel Social Business – which was set up by technology giant Intel Corporation to respond to global social problems. He says: "when you talk about technology, what we bring to the table is software that solves small problems that are encountered in each part of the crop cycle for the farmer."

Intel may know a lot about technology, but they know nothing about agriculture. So they joined forces with the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) who brought together agricultural experts from around the world to devise an easy to use, step-by-step programme to analyse soil, determine fertiliser requirements, advise on best seeds and deal with pests and diseases.

The people trained to use the software are known as "entrepreneurs". Although they are not experts themselves, the software gives them immediate access to a pool of specialists and all the knowledge they need is at their fingertips. Sakphouseth Meng is IFAD's Country Programme Officer. "We use the IT system to bring the connection between the farmer and the expertise people who are at the capital level."

So the entrepreneurs visits farmers in their areas and they analyse the farms by following the questions asked by the software. The software taps into the database to make recommendations, even locating the closest suppliers of the required inputs. Mut Sukha never had her soil tested before today. She was surprised to learn that she is using far too much fertilizer which has cost her a lot of money and has made the soil far less productive.

Grameen Intel is already using similar software in India, where it has helped farmers increase their production by around 300 per cent. The Cambodian Government hopes these kinds of results will help it realise its export goals. For Sukha, the goal is more personal. "I have one dream. It is to work hard and to have a better living standard. I want to focus on my children's future and I hope they can get a higher education and get a good job."

This week was the first trial of the software in Cambodia. In the next few months it will be launched in 500 locations, reaching more than 25,000 farming families.