FARMING AND ICT: ARE THEY BIPOLAR?
Savithiri Swaminathan and Krishnapillai Murugan

BACKGROUND

The World Bank Report(1991) shows that since 1950, the world's urban population has expanded from about three hundred million to 1.3 billion. An unrelenting annual growth of 4% adds about forty to fifty million new urban residents a year. Migration occurs primarily because of the perceived income gap between the rural agricultural sector and the urban industrialised/information sector. In other words, an important factor contributing to rural underdevelopment and subsequent migration has been the declining economic importance of the agricultural sector in terms of its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.

A reform agenda identifies the following five broad policy areas for improved growth and poverty reduction:

i) quality investment in human capital;
ii) Efficient financial markets;
iii) Enhanced legal and regulatory environment;
iv) Quality public sector and governance;
v) Fiscal strengthening.(The long March. World Bank, 1997)

Though this agenda has particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean, its relevance to all the developing countries including India cannot be denied. The thrust of the first of these is on institutional, incentive-based reforms of the
educational and health systems with a view to improving " the quality and efficiency of basic education and health services" and removing the " present-day biases against the poor. The agenda for education reform is particularly important to accelerate growth and reduce poverty...:"

Along these lines, the World Declaration of Higher Education states that " The potential of new information and communication technologies for the renewal of higher education by extending and diversifying delivery, and by making knowledge and information available to a wider public should be assured through international co-operation and support to countries that lack capacities to acquire such
tools. Adapting these technologies to national, regional and local needs and securing technical, educational, management and institutional systems to sustain them should be a priority." Not withstanding the fact that these statements have been made in the context of higher education, for obvious reasons, they do gain relevance in the present context of our discussion.

Further, we are now in a transitional period where everything seems to be in the realm of speculation. Adaptability, as propounded in Evolutionary Theories, or
proactivity, a more recent addition to the management repertoire, is but one key for survival in a situation that guarantees nothing beyond changes. One such change we wish to happen in our immediate context is that pertaining to curriculum planning/ developing/implementation/evaluation. No, the paper doesn't intend to provide here any profound message or curriculum where it belongs, at the pivot of open distance education operation, and not at the periphery of course design.

Up until the 1960's, education other than classroom teaching/learning was looked at with contempt. This trend persisted well into the early 80s though, by that time, open distance education, found the favour of many governments of the world primarily for politico-social and economics reasons. However, this mode of education continued to irk the purists and sceptics in the academia, who by their
wanton belief, felt that education at a distance is nothing short of keeping education at the distance. Nevertheless, society and education consciously forge a symbiotic
relationship, fostering required changes. If changes in the past had been sporadic and essentially a matter of personal choice, no one can risk a chance now, particularly since the late 1980s. Some of the changes, hitherto in the realm of
speculation, as those technological advancements that now impact our day to day life, are quite visible and discernible. Interestingly though, many of us take most of
them for granted, as they have increasingly become an integral part of our being, like breathing, for example.

Simply, more changes, though currently contemplative, partially visible or imperceptible consequent on the continuous growth of science and technology, in fact, are inevitable. Some of them may be unintended or natural; some
carellly engineered and some others may even evolve serendipitously.

Constant social changes, propelled by the phenomenal growth in information and communication technologies, do continuously bring the open distance mode under different perspectives and scrutiny. The ICDL data base(www-icdl.open.ac.uk) shows that, within a period spanning over just three decades, hundreds of institutions have embarked open distance education, offering thousands of courses at a distance. We have now a variety of models to choose from, each proffering compelling reasons for its presence. The concern now, therefore, is not so much with establishing the credibility or feasibility of open distance education, as
with benchmarking best practices to satisfy learner needs.

Put differently, the introduction of open distance education marked a major paradigm shift in the higher educational provision, and consequent on which, societies now better poised, than ever before, to tackle the menace of access
inequity. But in the process of structural and operational changes, learner needs, reflecting those of the societies in which they live, get embarrassingly relegated the
background. This necessitates a further shift in the current paradigm. The paradigm that is being envisaged/advanced keeps learner needs at the centre of curriculum, instead of skirting around them, as is the case now. And, learners need
not necessarily be those who are traditionally considered learners.

Open distance education institutions the world over are, willy-nilly, notorious for their slant towards course materials. And, it is customary to consider the rest
immaterial. For example, student servicing is generally conceived separately of curriculum design, thus obfuscating its role in the distance teaching/learning transaction. That is to say, once the materials are produced, an activity
involving a few academics, and where applicable education specialists, tutors are identified. Typically, these tutors may not have any inkling of the processes involved in developing materials for distance education contexts, and
conversely, the course producers do not demonstrate any interest in delivering the course. Role domains, thus, get compartmentalised: one group labouring the point that delivery is not its responsibility, and the other feeling that delivery is within its domain but not course conception. This disturbing bifurcation, i.e., looking at
curriculum design and student service in isolation, makes the distance teaching/learning process tedious, and contributes significantly to student, and sometimes staff, dissatisfaction.

Where are we in this global scenario? Can we make a difference by charting a new course of action? As open distance education in the new dispensation is still
evolving, the scope for making a departure from the bandwagon, or even an established order, to a more natural order of learner centred operation is wide, notwithstanding formidable challenges, if any. In doing so, we stand to gain
that elusive extra mile. Can we, including the top management at the Universities, think collectively about this, in order that ideas are translated into action?
Universities, think collectively about this, in order that ideas are translated into action? Widening the scope of the open education systems therefore is imperative and not a superfluous activity. It is in this sense that this paper projects farmers as a group that is not being reached by the open distance education systems in the country.

A Central Intelligence Agency(CIA), USA, reports states that India has about 160 million people in the age group of 15-19. Some whom may have education and are awaiting employment and some others may seek education. Besides, while educated unemployed in India is disappointingly high, employable education is embarrassingly low. Can't open distance education take these youth under its wing and provide them with appropriate skills, knowledge and attitude? One area of
skill/knowledge to focus on is agriculture/ farming. In India, agriculture is not paid much attention in the school curricula, leaving the youth and the adult alike with
misconceived notions. Though India enjoys self-sufficiency in terms of food, given the resources that it is endowed with, more needs to be produced for export facilitation a shift from sustenance to buoyant economy. Looking at from a
different angle, by addressing to this, misguided and frustrated(or is it the other way round) youth force can be channelled for national growth, adding as well value to individuals. Further, drawn by technology, even practising farmers are contemplating on abandoning farming. That it is no longer lucrative is another reason. Can't open distance education address to these issues?

FARMER EDUCATION AND ICT

Most of currently available open distance education programmes are academic in nature. Alongside this mammoth operation must expand in various ways, including
partnerships, to reach those who are hitherto unreached, such as far farming community. The scope of the courses for farmers, accordingly will be very wide, ranging from such highly sophisticated courses as genetic engineering to
agriculture literacy courses for empowerment, and quite a variety in between. The design/development and media-mix of each of such courses will obviously depend on the target clientele and the need of the hour. In other words, expansion of the kind suggested facilities flexibility in that just-in-time course, or even periodical workshops are possible.

In India, campus-based professional degrees in agriculture are available. But then, as in the rest of the world, technology transfer(or, rather lack of it), however,
continues to be a cause for concern. What worth is research, if the outcome is not translated into action? Put differently, do the farmers benefit out of the researches
carried out?

It is in this context that we suggest that courses that are directly relevant to farmers are not inappropriate. However, as mentioned, design questions need to be paid serious attention. For example, print cannot be the sole or main medium for such courses for the simple reason that print presupposes a certain degree of literacy on the part of the clients. This cannot be assumed when agricultural literacy
courses are prepared for farmers. Even otherwise, the content requirement is such, a suitable combination of media, or media-mix, is necessary to disseminate information effectively and quickly. Obviously, other technologies besides print, have to be explored. But then, neither can we assume the accessibility and affordability of technologies, however low-tech they may be. The operational knots, therefore, have to be judiciously removed.

AMBIVALENCE OF TECHNOLOGY

Arguments for or against the use of technology are not new. Industrial Revolution is but one, and telling example. The current evolution in ICT represents probably the most profound set of technological developments societies have
ever experienced since the Industrial Revolution. No wonder, therefore, compelling reasons are being put forward for or against technology is inherently inadequate: an obsolete technology in one context may find its use in another.
Technology is as powerful and effectively as the person(s) behind it. The key is resourcefulness and innovation on the part of the technology provider. Against this backdrop, the paper discusses the ambivalence of technology in the present
context, and raises a few operational questions that are to be addressed to, to ascertain the use of technologies for the purpose intended.

Diller(1995) cautions that " We have to resist media imperialism- the tendency to colonise, to define new technologies in terms of the old.... Redefine, don't if you
let it. But if you try to colonise it - if you try to cram your magazine through a phone jack and call yourself interactive- you'll get nowhere. Because you will not have thought through what it means to be interactive." This statement makes amply clear that lurking dangers of technological determinism of technology driven society, now is faster paced than ever before, and even to get going, one has to get right information at the right time. To acquire information and its dissemination, there is no way but to fall back on ICT. Instances also will reveal that, depending
on the way it is used, the new generation technology can be more cost-effective than the old ones: of course, not always. For example, Ravetand Layte(1997) ascertain that simple computers can now do the work of multimillion dollar
equipment: film editing, musical scoring, audio/visual streaming, morphing(for example, changing one person's face into another's) on a virtual movie set created from photographs or other images. They further add that " meteorologists no longer directly observe the sky, they make their forecasts based on information received from computers and satellite imaging." Doesn't it have implications for
farmers?

Adding to the power of the computers to the power of the old media will create a whole range of products and services. Before the computer age we gathered our information by reading, hearing and watching. This information was static,
recorded and frozen in the form of books, newspapers, broadcasts and films. Now, people are not just passive recipients but actors, able to change and personalise the content of information. This may be true, but what has it
got to do with a poor farmer? In particular, the information gap between rich and poor is stark. One of the least expensive (i.e., from the viewpoint of a developed nation) of the information and communication technologies, the telephone, illustrates just how far apart the rich and poor worlds are in access to such technologies. One quarter of the countries in the world still have fewer than one
telephone line per 100 people.

However, with the advancements in telecommunications, the number of computers with a direct connection to the Internet has risen from about 100,000 in 1988 to 36 million in 1998. About 88% of ICT users are in the industrialised economies,
which represent just 17% of the world's population, and English is used almost 80% of all web-sites, although less than one in 10 people worldwide speak that language. In the given scenario, technologies seem to divide countries of the
world, and people within countries. However, technologies (i.e., print, computers, audio/video cassettes, radio, telephone, broadcasting, satellite, videodiscs, cable, etc.) or media (text, audio/visual and computing) by themselves are not hostile to countries, but the countries which use them extensively are selective. International agencies should, therefore, work in partnership, and work towards ensuring the political will be both the developing and developed economics, and in turn equity. This is crucial, as most of these agencies have increasingly gained the dubious
distinction of being the promoters of the technologically developed world.

Breakthrough in ICT, if directed to meet the needs of people, can bring about advances for all of human kind. However, as Hawkridge(1995) points out transmissions by satellite as well as cable costs are high. High costs will
place access to superhighways beyond the reach of people on low incomes, or will force them to spend on this access, money they can ill afford. And, market forces are likely to oblige telecommunications companies to install superhighways
first where havy traffic is guaranteed and tolls can be collected. Acknowledging this fact, the UNDP's Human Development Report, 1999(www.undD.org) informs that markets can go too far and force out the non-market activities that
markets can go too far and force out the non-market activities that are so vital for human development. The Report also argues that " the network society is creating
parallel communication systems: one for those with income and education, the other for those without connections, blocked by high barriers of time, cost and uncertainty and dependent on outdated information."

In addition, as Kunda Dixit, Panos South Asia, asks, while acknowledging that technologies help disseminate " information faster than ever before, what is it that we are communicating? Is it relevant? Will it make the world a better place? And does all this information add up to knowledge"? (As quoted in the Advocate, October24, 1999).

The Rockfeller Foundation's Communications for social change a position paper (1999) suggests that " ICT has to inform and persuade people to adopt certain behaviours and practices that are beneficial to them. For example, ICT must
inform people how to protect themselves from HIV, to use a condom.....:" It must not simply enable people to know what they should do or think, on the lines of, for example, the BBC and the CNN. In other words, ICT must play an important
role in enabling people to take control over their own lives. If this basic premise is accepted, then the "how" and "what" questions follow.

ADDRESSING THE ISSUE

Recognising the limitations of the technology use is the first step towards moving forward. To take an analogy from the field of construction engineering, before any decision is taken in terms of the choice of ICT, "land" should be tested thoroughly in a project cycle fashion. Project cycles can be described as a commingling sequence of processes through which a project must pass from the initial idea to
the final completion, delivery and follow-up. To elaborate, an instructional project can be an undertaking that had to be planned and executed. To do so, among others, resources (need not necessarily be restricted to capital) must be identified and procured, commencement and completion dates adhered to and the parties, i.e., professionals involved, bound by a contract. The contract may be ethical in nature, or when necessary legal. The schema given below should demonstrate some of the processes involved in the instructional project cycle involving ICT:

To extend the analogy from the construction sector, during the pre-feasibility stage, such questions as the following assume importance:

* For whom is the project being executed or who are the clientele?

* Who is to provide content and service support?
* Does a demand exist for the project or will institutions have to launch
   aprogramme to influence the society?
* What is the size of the demand, and is it likely to grow/dwindle?
* Are there any competitors (and if there are, how to compete or work in
    tandem)?

In a more focussed way, the strategy for implementation of ICT for agriculture education in India should, inter alia, address the following issues:

* Should farmers be adopted by students of agriculture?
* Is there a possibility of creating model villages?
* Is there political support to establish community centres to house equipment?
* Are international agencies ready to provide required equipment?
* How to enlist the support of the telecommunications providers?
* Can we create a transfer of knowledge or type of curriculum that can be
   ttransported across societies easily and economically?
* What's in such a curriculum?
* Who are the trainers?
* How will they receive the information?
* Can we establish centres of learning that are based on local realities?
* How do we reach societies most in need of this knowledge but who have the
   smallest number of resources to access such training?
* Can villages/communities be adopted by institutions?
* How to integrate what is already available with what is being planned?(For
   example, in India, radio and TV programmers for farmers are not new. How to
   build other technologies around these?)

Questions of this type are not uncommon in educational contexts. Neither is the academic inertia to find out answers. In project cycles of the type under consideration, this cannot be tolerated. (Why should at all then one look for alternatives, if there is going to be a certain tolerant-level?)

Pre-feasibility questions are further explored in greater detail during the feasibility stage, where the relevance for the project for the various stakeholders in the society are looked into. In case, there are problems in meeting the
needs/demands of the stakeholders, the initial planning has to be revisited and accordingly, decisions are made as to whether the project is to be continued or shelved. And this process of decision making continues throughout the project
cycle stages. As in the construction project cycle, the in-service stage is equally important in the present context as well. The in-service stage demonstrates that certain critical factors must be entertained as early as the design/development and implementation stages. For example, the design/development stage should clearly state the period during which the project is intended to remain in service,
including a disaster or contingency plan, should the project develop some snags. Simply, as in construction, "repairs" and "maintenance" are to be carried out, when necessary, in order to serve the intended purpose.

The damage in terms of cost, human lives, etc., a structure is potential to cause, if proper repair works are not carried out, is not hard to describe. On the same lines, if the management of ICT is faulty, however insignificant, it damages education and individuals, each one of whose contribution is key to national development. There is, therefore, no room for complacency and tolerance stack up. Would we accept if a contractor/builder says that excepting for a two feet long hair-line crack on the wall, the new house he/she builds for you is splendid? Or that excepting for an inch hole in the dam, the rest is superbly built? Won't we fret and fume?

CONCLUSION

Open distance education in this context needs to be optimally exploited to serve our purposes. Constant social changes, propelled by the phenomenal growth in information and communication technologies, do continuously bring the open distance mode under different perspectives and scrutiny. The purpose intended should determine ICT, and not the other way round, which embarrassingly is customary particularly in the teaching/learning contexts. Technologies simply are a means, and certainly not an end, and, therefore, they should be used as such. At the same time, let us also keep in mind that the world will move on, perhaps without us, if we refuse to be proactive to changes. Reaching the unreached farmers is possible through ICT. Farmers as a group unreached is used in this paper because food security is no less significant than, for example, land, water and air/space security. Aren't the open distance education systems resourceful and innovative enough to take the challenge?(Extracts from an article published in the Conference papers at the VII Annual conference of Ilndian Distance and
Education association

Acknowledgements: Dr Neela Jagannathan Organising secretary
IDEA conference)