Digital Green uses social organization and
technology to improve the efficiency of
extension systems globally
DG Offices
DG Partners
DG Academic
Collaborations
WHERE WE WORK
Information Sources for Farmers in India
% farm households (n = 51,770)
Other progressive farmers
Salesmen (e.g., fertilizer, pesticide)
Radio
Television
Newspaper
Extension worker
Cooperative
Buyer
Government demonstration
Others
0
5
10
15
20
Main source of information about new technology and
farm practices over the past 365 days (India: NSSO 2005)
3
Digital Video for Extension
Video provides…
– Resource-savings: human, cost, time
– Accessibility for non-literate farmers
4
Early Experimentation
Early
Experimentation
Parameters
Varied
Background
Backgroundof
ofactors
actorsin
in video,
video, Types
Types of
of content,
content,
Six and
months
in field
trying various
combinations
Location
of
Method
of
Location
andtiming
timing
ofscreening,
screening,
Method
ofdissemination,
dissemination,
of
Background
of
etc.
Degree
ofmediation,
mediation,
Background
ofmediator,
mediator,
etc. design
Over 200Degree
days of surveys,
ethnographic
investigation,
and iterative
5
Initiation
Mobilization
Situational
Awareness
Training
Production
Topic
Identification
Storyboarding
Shooting
Editing
Diffusion
Dissemination
Adoption
Reporting
Digital Green: Early Results
7 times more adoptions over Training & Visit model
Mediation
90
80
Social homophily between mediator,
actor, and farmer
Desire to be “on TV”
Trust built from identities of farmers and
villages in videos
70
60
Classic GREEN
50
40
30
20
Digital Green
10
0
Apr-07
May-07
Jun-07
Jul-07
Aug-07
Sep-07
Oct-07
Nov-07
Dec-07
Jan-08
Feb-08
Mar-08
Apr-08
May-08
Jun-08
Cumulative
Integration into existing extension
operations
Adoption Rate (%)
Repetition (and novelty)
15 months:
13 villages, 3 nights a week, 1,000 regulars
7
Cost-Benefit
System
Cost (USD)
Adoption (%)
/Village/Year
/Village/Year
Cost/Adoption
(USD)
Training & Visit
$840
11%
$38.18
Digital Green
$630
85%
$3.70
Note: Decreasing amortized cost of hardware with time and scale
digitalGREEN is at least 10 times more effective
per dollar spent than a Training & Visiting system
8
8
Initial assessment
$250
$200
$150
$243 incremental increase in farmer
income over 8 months
$100
$50
$0
Jun-10
-
Jul-10
Aug-10
Sep-10
Chili Nursery
Chili Line System of Rice Bitter Gourd
Raising, Beans Sowing, Beans Intensification Pest & Ginger
Line Sowing
Fertilizer
Rot
Application
Management
Oct-10
_
Nov-10
Dec-10
Potato Line
Improved
Sowing,
Onion Seed
Tomato
Intercropping
Jan-11
Improved
Poultry
Rearing
Analytics
analytics.digitalgreen.org
Videos
videos.digitalgreen.org
Digital Green’s next 3.5 years in India
National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)
Bill Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)
• From 2000 villages to 10,000 villages
• From 200,000 farmers to 1 million farmers
• Increase their production by 20%
• Decrease their production costs by 15%
Digital Green work beyond NRLM
– Research and learning grant from DFID
– Test model in low-income countries
– Moving into health and nutrition domains
• Nutrition and agriculture domain based
convergence – research-based conferences
• Virtual Training Institute
– Internal cadre of master trainers on video
production and dissemination techniques
• Formative research / RCT design for ongoing
programs
Thank you