Agriculture Business Information System - Jamaica

The Jamaican Agricultural Sector is challenged by the changes heralding the New World Order in which technological advances are used to propel the industry and new trading arrangements are being imposed under the banner of globalisation. Lack of adequate communication between the producers and the buyers has resulted in inadequate planning and ultimately an unstable market environment. This has led to increased importation of commodities, which are also locally produced, lack of information on improved production practices and increased competition in the marketplaces.

It is therefore necessary to link all the relevant participants in an Agriculture Business Information System (ABIS) in order to achieve a more structured and co-ordinated Agricultural Sector.

ICT and agriculture is a key socio-economic leverage sector in Jamaica. The need for ICT was identified as a crucial component in the strategy for the improvement of the production and marketing of agricultural commodities and domestic food products in particular. The small farmers in Jamaica are being forced to identify more with the needs of the marketplace and improve their quality and productivity in order to compete especially on the local market but also in the export markets.

Read more about IICD's Jamaica Country Programme.

The project produced the following results:

• Collection of information by field officers on producers and buyers (registry), production and marketing in the field with support of hand held computers with 100,000 registered producers 
• Development of a database updated by field officers on a 2-weekly basis with assistance of Bleuberries used by the 60 extension officers in Jamaica
• Development of RADA’s Intranet, accessible on parish offices
• Development of a set of automatically generated reports for specific target groups (producers, buyers, policy makers) presented on RADA’s Intranet
• Publication of selected information on RADA’s website
• Strategic information on E-business aspects.
  

The project has gained full attention of the Ministry of Agriculture to become a major tool in improving the production and marketing for both small farmers and operators in Jamaica.

The project aims to develop and implement an Information System that provides farmers better access to useful, timely and accurate agricultural information. The primary beneficiaries of the information system are at least 50,000 small farmers.

The primary development objective is to increase the efficiency of Jamaica's agricultural production and the competitiveness of agricultural products within the context of national and global agricultural markets through the provision of appropriate information. In detail the project will contribute to an increased articulation between the players in the sector. This leads to the reduction in wide agricultural surplus/shortage fluctuations and the growth in agricultural output. It also leads to a better utilisation of resources at the micro and macro level, an increase in profitability and a general modernization of agricultural management. On the longer term, it is expected that ABIS becomes a nation-wide information system. It is expected that the system will become an example for other developing countries, which can be replicated to other countries.

Read more about IICD's approach towards Livelihoods.

• Bureaucratic government structures and processes may substantially hamper progress
• Pilot project has contributed to awareness on ICT for development among partners, decision-makers & wider ICT for development community
• Pilot projects, even complicated, can become leading programmes if well embedded in government agencies such as the Rural Agricultural Development Agency (RADA)

Rural Agriculture Development Agency executive agency of the Ministry of Agriculture is the agency responsible for extension services to the agriculture sector. It operates regional offices from which extension officers provide assistance in production methods and market information to small farmers.