Airtel brings technology to farming community |17 October 2013

Airtel brings technology to farming community the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between telecommunication company Airtel and the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA) was the highlight of activities organised yesterday to mark World Food Day.

The signing of the agreement between Airtel’s chief executive Vikram Sinha and SAA’s principal extension officer Gilbert Port-Louis on behalf of the chief executive of SAA Marc Naiken took place at the Anse Boileau Agricultural Research Station.

The MoU marks a new phase in advancing communication to the farming community by equipping the traditional extension services with another tool to get important messages to and from the farmers, especially those who are remotely scattered. This is through short SMS phone text messages.

The project is an initiative of the Commonwealth of Learning ‘Life Long Learning for Farmers’.

Earlier this year the SAA officers received a series of training on how the programme works.

After the agreement for the programme was formalised with Airtel, farmers present were able to receive their first text message.

The principal secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources Michel Nalletamby, senior officials from the same ministry, farmers and school children had all gathered in the early morning sun at the Anse Boileau Agricultural Research Station to witness the event and partake in the open day which the SAA had organised.

Two agriculture experts namely Serge Rwanasirabo, an agro-economist and Yoseph Shiferaw, an expert in livestock policy, here to help the Ministry of Natural Resources with its livestock policy, also took part in the activities.

The open day also comprised an exhibition showcasing the work of the different units within the SAA, the Health Ministry’s nutrition unit, the Seychelles Agricultural and Horticultural Training Centre (SAHTC) and the farmers in the district.

The farmers had brought to sell to the visitors various food crop saplings, fruits and vegetables and other goodies like cassava and banana cakes and fruit juices.

Visitors were also able to buy vegetables as well as saplings from the Research Station.

Speaking after signing the MoU, Mr Sinha said Seychelles is the third country after Uganda and Kenya where Airtel has partnered with the farming community to improve communication between farmers and their extension officers.

“One of my key objectives is to make sure that whatever new technology there is across the world, we get it to Seychelles also,” stressed Mr Sinha.

“Seychelles is a small but powerful country and I firmly believe if people are given the opportunity of technology to boost their productivity, they can be anyone they want to be,” said Mr Sinha.

He said the SMS initiative is only a first step and his company is committed to doing whatever it can to stand by the farming community to help farmers achieve their objectives.

For his part Mr Nalletamby called on everyone present at yesterday’s event to remember the plight of some 900 million young and old people who are suffering from acute hunger and malnutrition in this technology advanced world.

“Here today we contemplate our role and contributions which can help alleviate this world’s scourge.

  We are working on all fronts – from policy and institutional dimension to capacity-building and enhancing of knowledge of food producers who are the core beneficiaries of any gains which would be made in the food production sectors,” he said.

He stressed that his ministry is tapping into available opportunities which are being presented to us as the food producing sectors badly require investment to revive the many public infrastructure which support food producers.

“This commitment to revive the agriculture sector will necessarily engage partners locally and internationally as we have recognised that we cannot do it alone,” he added.

To that effect he welcomed and thanked Airtel for having confidence in this new partnership.

After touring the exhibition and partaking in other activities, Mr Nalletamby and his delegation went to the Anse Boileau secondary school where together with the two visiting agriculture experts and officials from his ministry they planted various rare fruit trees which the SAA had donated to the school.

“Through this gesture on this symbolic day, we have planted the seeds for our future. We hope that this initiative will inspire our young people to consider a career in agriculture as they nurture the saplings to maturity,” said Mr Nalletamby.
   
The fruit trees include strawberries, mulberries, grenadilla, custard apples, among others.

The head teacher of the school Mariette Esparon said the fruit trees have come as a new addition to embellish the school’s heritage garden which already has tamarind and guava trees, among others.

Following the tree planting, Mrs Esparon led the guests to view an exhibition put up by the school’s four house clubs.

They had each produced an assortment of artefacts and foodstuffs from a particular food crop and these included bananas, sweet potatoes and coconut.