Agricultural Information System Program and Environmental Management

Sherine. F . Mansour*

doi:10.37591/joeecc.v10i3.4466

Abstract

Some countries use agricultural information systems to assist various users, including planters,researchers, prospective buyers, importers and exporters. First apps that came to light inMobile devices were social media and different entertainment channels. They are usedextensively by the people for communication, music, entertainment, Internet and socialnetworking. There is a lack of applications, which can be really useful for professionals toimprove their working capabilities. Though people living in rural areas use mobile phones,there are hardly any relevant applications for them to improve their productivity. We areproposing to implement a farmer’s information system which can be operated on their mobilephones. Information that can be made available through such an information system includescrops and intercrops, details of their production and export, crop and intercrop diseases,availability of land, suitability for soil, fertilizer, research institutes, and research. Most of thisinformation is in the form of statistical data and facts about these crops and products made outof them. The system is an effort to fill the gap between farmers and agricultural extension. Afarmer can provide inputs related to crops being cultivated and location-specific informationto get specific suggestions, alerts, and recommendations to improve productivity. And send textmessages to participating farmers guiding them throughout the planting season. Whenever afarmer observes some anomalous behavior for crops or climate, the system is able to generaterecommendations based on inputs provided. This digital divide may be attributed to low literacylevels, and/or ownership or control of mobile phones. The research has been conducted on thefour largest villages: El Monira, Boulak, El Sherka, Nasser Al-Thawra, and Sana’a. A simplerandom sample of 140 respondents from the farmers’ wives (5%) was selected and chosen fromthe five selected villages they were 38, 33, 32, 26, 11 respectively. The final data for thisresearch were collected through the personal interview with the respondents through aquestionnaire form during July and August 2017. Pearson coefficient, the relational analysismodel, and the progressive step-wise were used in analyzing the data. Numerical count,percentages, mean, and standard deviation were used to display some of the results. Theservices significantly influenced the farmers adobe modern agricultural methods (p<0.01). Atleast 40 percent of registered farmers became interested in adapting users to this program,finding it to be a reliable and accurate source of farm knowledge. Results raise two issues;firstly, how mobile services can be designed to best fit differences in gender and social realities;and secondly, how mobile services can be effectively monitored to ensure messages are beingreceived by targeted users. It is highly beneficial to agriculturists in that it efficiently addressesreal problems associated with the production of food and fiber and can help the producersdevelop environmentally sustainable production systems.