ICT Initiative of SAARC Agriculture Centre in the SAARC Region

South Asia is the home of nearly 1.42 billion people-one-fourth of the world population, living on 2 percent of the world’s income. Nearly 50 percent of its people live below poverty level-at less than a dollar a day. Most farmers operate on small farms. About 80 percent of the farms have an average size of 0.6 ha. Average farm size in some countries is much less than the region's average. Agriculture in the SAARC countries forms the major economic sector that provides livelihood to about 70%-80% of the population, employs about 60%-70% of the work force, and contributes between 24% and 50% to GDP. With continuing population growth and a fixed land base, small farms are getting smaller. Much of the small farms are perhaps too small to be productive and supportive of sufficient livelihood for the families that they support. The small-farm agriculture in the SAARC region is therefore unable to compete in the global market. The impact of trade liberalization on small farms apparently seems to be adverse as they are to compete with the developed country's highly subsidized agricultural produce. Technological revolutions in the last few decades and the consequential changes in the agriculture systems accelerated its cropping intensity in the current century. The developments in Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet in particular have revolutionized the entire Agriculture field, generating new market, changing the structure of the Agriculture distribution channels and re-engineering all processes. ICT in Agriculture sector is of special significance and plays a vital role due to the transformations relating to the delivery of services as well as agricultural products. Accordingly, various high tech information and communication technologies are in use in the agriculture sector around the world. These technology ranges from the agricultural product development, marketing, distribution to training agriculture sector personnel etc. The demand for agricultural information is now stronger than ever before. Worldwide, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become invaluable tools for agricultural research and development. SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) proposes that ICT needs to be conceptualized in its many facets, perceptions, and in its manifold impact in farming societies. SAARC Agriculture Centre (SAC) has been striving to foster such research partnerships among institutions and other stakeholders in the SAARC region. The Centre initiated ICT based Network and developed regional networking of stakeholders through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and establishment of specialized agricultural knowledge system. SAC empowers farmers providing market information and forecasts. Agricultural research has greatly contributed to increased food production in the member countries of SAARC. This Centre plays a vital role in identifying the gap in livelihood means, poverty, awareness etc. between the urban and the rural area of the SAARC region. This paper tries to highlight some of the areas where the SAARC member countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) should concentrate so that all the members can become beneficiary of agricultural information through ICT based information system. The paper discusses different technology usage from the perspective of agricultural research, extension, product processing and marketing. The findings reveal potential growth of the agriculture sector in SAARC countries through the use of ICT.