An EBS-Spice Joint Endeavour

Bangladesh Rural
Portal
Extending the power of information to agrarian communities of
Bangladesh

Product Note
Version 1.0
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Scope.................................................................................................................. 3
2.1 Agriculture in Bangladesh: The Information Challenge ................................4
2.1.1 The Imperfections in Agriculture Eco-system Often Leads to
Exploitation of Farmers:..................................................................................4
3.0 Overcoming the Information Challenge with m-Governance: The Most
Convenient Medium to Provide Information to the Rural communities in
developing economies........................................................................................5
3.1: The Emergence of Voice Platform as the Favored Medium of Information
Delivery........................................................................................................... 5
4.0 Bangladesh Rural Portal: Empowering rural communities with sustainable
innovations............................................................................................................ 6
5.0 Bangladesh Rural Portal in a Nutshell..............................................................7
5.1 Why Bangladesh Rural Portal?......................................................................7
5.2 What information is available under the Bangladesh Rural Portal?..............7
5.3 How does this service work?.........................................................................7
5.4 What is the source of content for this service?.............................................8
How does the user indicate his choice of Markets?............................................8
Can the subscriber personalize this service?......................................................8
Can the subscriber change his preferences?......................................................8
What kind of coverage is provided by this service?............................................8
3.9a How many commodities are covered by the service? .............................8
Does this service require any special handset?..................................................9
6.1 Opening Menu............................................................................................10
6.2 Instant Choice Menu...................................................................................11
5.3 Personalization Menu..................................................................................11
5.4 Main Menu .................................................................................................12
6.0 Content Flow..................................................................................................13

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1 Scope

This document provides you basic facts about Bangladesh Rural Portal.
The portal is designed to provide meaningful, economically significant
information to the rural populace engaged in agriculture. It introduces the
service and provides you key information using the FAQs format. It also
gives the general call flow details and the content flow of the service.

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2 Introduction

2.1 Agriculture in Bangladesh: The Information Challenge

In rural Bangladesh, an average farmer typically faces information lag on the

following:

Weather: Erratic weather can affect his crop to a large extent. The fishermen in
coastal belts are especially susceptible to the erratic weather conditions in the
oceanic areas.

Lack of access to best agricultural practices: Without access to the latest

advances in agricultural sciences and practices, the farmer continues to rely on
outdated practices as a result of which the quality and productivity of his crop is
not up to standards.

Lack of access to market prices: In the absence of this, he is unable to

determine when and which marketplace to take his produce to leading to low
price realization.

The Latest in Government Schemes: The ordinary, illiterate farmer is often

ignorant of the latest schemes and welfare measures, for example, loans
available on special rates, offered by the Bangladesh Government to uplift the
economic conditions of the rural populace.

2.1.1 The Imperfections in Agriculture Eco-system Often Leads to

Exploitation of Farmers:
Due to non-availability of information, farmers often lack access to the market
and are therefore caught in the vicious cycle of suboptimal use of farm inputs,
higher costs of credit, and lower price realizations on produce, leading to
insignificant disposable income for farmers and their families.

The farmers often get entrapped in a vicious cycle of:

Low Risk Taking Ability  Low Investment  Low Productivity  Weak Market
Orientation  Low Value Addition  Low Margin  Low Risk Taking Ability.

This has lead to the Bangladesh agriculture sector becoming generator of only a
marginal income to the majority of its proponents.

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3.0 Overcoming the Information Challenge with m-Governance: The Most
Convenient Medium to Provide Information to the Rural communities in
developing economies.

Away from the trendy jest-setting lifestyles of the rich and the famous, the
mobile revolution is fast emerging as the most powerful instrument of social
change in developing countries around the world. Sample this.

1. In African countries, right from Tanzania to Uganda and South Africa,

farmers are reaping the benefits of instant access information such as
latest market prices, technical developments, and best practices for
growing crops.

2. A London Business School study has concluded that an increase of 10

mobile phones per 100 people in African developing countries has lead to
an increase in GDP growth by 0.6 per cent

3.1: The Emergence of Voice Platform as the Favored Medium of

Information Delivery
The unique conditions in rural markets makes it imperative to shift away from
the traditional preference for text messaging as the favored medium of
delivering information such as stock and commodity prices. The text approach
has not found favor with the large sections of rural populace that still remain
illiterate, mobile shy and therefore not able to access this information.

Spice Digital Limited has actively researched the user behavior of rural mobile
subscribers. Our research, collaborated by independent agencies, shows that the
Voice remains the preferable media for information delivery for the rural
populace. This is also due to the fact that vast segments of the rural population
remains illiterate and have heavy preference for localized content. Spice Digital
(earlier known as Cellebrum Technologies) has perfected the voice platform for
delivery of value added services to customer segments across the country. The
organization has, in the process, emerged as the foremost player in the country
in this field.

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4.0 Bangladesh Rural Portal: Empowering rural communities with sustainable
innovations

Bangladesh Rural Portal aims to empower these communities to improve their

economic status and stay in touch with the latest developments, anytime and
from anywhere. Designed to supplement the information mediums established
by the Government of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Rural Portal helps farmers to
realize the following:

Increase in Agriculture Incomes: Giving market prices of not only his

proximate markets but also the “benchmark” markets of his state ensures that
he can take an informed decision on when and which market to take his produce
to, rather than be forced to accept whatever the going rate is when he takes his
crop to the market.
Increased Connect with the Government Measures: Bangladesh Rural
Portal enables the Government of Bangladesh to extend their reach to the
agrarian communities like never before. The micro-level individual connect
enables farmers to realize the true benefits from the Government schemes.
Better weather risk management: Unavailability of timely weather
information often leads to farmers (especially fishermen in the coastal areas)
losing out on optimization of agriculture yields. By providing easily access to
weather forecasts, Bangladesh Rural Portal enables farmers to minimize the risk.
Increased Crop Yields: Crop advisories on good agricultural practices enable
the farmer to take precautionary measures or pro-active measures to protect or
improve his crop. The good agricultural practices are designed so that the farmer
receives the appropriate message depending on the growth stage of his crop.
Better quality: Following good practices as well as good post harvest practices
enables the farmer to reap a better quality crop which leads to better price
realization. Again the messages are designed and scheduled such that they
coincide with the measures he should be taking at any given stage of his crop
life-cycle.
Better crop planning: A combination of market rates, weather advisory and
good agricultural practices would help farmers to take an informed decision on
planning for the crops/varieties to cultivate which in future would be monetarily
most remunerative to him.

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5.0 Bangladesh Rural Portal in a Nutshell

5.1 Why Bangladesh Rural Portal?

The Bangladesh Rural Portal is designed to provide

meaningful, high-utility information to the farm
community. It marks our foray into the rural areas with
sustainable innovations for social change. The steady
growth in the rural share of net additions to the cellular
subscriber base is an indicator of the usefulness of
utility-information on the mobile phone.

5.2 What information is available under the Bangladesh

Rural Portal?

The Bangladesh Rural portal has developed the critical mass to provide
the following information:

• Weather Updates (including Fishermen Weather Advisory for Coastal

Areas)

• Commodity Prices (from Markets across Bangladesh)

• News events from the rural sector

• Crop Advisory

o Latest Production Technologies

o Fertilizer Use

o Pest Management

o Irrigation

• Government Schemes and Welfare Measures

It also allows subscribers to ask questions on one or more agriculture

areas. The service menu can be customized to suit operator requirements.

5.3 How does this service work?

Bangladesh Rural Portal service deploys the IVR platform. Users are
required to dial the specified number and follow the given steps. The
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 service has been designed to ensure that the user is able to access
information within three steps. Subscribers can also choose to access
important information such as market rates and weather updates through
SMS.

5.4 What is the source of content for this service?

The content for this service is sourced from a countrywide commodity

exchange, known for its reach in commodity markets at the micro-level.
Content such as Weather updates, News, and Crop Advisory are sourced
from reliable sources certified by the government.

How does the user indicate his choice of Markets?

The user enters his STD code to commence service registration. Based on
the STD code, the subscriber is offered the list of the five nearest Markets.
Out of these, the user can choose three Markets (Please refer to service
flow for more details).

Can the subscriber personalize this service?

This service is completely customizable. The kind of information provided

to the user depends totally on his requirements.

Can the subscriber change his preferences?

The subscriber can change his preferences at any point in time. The
subscriber can refer to a separate Help menu to seek assistance.

What kind of coverage is provided by this service?

The service covers over all recognized markets across the country.

3.9a How many commodities are covered by the service?

The service covers all major commodities traded in recognized
markets across the country. The Commodity options (Categories)
are as follows:

• Cereals
• Pulses
• Spices

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 • Vegetables
• Fruits
• Oilseeds
• Medicinal Plants

• Fiber crops

• Flowers

• Others (include Metals)

Does this service require any special handset?

The service is available on all types of handsets.

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6.0 Rural Portal: Service Call Flow

6.1 Opening Menu

Subscriber Dials operator

short code
Language: Bangla

Welcome prompt
for new user plays
followed by a
System checks status service sample
New User
User opts for
subscription
Existing Subscriber

Welcome Prompt for

Existing Subscriber plays .
Press 1 to
subscribe
Press 0 for Help
1 0

System sends a Subscription Help

SMS to subscriber request accepted

Press 1 to know the rate of

a commodity in your Market
of choice
System informs user about the Press 2 to create a profile
balance minutes left in his account

1
Option Instant Choice
Validation Menu

Top Up Module
2

Personalization
Menu

Main Menu

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6.2 Instant Choice Menu

5.3 Personalization Menu

Personalization Menu

User Profile Registration

To get the latest market rates of your area
you have to enter your area STD Code
and we will offer you your 5 nearest
markets & you can select max 3 mandis
of your choice.

Please enter ur
STD Code

User is again
given the demo for
OK Invalid
Please enter input of STD code.
Check the Code input Call terminated if
the valid code
the user cannot
input his Code
after three tries.
Thrice
User inputs Market
choice Mandi choice:
Press 1 for xxx Market
Press 2 for xxx Market
Press 3 for xxx Market
Press 4 for xxx Market
Option Press 5 for xxx Market
Validation

System saves user

choice

Press 1 to select another

User can Markei
select a total Press 2 to choose crops
of three
Markets

1 Option
Validation

System will Prompt Prompt

2
play crops Press 1 for Cereals Press 1 for xx child crop
traded in the Press 2 for Pulses Press 2 for xx child crop
three Choose crop Press 3 for Spices Press 3 for xx child crop
Markets. User Press 4 for Vegetables Press 4 for xx child crop
can select
three crops
Option System saves user
Validation choice

Press 1 to choose another crop

Press 2 to Save and Exit
Press 3 to Edit Profile
3
1 Main Menu
Option
Validation
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5.4 Main Menu

Welcome Prompt plays

Press 1 for Instant Choice Menu

Press 2 to listen to Markets rates chosen in the profile
Press 3 to listen Weather, Highest rates, and News
Press 4 for Government Information
Press 5 for Crop Advisory in Gujarati
Press 6 for Help

Markets and crops 2 Option

chosen in the profile 1 Instant Choice Menu
Validation
will play
5

4
6 3

Weather, Highest
Rates of commodities,
and News play

Crop Advisory
Bangladesh
Government Initiatives
for Rural Areas/ Farm
sector

Help

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6.0 Content Flow

EN
CONT
W
T FLO
F

FLOW

Subscribed Base

Content Provider

SMS broadcast

Xml to voice
Xml files
High bandwidth internet pipe
VEL Platform
Vendor Office

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