Empowering farmers with reliable and timely information
The primary objective of IDSS is to significantly enhance the
capacity of (smallholder) farmers, retailers and extension
agents by providing localized advice. The advisory service
will be customized, combining advanced geo-data and better
agronomic practice into actionable crop-specific advice for
farmers. IDSS service will eventually empower the farmers with
information they currently lack to solve critical problems.
The service will be available through different channels,
including automated outbound call and mobile applications.
IDSS aspires to raise awareness, providing knowledge and
building resilience of local farming communities and prove
itself as a reliable tool in collecting information.
Target user group
IDSS is aimed at 970,000 smallholder farmers among the
targeted twelve districts of Bangladesh. Among all of these
farm households, about 25-30% are either landless or have land
less than 0.05 acre. Also, a great majority (80%) of landed farm
households are smallholder farmers, owning land between 0.05
to 2.49 acres. Improvement of productivity and income of poor
farming communities through reliable and timely advice to
farmers is the ultimate goal of this project.
Business proposition
The satellite-based information services will provide food
producers with timely, accurate, understandable and
actionable information and advices - with a minimal cost.
The revenue comes from different streams, to be able to
operate a long-term sustainable information service for the
rural population of Bangladesh.
The combination of improved mobile connectivity, faster
penetration of smartphone use among farmers, new satellite
Intelligent Decision Support System
(IDSS) for Farmers
services and private investments offers the opportunity to
develop innovations for large-scale implementation and
operation of IDSS services.
Partnership
• ACI Agribusiness, ACI Ltd. (Bangladesh)
• Department of Agricultural Extension, Ministry of Agriculture,
Government of Bangladesh
• Nelen & Schuurmans (Netherlands)
• SarVision (Netherlands)
• SNV Netherlands, Development Organisation
Contact
Lead Organisation:
ACI Agribusiness,
Md Shamim Murad,
smurad@aci-bd.com
NSO Project Advisor: Joost van Uum,
j.vanuum@spaceoffice.nl
g4aw@spaceoffice.nl
g4aw.spaceoffice.nl
This is a publication of Netherlands Space Office, in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs © Netherlands Space Office (February 2016)
Disclaimer: No rights can be derived from the information provided in this notice.
The policies and provisions laid down in the publication of the G4AW Facility in the Government Gazette are leading.
GEODATA FOR
AGRICULTURE
AND WATER
Information services
providing smallholder
farmers with timely
and reliable advice
for productivity and
income improvement
at minimal cost
All photos: Balaram Mahalder