News Analysis |
Telenor Pakistan; one of the country’s foremost telecom hosts and Inbox Technologies; a tech incubator ensuring business agility in the digital age have joined hands to step into the realm of agriculture development, said a press release issued by the Telecom giant. The two organizations joined hands to launch the Connected Agriculture Platform Punjab (CAPP) in December 2017, as part of the Government of Punjab’s ‘Empowerment of Kissan through Digital & Financial Inclusion’ initiative, the press release said.
Under CAPP, a set of digital applications were launched in Urdu, Punjabi & Saraiki including CAPP Registration, ZarraiMushwara, ZarraiJantri, MukaamiMosam and Kisaan TV. While additional applications such as Crop Calculator, Subsidy, Farm Supplies, and Mandi applications are under development and will be rolled out in coming months. As part of the CAPP program, 110,000 plus eligible farmers will get 3G/4G enabled smartphones along with free SIMS and data bundles in the first phase.
CAPP will be rolled out to millions of farmers across Pakistan over the coming years, bringing critical mass to the digital agriculture revolution in the country and set the standard for using digital solutions to achieve the UN sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Pakistan.
Furthermore, Telenor and Inbox are jointly developing several of the critical applications and have established 72 fixed & mobile facilitation centers and booths in 36 Districts of Punjab to train and facilitate the farmers on application usage, as well as a call center to support farmers along with an ongoing ‘Most Connected Farmer (MCF)’ program to encourage farmers on how to maximize benefits from the digital platform.
CAPP’s results so far have been very encouraging. In the first two months alone, farmers have held over half a million sessions on the app with an average session length of over 40 minutes. Almost 20,000 farmers have registered on CAPP with over 200 more joining daily. In February 2018, the Digital Birth Registration (DBR) project from Telenor Pakistan was nominated for the prestigious GSMA Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO) 2018 in the ‘Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs’ category.
Read more: Telenor makes a contribution to Sustainable Development Goals- Agenda 2030
According to the corporation, ‘DBR aspires to provide the fundamental right to identity to millions of children across Pakistan, lack of which is a critical impediment in the provision of basic services to citizens by the governments’, GVS reported earlier. Birth registration acts as a key enabler for a multitude of development outcomes including access to healthcare, education & social protection ensuring reduced inequalities thereby supporting a number of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
At Mobile World Congress Americas, the Global System for Mobiles Association GSMA, which is a global body for mobile operators all around the world, launched a new worldwide campaign to highlight the impact that mobile technology has on the lives of more than 5 billion people around the world. The “Case for Change” will put the contributions of the mobile industry in the spotlight that are working towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in the process are connecting people in order to create a better future for the world.
Commenting on the partnership between Telenor and Inbox Technologies, Mr. Bilal Kazmi, CMO Telenor Pakistan, said, “Inbox is our strategic partner and has been instrumental in making this program become a reality. We are happy to be collaborating with technology leaders in Pakistan whom we share our social empowerment and digitization goals with”, the press release said.
CAPP’s results so far have been very encouraging. In the first two months alone, farmers have held over half a million sessions on the app with an average session length of over 40 minutes. Almost 20,000 farmers have registered on CAPP with over 200 more joining daily.
He further added that CAPP’s initial results are promising, giving Telenor the satisfaction that its efforts are coming to fruition and that the company is making a positive impact on Pakistan’s agriculture sector which remains the backbone of country’s economy and the key source of livelihood for millions of associated households.
Read more: Telenor bags startup awards as sales dip
Sharing his thoughts on the collaboration for CAPP, Mr. Mir Nasir, CEO Inbox Technologies, said, “The platform is revolutionizing the agriculture value chain in Pakistan. We have taken a user experience centric approach for the digital platform and its applications, enabling the farmer to get easy access to information and at the same time providing extensive visibility to the Department of Agriculture, Punjab. We are seeing more and more farmers getting on board, engaging with the platform and getting the benefits of digital inclusion.”
Lack of reliable information and unpredictable market forces means that there is immense potential for the industry to provide services which supplement growth of Pakistan’s rural segment. This technology-enabled mobile ecosystem built around accurate and timely information and genuine services would result in better farming practices leading to improved yield, water conservation and market-based economic growth and sustainable development which is the need of the hour, the press release said.
CAPP will be rolled out to millions of farmers across Pakistan over the coming years, bringing critical mass to the digital agriculture revolution in the country and set the standard for using digital solutions to achieve the UN sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Pakistan.