IN THE BUBBLE JOHN THACKARA - witz cultural

90 Chapter 4
been able to reduce their use of nitrogenous fertilizer by 34 percent by
using GPS and accurate field-mapping and data-gathering techniques to
apply chemicals only where they are needed. There have been additional
fuel savings from reduced spraying of crops and the reduced use of unprofitable
land. Take-up of these services has been slow in Europe because farms
tend to be smaller and have less capacity to invest in sophisticated communication
systems. One solution to this cost obstacle is for agrochemical and
fertilizer suppliers to create a service package that includes these smart services
rather than just sell bulk chemicals. 47
But the big opportunity for mediascapes is in countries such as India, in
which hundreds of millions of people live in rural localities and farming
remains small scale. Distribution networks are already extraordinarily effective
in India, even without technology, but ITC, one of India’s largest
trading conglomerates, is deploying a system called Soya Choupal that
connects rural farmers, information, products, and services, to remarkable
new effect. Soya Choupal is a service designed to provide physical service
support through a Choupal Sanchalak—himself a lead farmer—who acts
as the interface between computer terminal and the farmers. 48 Srinavasa
Rao, who leads the Soya Choupal agricultural business, explained to me
that a choupal, traditionally, is where farmers meet to share news and information.
Through the Soya Choupal Web portal, which is in Hindi and
other local languages, farmers can access the latest local and global
information on weather and scientific farming practices as well as market
prices at the village itself. ITC claims that the system enhances farm productivity,
improves farm gate price realization, cuts transaction costs, and
facilitates the supply of high-quality farm inputs and the purchase of com-
modities. 49
The basic cost of providing conventional telephone and Internet connections
in India is about 750 dollars per line. An operator would require a
monthly revenue of about twenty-two dollars to break even on that line.
As a monthly payment, this figure is affordable to barely 3 percent of Indian
homes—and these are concentrated in large cities. To resolve this dilemma,
a system called nLogue uses wireless local loop (WLL) technology
to provide multifunctional access to a network of kiosks. n-Logue facilitates
relationships among hardware providers, nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), content providers, and local governments. Rather than directly
promoting and maintaining countless WLL networks, nLogue is developing
a network of local entrepreneurs to provide front-line implementation