PROGRESS REPORT

42 PROGRESS REPORT PROGRAM LEVEL PROGRESS REPORT 43
ICT: 8028 Agricultural Hotline
21%
penetration of mobile phones in Ethiopia
2.7
percent of population with Internet access
1,145,930
Despite the volume of agriculture related information and training
available through Ethiopia’s vast public extension system, ensuring
farmers receive up-to-date data and knowledge in a timely
manner remains a great challenge. This is particularly the case for
the remote rural smallholders who make up the majority of the
sector. At times, new agriculture extension advice emerging from
Ethiopia’s agricultural research centers can take multiple years to
cascade down to reach all smallholder farmers around this vast
country.
To address this challenge, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
and Short Message Service (SMS) platform was developed to
deliver information directly to farmers through mobile phones.
In July 2014, the ATA, in collaboration with the MoA, EIAR
and Ethio Telecom, launched ‘8028’, Ethiopia’s first agricultural
hotline. The 8028 hotline seeks to support sustainable agriculture
by empowering smallholders with access to agronomic best
practices. The system’s main objective is to ensure that
smallholders have real-time and immediate access to pertinent
agronomic information, which will help them to make more
informed decisions about their farming practices.
Registered
Callers
Total Calls
Amhara 267,808 2,199,835
Oromia 295,417 2,398,936
SNNP 96,849 633,039
Tigray 30,879 253,735
Other Regions 288,370 1,592,913
Unspecified 166,607 182,711
Total 1,145,930 7,261,169
Functionally, tailored information has initially been
made available on the cultivation of Ethiopia’s
dominant crops, including the major cereals (tef,
wheat, barley and maize), pulses and oilseeds
(sesame and chickpea), horticulture crops
(tomato, green pepper, onion and cabbage) as
well as coffee and cotton. Over 100,000 SMS
messages have also been sent out informing
smallholders on the use of improved seeds and
farming techniques to increase their yields. An
additional 400,000 SMS messages have been
disseminated to farmers to alert them to the
prevalence of wheat rust and maize necrosis
disease, and to provide advice on how to protect
their crops.
As part of ongoing enhancements, the IVR/
SMS system has been generating a number
of reports, analyses, and dashboards enabling
system administrators to maximize the operation
and impact of the system based on information
collected from registered callers. Additional
content is being developed during 2015 for the
next phase of the project.
In addition, partnerships are being established
with other government and donor funded
initiatives to leverage the 8028 system to
disseminate information relative to these other
engagements. An interactive helpdesk that will
enable smallholders to submit specific questions
to agronomic experts, and a grassroots M&E
tool that will facilitate data collection at the most
granular levels, will also be included as additional
features.
8028 registered callers by July 2015
7,261,169
8028 calls received between July 2014 and
July 2015
3
languages included in 8028 system
17
crops covered by 8028 system
Smallholder farmers can now call into the 8028 automated hotline
for free and receive information on a wide range of agricultural
activities on all major cereal, pulses and high-value crops. Keypad
menu options allow farmers and Development Agents to select
their particular areas of interest and receive automated information
whenever they call in.
At the same time, the hotline administrator can also “push”
customized content. In cases of drought, pest and disease, for
example, tailored information can be sent to callers based on
crop, geography, or demographic data captured when farmers
first register to use the system. Recognizing the diversity of
Ethiopia’s smallholders, the IVR/SMS system functions in three
local languages (Amharic, Oromiffa, and Tigrigna) and provides
information about crops specific to soil type and altitude.
Twelve weeks after its July 2014 launch, the hotline had received
nearly 1.5 million calls from 300,000 farmers in the Oromia,
Amhara, Tigray and SNNP Regions. As the system was expanded
to callers all over the country, more than 1.1 million registered
callers had logged 7.3 million phone calls by July 31, 2015. Of the
registered callers, 72% (823,114 callers) identified themselves as
smallholder farmers.