The world has changed a lot since the first user got registered for Facebook. Today there is hardly any area that has not witnessed change after the surge of social media. Agriculture is no different to this scenario. In developed countries, digital solutions and social media are playing crucial role in different agricultural extension and advisory services.
However in countries like Bangladesh, the usage of technology in agricultural development especially in remote area used to be low due to infrastructural difficulties and psychological barriers. But the scenario is different now, thanks to the rapid advancement initiative taken by ICT ministry to facilitate internet service in rural area. Few of the entities now making the best out of this situation influencing the communication pattern, shared information opinions for farmers from village to village. ACI Crop Care is one of them.
ACI Crop Care, an SBU under ACI Formulations Limited, is a long-standing company that is offering solutions to the farmers’ pest related problems since its birth in 1996. Lately they are also offering the similar solutions to the farmers in their digital platforms as well. The official Facebook page of of ACI CROP CARE is a one stop solution for all kinds of pest related problems that a farmer can face. Farmers can now get technical solution of their crop’s disease, insects and weeds related problems, tips on increasing crop yields, new generation farming techniques etc. from their Facebook page on a regular basis.
Farmers can also interact and get individual solution from a human assistant who is guided by a group of agriculturists. Usually the farmers take photo of their problem and inbox to their page, they sometimes send a voice message or text to explain the problems as well, with the help of experienced Agriculturists the problems are then analyzed and a probable solution is suggested by the Digital Marketing team.
Farmers seem to have taken the option very well and everyday hundreds of farmers inquire and seek solution in many different ways in the page. While visiting their page it can be seen that many queries in the comment section thriving for solution regarding different pests, products & doses related queries, crop stage wise treatment etc.
Also by talking to the team we found that monthly thousands of inbox messages are being answered and audiences are very happy to get such support online. Previously they had to wait for a field support team to come and give the solution, now they can get the service instantly. In an interview with Mr. Abdur Rahman (GM, Marketing – Crop Care unit) said, “Diseases and insects can be very detrimental for crops and within a night it can damage acres of land, so thinking of its time sensitiveness we thought we should come up with solutions that farmers can get benefit from instantly and Digital is the way to go. So we have kept a separate team who are working day and night to serve farmers with right solution at the right time.”
The page has around 70k followers now and organically it’s growing rapidly due to their farmers’ friendly initiative. The company is now planning to take the service one step ahead by incorporating an AI based response system side by side keeping the human interaction as the amount of inquiries are raising, it’s not possible to serve every queries manually.
All these indicates a changing scenario where farmers of remote areas are gaining more and more technical competency required for using social media in a positive way. Researchers believe if more entities come forward to offer such digital solutions then very soon we all may witness a ‘silent technological revolution’ in our agriculture sector.
