Asanee Kawtrakul et al.
information services, such as zoning, precision farming, meteorological information, market information, etc., have to be captured. To empower people in rural areas, farmers need useful and reliable information at the right time. Such information assists them in making complex decisions, which then impact the livelihoods of their families and the broader society. Partnership with multi‐sectors, including the private sectors related to the use of ICT, has proven to be an essential mechanism in developing information service systems sustainably.
In Thailand, rice is the national staple food and represents the main income sustaining farmers( since 66 % of the 5.7 million agricultural households are rice farmers). A project initiative called Coop‐Cyber‐Brain has been implemented for evaluating the model of non‐technical interoperability and harvesting the best‐practices in c‐ Government transformation; this is a platform of community knowledge sharing delivering agricultural information through an agricultural cooperative mechanism,. Coop‐Cyber‐Brain has been selected for driving connected government on the basis of the following considerations:
• Readiness of organizational core processes and their supporting processes for sustainability.
• Operating within an existing government strategy that aims at inclusive development, economic competitiveness and alignment with the activities of the ASEAN community.
• Gaining the support of stakeholders by early demonstration of positive impacts of ICT application on their well‐being.
• Doing business in an equitable manner that seeks to empower and benefit its members and the community.
Figure 2 illustrates an overview of the Coop‐Cyber‐Brain project. Agricultural cooperatives have played an important role in strengthening market access and competitive returns for independent farmers. They adapted their operations to agricultural technological innovations, such as the use of fertilizers, plants and livestock breeding, agricultural mechanization, financial management for the members, and to new information systems.
Farmer Empowerment and Strong Working Network
Continuous Training for Mr. CyberBrain
Farmer Reform
• Leadership & Governance
• Smart Farmer
• Smart Community
Value Proposition: Farmer Production Area Approach with Personalization & Marketing Strategies
• Benefit Realization
• Reduce Cost
• Higher Production
• Standard Product
• Context Aware Services
• Fertilizing
• Disease Control
• Precision Farming
Co-created Value
Knowledge Service
Business Service
Coop-Cyber Brain Hub
Agricultural Cooperative
• Focus on“ Management Efficiency”
• Run Business by Aggregation / Group Business”
• Structure Business
• Loan Business
• Trading Service
• Agricultural and Process Goods
• Financial Management for Farmers
• Set Warning System
• Set Value Added System
• New Service Offering
• Co-created Value Chain
Creative Management and Service Innovation
Cyber Brain and Extension
Knowledge Bank
• Knowledge Service
Data Intelligence with Multilayer Multi-media Data Interoperability
• Rice Watch( Market Price)
Open Market of Product
Fund for Business
Foundation
• Open data
• Open standard
• Open platform
Figure 2: A model of c‐Government transformation with marketing strategies and context‐aware services through an agriculture cooperative mechanism
A method in designing, managing and stimulating widespread adoption of e‐services is proposed through farmer empowerment. Context‐aware services and tools, such as tailor‐made fertilizing, disease monitoring, market information and precision farming, are provided for facilitating community‐based collaboration and problem‐solving across agency, partners, as well as public boundaries.
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