App for Rural Farmers project CWB Cambodia

Dear readers, from now on, I will write not only information articles about the situation in Spain and the rest of Europe, but I will also write articles to present you the projects that are being carried out within the CWB organization.

This week I would like to tell you about the interesting project that our friends of CWB Cambodia are developing. They are developing an app to help farmers with everything they could need. This app will be a very important tool in their day-to-day.
For this I have asked our friend Den 10 questions that I am going to share with you below.

1- How will this app help the lives of the rural farmers?
I did not expect much this app will support all farmers or everything farmers’ need. This app is the starting point for collaboration, sharing information, and supporting each other. This app is only a small tool which connect farmers to farmers and farmers to technical person. Currently it is hard to find someone who can support farmers to solves some problems related with agriculture, or there is no good government infrastructure of agriculture support yet, I mean lots of farmers don’t know how to look for support, so in this digitize society, app could be a good tool to support them, at lease answer their questions, and sharing some information to improve their current way of agriculture productivity.

2- Why do you want to make this app for the farmers?
Never wait for support from government, never relay on any NPO, never complain why….

We can support each other as community network. This app is for farmers who want to learn, to hear, to see, and to share all information, skill, technical, technology which is related with agriculture site, to improve their agriculture business. The purpose of this app, farmers could communicate directly will technical person without paying, and feel comfortable.

3- Through application, what point do they change?
This app will improve their agriculture business, such as technical skill, and they could get information across their community, such as price, problems, and they way of solving problems. This other main point this app will reminding them each task, scheduling.

4- Is it effective for you to promote this application? And which point?
Promoting this app is not a problem, due I have the other good page which is almost all 40k followers, and all of them are farmers. Introduce the app at first should not too many farmers, so I’m working only with community which I knew first, for example, Kui community, cashew nut community in Kompong Thom, and my students with their relative who are working on rice planting. The first release is important and it is a trail which I able to learn from this app performance and how farmer’s needs, then how to improve the app.

5- Could you explain me the process to create this app?

This app creating in the purpose of EASY to understand, Easy to operate by farmers.

First of all, I can understand what farmers really need and how to provide them. This app using by farmers, and what is the characterize of farmers?

This app using all Khmer Language (Cambodian language), and mostly using pictures for whom can’t read. Just click to fill information which is not complicated.

There is information which farmers need to fill

– Personal information (name, phone numbers, location)

– There are 4 main functions:

* My farm: where farmers able to create their own farm here can be more than 1

* Document: there will be link directly to YouTube channel

* Help: farmers able to make a call directly for technical person

* About: all information about app

** Note: these functions are all in progressing

6- How much time have you dedicated to creating the app?
With a big support of Mr. Kriss, Mr. Yudha from Indonesia and Ai-san from Japan (illustrator), we took about 2 months, and we will release app as public in April (Khmer New Year).

7- Are you happy with the result of this work? why?
I expected more, but currently affording to accomplish, until it can be release and farmers satisfy, I will.

8- What motivated you to make this app?
This question is almost the same as question 2, and additionally, I want to create the new environment for farmers. I want to propose the alternative way to them. Not to stay at the same ways.

9- Please explain me how it works.
I almost explain as 5. This app can be work on smart phone.

Imagine you have a smart phone, just connect to the internet with Sim Card, you can download and sign up by adding just some information about you: Name, sex, phone number and address, and the last one is password.

Farmers are able to create their own farm to know the schedule or reminding task, and I hope in the future I can calculate the cost and benefit for them.

There are Library where they can access with the link to YouTube channel to see the videos or any document related with agriculture.

As for supporting, farmers can call directly for support to technical person.

Farmers also able to post their pictures and comment as exchanging information.

10- When will it be available and what operating systems does it run on? Android, iOS, both?
This app only on android, due most of farmers using android.

Dear Den, thank you very much for taking your time to explain us about this project.
From Japan we wish you success with this app.