Hi Mr. Sidibeh:
The answer to your question of whether farmers need this is yes & no. You
might wonder why I strongly feel that this double-pronged answer is legit.
Well here are my reasons.
First, as I pointed out to Gassama, who btw does not care whether farmers and
folks in rural areas have IT, we must not put the proverbial cart before the
horse. There are other aspects of basic development which must be put into
place before trying to push this new idea. For example, it is a matter of
common knowledge that the farmers have not been paid for their peanuts up to
this point. Therefore, the powers that be should figure out a more efficient
way of making sure their standard of living is improved in this respect. The
same argument can be made for the provision of such informational services
for school kids in the rural areas. In this case here, we also have had
confirmed reports about the poor standard of educational facilities. So it
is not reasonable to assume that moves to correct this situation should be
made again by the govt.. Furthermore, a more all encompassing attempt should
be made to improve the standard of life in rural areas before we start moving
in this direction (ie internet provision). We need to think about
electricization and the provision of clean water to most of these areas.
This said, I think rural dwellers will certainly benefit from informational
services via various devices. We already have somewhat of a wireless
infrastruture which can eventually be expanded to give these folks
connectivity. Also, there are other technological advances which can help in
this respect. The rural areas shall become more exposed for it, and because
of this, we can accordingly expect a parallel improvement in how these folks
live their lives. Imagine a situation where a classroom in Baddibou will be
able to use lesson plans from better schools in Europe. Or a situation where
kids can talk to exchange ideas with students from sayS Africa, via a live
video broadcast. Similarly, mothers will have better ideas as to how to
improve sanitary conditions in their dwellings or in the same vein, come up
with better ways of improving dietary conditions for those around them.
Think about farmers being able to predit weather condtions for months, or
accessing documentation for better farming practices. The cost of improving
these networks to provide greater connectivity is not exorbitant. I just
read somewhere that Barakaat ( the much blighted company btw) only needed
about 800 G to set up their wireless network in Somalia. Given, that Gambia
is so small, I don't expect the costs to be exorbitant.
Thinking about the upside to such an advance makes me really excited.
However, despite my optimism, it is worth noting that this govt. should try
to get its priorities right before embarking on such a venture. I would also
like to stress the amount of planning or thinking which such a venture will
require. At this point, we have a "bunch of mental midgets running the
assylum," and as much as I commend you for putting forth sucha great topic
of discussion, I must also stress that the folks in charge of the country are
not capable.
-Yus
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