Thanks for sharing this story, including the comments of some of the farmers.

There seems to be a lot of potential in the use of mobile phones for ‘communication for development’. However, I always wondered, does this go beyond a level of sending short messages with market information? How can mobile phones play a role in more substantial knowledge sharing? This example seems promissing.

I am very interested in some (technical) details about this example? E.g. Did the farmers get the video clip or just audio? How long were the clips? Was it complicated to make these clips? Did the conference organizers produce any material (written/video/audio) for the farmers on how to forward the clips?

I am asking in relation to our activities in farmer-led documentation whereby farmers themselves design and produce their ‘documentation’, which could be written, drawing, or audio/video too. I like this example, but wonder how complicated it is for farmers to make such clips themselves, even with help from the local media center. Or whether it’s possible for example to put the small videos on a community tv screen for those who do not have a cell phone (with video facilities). Looking forward to learning more about all this!

Cheers,
Dorine
(http://www.prolinnova.net/fld.php)