robert fitzgerald, phd

For the last three years I have been working with my colleague, John Spriggs, on agricultural development projects in Cambodia. John is an agricultural economist who has over the last few years been applying participatory action research methods to improving agricultural marketing systems in developing countries (Cambodia and Papua New Guinea). My background is in technology and education with an interest in the application of robust technologies to help users communicate and work together. Originally, John invited me to join him on his project to explore ways we could use communications technologies to the improve the marketing system for maize and soy bean farmers in western Cambodia. From our early workshops in Battambang, Cambodia, we identified poor communications as one of the key constraints to improving the marketing system. At that time I had been developing an interest in mobile communications particularly the application of sms and was following closely the work of the Pinoy Internet Famers project.

We are getting quite a bit of interest in our sms work in Cambodia using FrontlineSMS. Ken Banks has written about it in Cambodian farmers turn to their phone, MobileActive.org in Frontline SMS Review and Internet & Democracy Project at Harvard University in Frontline SMS Launches New Version, Continues to Foster Change. In late November 2008 we presented our ideas to the Northwest Agricutural Marketing Association (Battambang, Cambodia) for the development of a sms-based field communications and information system (full presentation). More.

Here is the current picture of our SMS project in Cambodia.