Financial Times

Farm prices on computer linked display terminals at Dambulla
As farming becomes increasingly competitive, IT authorities in Sri Lanka are making efforts to provide local farmers with spot prices on computer-linked devices.
The ICT agency said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed at the Ministry of Rural Economy between the key stakeholders of the "Govi Gnana System (GGS)."

The parties signing the MoU include the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Rural Economy, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, PriceWaterHouseCoopers Lanka, e-Development Labs and Interblocks. ICTA in a pioneering endeavour initiated the "Govi Gnana System" pilot project at the Dambulla Dedicated Economic Zone (DDEZ) to share agricultural price information. This solution is being developed by the GGS Consortium comprising of e-Development Labs, PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Interblocks for the Ministry of Rural Economy, together with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

"This is an important project that empowers the farmer to benefit from greater access to information providing long term visibility and predictability of income and details on demand of trends for harvesting," according to a ICTA statement. Spot prices will be collected from the DDEZ using hand-held devices and subsequently projected on display terminals located around the DDEZ aimed at reducing price volatility through shared knowledge and also leading to an increase in forward sales contracts.

The system will collect and disseminate price information within the DDEZ and will subsequently connect up with the Central Bank's Forward Sales Contract System. In the first phase of this pilot, DDEZ prices will also be made available at the Meegoda Economic Centre by connecting the two locations.

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