DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB APPLICATION FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT VALUE CHAIN IN NIGERIA PDF

Preview

Summary

International Journal of Scientific Innovations Volume 8, Number 1, 2020. ISSN: 2276-6154 Copyright© Pan-African Book Company 2020 www.panafricanjournal.org DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB APPLICATION FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT VALUE CHAIN IN NIGERIA 1 Abdulkadir Umar; 2 Ibrahim Umar Kontagora; 3Hassan Salihu Ku...

Description

International Journal of Scientific Innovations Volume 8, Number 1, 2020. ISSN: 2276-6154 Copyright© Pan-African Book Company 2020 www.panafricanjournal.org

DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB APPLICATION FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT VALUE CHAIN IN NIGERIA 1

Abdulkadir Umar; 2 Ibrahim Umar Kontagora; 3Hassan Salihu Kuta and 4Nasir Umar Department of Computer Science Niger State Polytechnic, Zungeru, Nigeria

ABSTRACT An agricultural market information system collects, analyses, packages, stores and disseminates prices and other information relevant to farmers, traders, processors and others interested in agricultural commodities. The traditional agricultural information system employed by agencies saddled with the responsibility of setting standards for agricultural commodities in Nigeria is not worthy of been entrusted with such a task. As there is always lack of transparency in the prices of same farm product, where for instance, Maize is sold at N6500 per bag in Beji market and N4900 at zungeru Market, these two markets are not more than 25 kilometers apart. In addition, there is no formal way of advertising farm produce to the public. Also, inability of patriotic customers to have concurrent information as to the availability of a particular farm produce in the market. Consequently, leading to damages and fall in the price of that particular agricultural product. The aim of the study is to develop a web application for agricultural product value chain in Nigeria. The proposed system is a web based program and has interfaces for inputting and outputting processed information to/from the proposed system with database as engine room for the proposed system. The proposed system shall have three (3) main modules which are Administrator’s Module, Off-Taker’s and Customer’s Module. Additionally, the study uses Hieratical Chart Design Techniques to give detailed explanation of the proposed system and it’s functionality. this system was built with PHP programming language and it was designed on HTML. The database software used was MySQL managed by phpMyadmin. Keywords: - Farm Produce, Agricultural Market Information System, Agricultural Commodities, Traders, Processors. INTRODUCTION Agricultural Market Information Systems (AMIS, referred to hereafter as MIS) are designed to collect, analyze and disseminate data on the status and the dynamics of agricultural market prices. In developed countries, they have been in use for approximately a century; in most developing countries, they were not fully promoted until the 1980s, although there were early pioneers in, for example, Indonesia, Nepal and the United Republic of Tanzania [1]. Described as an essential part of the reform process [3],the development of MIS in the 1980s was partly a response to the market liberalization and structural adjustment policies that aimed to promote a greater role for the private sector by reducing the role of state-owned marketing bodies, particularly for the marketing of staple crops [4]. More so, some of these new Management Information System (MIS) also covered horticultural crops, roots and tubers, and livestock. Certain others, particularly in Asia, were developed outside the context of structural adjustment, such as the GTZ’s efforts to expand Indonesia’s MIS [5]; [6].Initially, MIS were developed mainly by the public sector, with considerable donor support. Correspondence Author: Abdulkadir Umar: E-mail: [email protected]

50

Development of a Web Application for Agricultural Product Value Chain in Nigeria However, the twenty-first century has witnessed the development of a number of private services, such as Reuters Market Light (RML) in India and Esoko1 in Africa. The commercial viability of these services is yet to be demonstrated. Indeed, even in some countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), market information is considered a public good. An example is the Market News Service operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to [2], MIS have primarily been conceived as tools for fulfilling two related objectives: i. Improvement of public policies through an increased awareness of market realities; ii. Enhancement of market transparency, to bring about a fairer and more efficient allocation of resources. However, [7] considers the provision of “current” or up-to-date commercial information as the prime purpose of an MIS. This information could be used subsequently, to generate “historical” information. This information is of great value to both value chain actors and policymakers. Management Information System (MIS) users are thus defined by their need for information for decision making, whether in the short term (when and where to sell, at what price) or in the longer term (what and when to plant or, in the case of governments, how to support agricultural development). Potential users therefore include farmers, farmer organizations, traders, market wholesalers, food processors, local and central policy analysts and policymakers, researchers, educational institutions, extension officers, other private companies, donors and, sometimes, consumers [8]. [8] also notes that different environmental features (e.g. government policies, macroeconomic and social characteristics, level of ICT use) can affect the impact of an MIS. The traditional agricultural information system employed by agencies saddled with the responsibility of setting standards for agricultural commodities in Nigeria is not worthy of been entrusted with such a task. As there is always lack of transparency in the prices of same farm product, where for instance Maize is sold at N6500 per bag in Beji market and N4900 at Zungeru Market, these two markets are not more than 25 kilometers apart. In addition, there is no formal way of advertising farm produce to the public. Also, inability of patriotic customers to have concurrent information as to the availability of a particular farm produce in the market. Consequently, leading to damages and fall in the price of that particular agricultural product. The aim of the study is to develop a web application for agricultural product value chain in Nigeria. The objectives of the research are as follows: To design a web based system for performing all the processes of agricultural marketing information system, which shall be accessible to all the stakeholders in agricultural sector of Nigeria economy, to implement a system that shall be used to advertise available agricultural produce to interested customers and industries, where they are available, of what quantity and the time frame for the produce in that particular area within Nigeria, to bring about balancing in the prices of agricultural produce nationwide, to enable update or make changes where necessary, in order to achieve standardized prices for all the farm produce throughout the country. The system is completely web based and is programmed in such a manner that it can provide price standard for particular agricultural commodity. The system is also cable of accepting advertisement. However, the significance of this study is that it shall provide possible solution to the problem of lack of information as to availability of agricultural commodities within the country. It shall enhance marketing of agricultural produce by driving advertisement mechanism and eliminate damages to perishable produces like tomatoes, Yam etc and also bring about standard in the prices of the produce has the stakeholders shall always have the opportunities of checking prices of commodities on daily basis. The research shall also serve as a useful reference material for further studies in the area of agricultural marketing information.

51

International Journal of Scientific Innovations Volume 8, Number 1, 2020. ISSN: 2276-6154 REVIEWED RELATED WORK [9] developed a system for providing agrarian pricing information to the rural Indian populace as part of Media Lab Asia activities at IIT Bombay. The system, called Bhav Puchiye (meaning, "ask for the price", in Hindi), incorporates innovations from the perspective of interface design as well as from the perspective of data provisioning. Bhav Puchiye was an online application accessible using a web browser, for getting the price information of agrarian products at the nearby mandis (i.e. wholesale markets). Bhav Puchiye eliminated the need for textual input from a user, but without employing pull-down menus. It used an ‘Inverted Pyramid Approach’ to give the maximum relevant results to the end users with minimal inputs from the users. Specifically, a complete iconic interface was presented to a user who visited one of the tele-centers, which have begun to dot the rural Indian landscape. The interface incorporated multiple panels neatly juxtaposed with each other. They presented a choice of commodities (from which a user chooses the commodity of interest), a map of the state or district the user was from nearby towns, cities etc., highlighted and the users location at the center of the map and a calendar (from which the user selected the date of interest). The motivation was to empower producers of agricultural commodities with information that allowed them maximize their revenues by eliminating inaccurate or false information that resulted from the presence of middlemen or agents. Inverted Pyramid Approach, was used which was specifically designed keeping in mind the needs of farmers. To ensure deeper penetration in rural India the application was designed to be made available online, accessible through kiosks or tele-centers in villages or via telephones. [10] explored the Decision support systems (DSS) in forecasting of oilseeds scenario in India through a system dynamic model. They observed that the oilseeds scenario is rapidly changing, the forecasting needs a dynamic approach to account for the complex nature of the agricultural sector and its backward and forward linkages with other sectors of the economy. The system dynamic approach was found to fill the gap. System dynamics method is a computer aided structural modeling technique in which time varying effects can be explicitly considered. The DSS projected demand – supply gap of about two million tons of edible oil by 2010 AD. The simulated scenario forecasted demand for 15 million tons of edible oils leaving a net gap of about 2.7 mt in domestic availability of edible oils by 2010 AD. The review of simulation results suggested that the model developed can be successfully used for strategic planning as the simulated data gave close resemblance with the existing system. [11] suggested possible alternatives to approach the problem of formulation of the arrival-prices information systems for the regulated markets in Maharashtra as: i. A dynamic system ii. Artificial neural network and iii. Fuzzy – Dynamical system. They suggested that a model free approach would be appropriate as arriving at appropriate functional forms and examining the stability of the dynamic system would be a very difficult task given the various market forces affecting the system and given the state of information that is maintained at the market committees. [12] in their study on application of information technology in agricultural marketing explained the necessity for developing a Farmers Agriculture Information System (FAIS) which could be operated at Zonal Agricultural Research Stations (ZARSs), Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Agricultural Marketing Corporations (Mandis) and Extension centers of SAU’s where farmers normally assemble for various reasons. [13] in his book on the Principles of Marketing has stated that information is one key to increase marketing success for everyone.

52

Development of a Web Application for Agricultural Product Value Chain in Nigeria

A market information system is an important tool used by modern management to aid in problem solving and decision making. Market Information System is a process of gathering, processing, storing and using information to make better marketing decisions and to improve marketing exchange. [14] based on their study on marketing of fruits and vegetables in Bangalore suggested for proper dissemination of market intelligence and information through all possible means of communication, for improving the marketing efficiency of fruits and vegetables.[15] in his conceptual analysis of Management Information System (MIS) and Management Science opined that though computers have of course a role to play in MIS, all computerized systems do not necessarily mean MIS nor does MIS necessarily imply computerized processing of data to create information. [16] reported that the growers received low prices in Bangladesh because of lack of market information which resulted in wide inter-market price variation. Improvement of agricultural market information services was necessary for domestic market efficiency and to integrate domestic agricultural market with regional and international market for sustainable development of agriculture sector and to ensure country’s long run food security.[17] studied the Agricultural Marketing information system network (Agmarknet) in India and found that almost all the states and union territories were providing market information in one form or the other for the benefit of market users like producers, traders and consumers. However, the information was collected and disseminated by conventional methods which caused inordinate delay in communicating the information to different target groups, and thus adversely affecting their economic interest. Therefore, there was a need to improve the present market information system by linking all Agricultural Produce Market Committees / wholesale markets, State Agricultural Marketing Boards and State Directorates of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) with the DMI of the Ministry of Agriculture for effective and efficient information exchange. Thus, the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation in the Union Ministry of Agriculture sanctioned a central sector scheme to NICNET to link 810 nodes through its attached office, DMI during 2000-02. Architectural Design The proposed system is a web based program and has interfaces for inputting and outputting processed information to/from the proposed system with database as engine room for the proposed system. The proposed system shall have three (3) main modules which are Administrator’s Module, Off-Taker’s and Customer’s Module on the Proposed Agricultural Marketing Information System for Agricultural Commodities. And the researcher uses Hieratical Chart Design Techniques to give detailed explanation of the proposed system and it’s functionality. The system is represented below.

53

International Journal of Scientific Innovations Volume 8, Number 1, 2020. ISSN: 2276-6154

Home Administrator

Set Price

Off-Taker

Customers

Register/Login

Trend Commodity

View Transaction Approve Member

Comment

Advertise Commodity

Trend Commodity

Database Fig 3.1 Architectural Design

In this project work, “Hieratical Chart Design Techniques” was used in order to give detail explanation of how the proposed system operates as a whole showing database as the main back bone of the system, hence without the Database, the main application has no importance. Abstract Specification The Proposed system shall be designed to get inputs from computing devices input interfaces like Keyboard, Mouse, Scanners etc. into the proposed system, in order to be able to produce meaningful reports e.g. Available commodities with their locations, registered members, comments sent by customers etc. However, there are some specifications that are necessary for the design of the Proposed system, which include the followings: Input Specification The input to the proposed system when designed shall be from input pages’ like Off-Taker’s Registration Page, Advertise Commodities Page, Make Comments Page etc. all to the proposed system. The modules shall be designed using a very aesthetic web development element in HTML 5 for easy data entries. The input designs of the proposed system are listed as follows: a. Administrator’s Module: The input shall be done by the Overall Administrator of the proposed system on the proposed system’s website and shall login to admin panel, approve members’ registration, Set Price Standard and View Transactions made by both the customers and Off-Takers. The design is as follows:

54

Development of a Web Application for Agricultural Product Value Chain in Nigeria Admin’s Login Id Field. Username Field. Password Field. Set Price Standard Id Field. Commodity Id Field. Commodity Name Field. Commodity Price Field. Commodity Description Field. b. Off-Taker’s Module: The input shall be done by the marketing Agent of the system (Agricultural Marketing Information System), the design is as follows: Membership Registration Id Field. Membership Id Field. Password Field. Member’s Name Field. Phone No Field. Area of Interest Field. Location Field. Passport Field. Contact Address Field. Advertise Commodity Id Field. Commodity Id Field. Commodity Name Field. Location Field. Estimated Quantity Field. c. Customer’s Module: The input shall be done by the Customers patronizing agricultural commodity and wishing to use the proposed system to gain information about marketing analysis on agricultural commodities, which can only trend available commodities and make comments the design is as followed: Send Comments Id Field. Email Address Field. Phone No Field. Customer’s Name Field. Subject Field. Comments Field. Output Specification The output module is designed to give all the stakeholders 24/7 statutory reports on marketing information of agricultural commodities. The module is designed using dynamic web element in HTML 5. The output of this system is available in the database segment of the proposed system which is accessible to all the users at any time. The following are the output generated from the proposed system.

55

International Journal of Scientific Innovations Volume 8, Number 1, 2020. ISSN: 2276-6154 Price Standard Id Field. Commodity Id Field. Commodity Name Field. Commodity Price Field. Locations Found Field. Commodity Description Field. Registered Members Id Field. Membership Id Field. Member’s Name Field. Phone No Field. Area of Interest Field. Location Field. Passport Field. Contact Address Field. Available Commodity Id Field. Commodity Id Field. Commodity Name Field. Location Field. Estimated Quantity Field. Sent Comments Id Field. Email Address Field. Phone No Field. Customer’s Name Field. Subject Field. Comments Field. Interface Design Interface design is the design of software application and websites appearance with focus on the user experience and interactions. The goal of user interface design is to make the users interaction as simple and efficient as possible in terms of accomplishing user goal.User interface (UI) design is the process of making interfaces in software or computerized devices with a focus on looks or style. Designers aim to create designs users will find easy to use and pleasurable. UI design typically refers to graphical user interfaces but also includes others, such as voice-controlled ones. User interfaces are the access points where users interact with designs. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are designs’ control panels and faces; voice-controlled interfaces involve oral-auditory interaction, while gesture-based interfaces witness users engaging with 3D design spaces via bodily motions. The interface designs for this project are menu graphic menu interface and form filled interface. a. Menu Driven Interface: The Menu Driven enables users to move around the entire program; Menu interface of the proposed system is scratch below: -

56

Development of a Web Application for Agricultural Product Value Chain in Nigeria i. Form Fill Interface: The form filled interface enable users to enter the required data into the system; form filled interface are used to achieve that which are scratch below: Home

Admin
...