Abstract:
Vegetable industry is a very sensitive sector in Sri Lankan economy. Cultivation for export
market, cultivation for local consumption and cultivation for self-consumption are the main
motives of the vegetable cultivation in the country. Farmers are the main stakeholders of the
industry and they need information regarding cultivation during all the sections of the crop
cycle. Accurate information and knowledge required for all the activities associated with crop
cycle. Equip with information and knowledge on time about activities of crop cycle is essential
for successful and profitable cultivation. Farmers can obtain information and knowledge
regarding the cultivation from sources such as government agricultural officers, newspapers,
agro business agents, agriculture related web sites, mobile based information systems and
agriculture related mobile Apps. Ultimate objectives of the existence of above information and
knowledge sources are, reduction of vegetable wastage, minimising price fluctuations,
optimisation of vegetable prices and sustainability. Farmers can successfully cultivate vegetables
and earn good profits, if these information and knowledge sources become effective for the
cultivation. According to findings of published literature and preliminary researches, vegetable
farmers face huge frustrations and issues today. Unexpected sudden price fluctuations, price
drops, excess stock availability and vegetable wastage have become common scenarios in the
industry. There is a problem get highlighted regarding the impact of available information and
knowledge sources. According to the “Cobweb theorem”, farmers consider previous season
prices as the dominant attraction at the time of crop selection. The “Cobweb” theory further
mentioned that, when there is a good demand for a vegetable during previous season, the
"demanded commodity" will be selected by large number of farmers for cultivation. As a result
of common crop selection, there will be high supply during harvesting period and price become
very low due to excess stocks. Set of farmers who face financial difficulties due to price drops
will leave from the cultivation, and there will be a short supply during coming season. The short
supply creates good demand and high price situation. It will be an attraction for another set of
farmers to cultivate the particular crop during next season and it will be occurred as a cycle. The
preliminary study identified that, price fluctuation pattern of vegetable market in Sri Lanka
behaves according to the “Cobweb theorem”. The preliminary study observes that, extend of
cultivation also fluctuates according to the “Cobweb theorem”. Implemented agricultural
information and knowledge sources of Sri Lanka expect smooth market behaviour, but still not
achieved the same. The research focuses on ICT based agriculture information and knowledge
sources. Reduce stock wastage, control price fluctuations and trim down excess stock arrivals
are the main objectives of most of available ICT based information and knowledge sources. The
preliminary field research indicated that most of farmers are not aware with the available ICT
based information and knowledge sources. Some set of farmers do not interest to use
technologies. Unawareness and failures of farmers indicate that the low impact of ICT in the
vegetable industry in Sri Lanka. According to international experiences, ICT can be used
effectively for vegetable cultivation. The research supposed to conduct an in-depth study
regarding failures of achieving objectives of the ICT implications in the vegetable agriculture
sector of Sri Lanka. Stakeholders of vegetable industry including farmers, agricultural officers
and agriculture related private organizations will be interviewed to identify situations, issues
and practical barriers in ICT implications. Agricultural ICT apps and packages will be observed
Developers of agricultural ICT apps and packagers also get involved to obtain their experiences.
The objective of the research is to identify the constrains of ICT implications in the vegetable
agriculture sector in Sri Lanka. A set of recommendations for effective implementation of ICT
based information and knowledge sources will be delivered for vegetable agriculture sector in
Sri Lanka.