FAQ
- Lokesh Garg (Unlicensed)
KDE questions for developers
Q1. What was the purpose of KDE development?
KDE is a solution to streamline the operational activities of the FPO by connecting them with the farmers and buyers. It aims to bridge the gap between farmers and FPO by providing regular information about the farmers' input demand, and crop production. It also provides a digital catalog to the FPO to publish its product in the public domain and expand the reach among the buyer’s community. KDE also supports the data collection of screening and adoption of the practices being promoted by DG and the FPO to its members. Therefore, the broader purpose of KDE is to provide a generic data collection tool that can feed data into an analytics dashboard accessed by FPOs to take data-driven business decisions rather than ad-hoc decision-making in such a way that either they can expand their business or reduce the operational costs.
Q2. Does the use of KDE require any training? Is it important for the user to be tech-savvy?
Yes, basic training of working of 3 different modules of KDE i.e. KD Officer app(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farmer.inventory ), FPO Dashboard (http://kisandiary.com:3000/login), Buyer Interface (http://enfpo.kisandiary.com/ ) is required for smooth usage and full utilization of its features. It is not necessary for the user to be tech-savvy. The user should actually understand the operations of FPO rather than technology because the system has been designed in a simplistic form to keep the tech complexities out of the picture.
Q3. Up to what extent have we been able to develop KDE as per the set objectives?
KDE started with an agenda of collecting farmer-level information and connecting FPO to the market/omnichannel to increase their sales. So far, KDE has been quite successful in terms of streamlining Farmer and FPO engagement and providing higher-level visibility of on-ground input demand and out availability. There has been a limited effort made on the marketing side due to which the buyer and FPO connection has not materialized completely. We had some anecdotal reports from the FPO where they were able to use the information provided by KDE to crack better deals however that is not recorded as transactions into the system.
Q4. What type of information is being properly captured in KDE?
Kisan Diary |
| Kisan Diary Enterprises | ||||
Name |
| Optional |
| FPO Name |
|
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Phone |
| Mandatory |
| FPO Contact Person Name |
|
|
Profile Picture |
| Optional |
| FPO Contact Person Phone |
|
|
Crops grown by farmer |
|
|
| Farmer: |
|
|
Sales | Quantity of produce sold Date of sale Sales Price per unit Payment Status Commodity sold Audio/Text note | Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory Mandatory Optional |
| Name Phone Profile Picture Gender Crops grown by farmer |
| Optional Mandatory Optional Mandatory Mandatory |
|
|
|
| Output | Crop being harvested | Mandatory |
Expense | Expense item | Mandatory |
|
| Harvest Quantity | Mandatory |
| Amount | Mandatory |
|
| Estimated harvest date | Mandatory |
| Date of expense | Mandatory |
|
| Area under cultivaton | Mandatory |
| Audio/Text note | Optional |
| Input | Input item needed | Mandatory |
| Payment status | Optional |
|
| Quantity of item required | Mandatory |
|
|
|
|
| Estimated date of requirement | Mandatory |
Farmer installs the app and self use it for keeping transactions record. Since all the actions are taken by the farmer himself along with validation through OTP, it acts as a consent from the farmer to record the data and share it. We don't explicitly ask them to sign any agreement or terms and conditions stating any other use we might of this data. |
| Farmers data is entered by PG officer as part of the FPO. Farmer himself shares his data face-to-face with the PG officer which acts as consent however we don't explicitly ask for consent from the farmers in any digital form | ||||
Q5. Which are the other data points that were planned and are yet to be captured?
How user friendly
[1] is the data entry in KDE?
What do you think about the KDE dashboard, how does it fulfill the needs of:
a. FPOs
b. DG
c. Project Managers
d. Traders
e. Framers
f. State governments
g. Others
How easy is it for a layman / low literate FPO official to extract and analyze the data from the KDE dashboard?
At which platform the KDE has been developed? How is it better
[2] than the tools developed on kobo collect / ODK collect?
10. Where does the data of KDE get stored?
11. How easily and effectively KDE can be connected with other tools? How easy is it to extract and fetch data from KDE using APIs?
12. What other indicators are planned to be added in KDE? How good is the information being collected on the recently added indicators on reach through different channels, number of videos watched, number videos/ practices adopted etc?
13. What are the challenges following people have faced/ are facing in using KDE:
a. FPG officials:
(do the PG officers first collect data on paper and then transfer in KD or what is the mechanism of data entry?
b. FPO officials for data usage
c. Traders
d. Project manager
14. How good is KDE dashboard in displaying data by:
a. Project
b. Geography (country , state district etc)
15. What are positive points that enable users to use KDE or what are the strengths of KDE as a digital tool for FPOs, managers, traders and other stakeholders?
16. What is the scope of improvement in KDE?
17. What efforts need to be put in for making KDE sustainable?
Questions for FPO Officers
Please tell me about KDE. How have you used it? (Probes: Have you ever used KDE? How do you use it - in your phone or on the computer?)
Please tell how easy it is to use? If you find it easy to use, what is that which makes it easy to use?
If you do not find it easy to use, please tell me what are the problems in using it?
How we can make it easier for your use.
How useful do you find the KDE for your work in FPO ( maintain FPO data, tracking farmers wise information, sharing advisories and connecting with buyers etc)
If you find KDE useful, please suggest what are the features that you find useful?
If you do not find it useful, please tell why do you not find it useful
Please tell me about the use of the KDE dashboard ( have you ever used it?). What is the information you can find at the KDE dashboard?
How useful do you find the KDE dashboard?
10. How is it useful to the buyers, input providers, partners, farmers etc?
11. How adequate do you find the information provided by KDE to your needs?
12. If not adequate, what other information do you think should be added to KDE?
13. What do you think about the prospect of using KDE by other FPOs?
14. Please tell if FPO officials will like to give some fees for KDE use? If yes, how much per month?
15. How KDE can be made more useful for you and other FPOs.
16. Please tell me if you have got any orientation of using KDE? How did you find it? Would you need training and orientation to use KDE? If yes, on which aspects you would like to learn more?
Questions for Program Managers
How frequently do you use KDE?
Who are the other intended users of KDE ( Probe: FPO officials, framers, traders, government partners, others)
How often do you download the information from KDE?
How easy do you find KDE to use?
If you find it easy to use, please explain why you find it useful?
If not find it useful, what are the challenges / problems you find in using KDE?
Please tell me if the information tracked in KDE is useful and adequate?
If not, what other information can be added?
Please tell me if in your project how FPOs use KDE ?
10. How does data entry happen in KDE? Do data entry persons find it easy to enter the data? If not, what difficulties do they face? How can they be overcome?
11. How useful is KDE for traders and other stakeholders (govt partners)
12. Please tell me about the orientation provided to you and other users ( like FPO officials, PG officers for data entry) for KDE use?
13. Do you think there is a need for more training and refreshers?
14. What other support do you need from the tech/ product team to properly use KDE?
15. What support do you need from the MEL team with regards to KDE data analysis or on other aspects?
16. Please provide suggestions to make KDE more useful to you and other users?
This is more a question for users than the developer
Or what is different from other tools? Saying how is it better can lead to bias