Page 102 - The Digital Financial Services (DFS) Ecosystem

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Ecosystem

Table 7 – Case Studies of Agricultural Linkages

Nigeria – Distribution of Subsidies Thailand – Monitoring Extension Services

Nigeria’s Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme In 2013, the government of Thailand merged its farmer
distributes subsidies to farmers through links to farm- database – containing records of 7.2 million farm house-
ers’ mobile money accounts. In remote areas, however, holds – with the national identity card, or “Smart ID.”
connectivity issues can prevent users from accessing the The farmer database holds information on household
funds. In response, an effort is underway to link distri- production, including crops, livestock, and fish. It also
bution of subsidies to the new MasterCard national ID, contains basic household information (members, loca-
which doubles as a payment card (CGAP –Serving Small- tion) (Viyakornvilas, 2014). The connection enables the
holder, 2014). government of Thailand to track and manage farm pro-
Farmers’ biometric information is registered and each is duction, transfer knowledge, and support farmers in the
issued an ID card. Agricultural dealers, who manage the event of natural disasters.
sale of fertilizer and other inputs, operate point of sale During the program’s rollout, farmers in were given a
terminals, compatible so that farmers can pay using their Smart ID embedded with information already contained
national ID card. Regardless of connectivity, the POS ter- in the farmer database. Knowing a farmer’s geographic
minals record the sale. All sales information is uploaded location, and crops and livestock allows government
to a central database when the agrodealer is again within officials to target assistance to farmers in the event of
network coverage. Almost in real-time, GES officials can disease outbreaks, droughts or other natural disasters
track sales as they occur by agrodealers (Financial Tech- (Boonoon, 2013).
nology, 2014). Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development
In addition to providing an off-network way to track and Agency also detailed how silk farmers benefit from tai-
distribute subsidies, ensuring farmers receive national lored extension services. Government officials can access
IDs also increases financial inclusion. “Farmers will be satellite, overhead views of silk farmers’ property by log-
able to use their ID as a debit card tied to a no-frills Bank ging into an Android tablet application. The views provide
of Agriculture account, through which farmers will be information on the health and spacing of mulberry trees
able to save and seek access to credit, insurance and that support silkworms. The information allows officials
other agricultural financial services” (CGAP –Serving to better understand where and when additional mul-
Smallholder, 2014). berry trees should be planted. This knowledge, and other
agricultural extension, is dispensed directly to farmers
through TV and ICT centers in communities nationwide.
Farmers also have access to the application via their
Smart ID, allowing them study their property and also
see how other silk farmers arrange farms (National Sci-
ence and Technology, 2014).

5.4 Elections

Key Findings

• 13 ID programs are used for voter registration, and 21 are accepted as identification at polling stations.
• Despite widespread use of biometrics (34 programs are embedded with biometric information), we find
no evidence of countries having devices available for on-site biometric verification during elections.
• Five programs are implementing other tools to monitor voting, including use of e-voting infrastructure.

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