Article Index

Capacities required for providers and participants

>Many factors determine the success of a web portal, but the content management and delivery model are the most important components in the agricultural development context. (2)
Heeks, R. 2002. Information systems and developing countries: Failure, success and local improvisations. The Information Society 18: 101–112.
While IT-proficiency is a basic requirement for the providers, clear understanding of the information required by potential and current users is also very important to ensure the relevance of the information provided. Also, clear instructions and training need to be given regarding collating the obtained information in user-friendly language for higher readability. Users of web portals will need access to internet-enabled devices and an internet connection, as well as basic knowledge of surfing the internet.
 

BOX 1: EXAMPLE OF A PORTAL

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) Agritech Portal (www.agritech.tnau.ac.in) has been catering to the needs of farmers, extensionists, and other stakeholders in agriculture and allied sectors since 2009. It offers a diverse range of information from crop-related or weather information, to daily market prices, schemes and programmes for farmers, daily news, events, publications supported by multimedia, expert systems, and much more. The portal can be accessed in Tamil and English and offers a keyword search facility. 

Costs

The costs will vary depending on the specifications of the portal, hosting platform, technology used (open source or commercial), quality of the portal, support, and maintenance. The main costs are hiring a developer, creating a basic website (300–2,000), and CMS integration (US$2,000–10,000). A simple portal will cost US$10,000– 25,000 and multi-site portals with multiple portlets around US$25,000–60,000. There will also be extra charges for advanced features like diagnostics. A web portal with chat facilities and customer support will need a dedicated web master (US$1,000–2,000 per month).