Luis Basterra, Argentina’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, discussed connectivity and opportunities in rural areas with authorities from IICA, the IDB, Microsoft and the country’s telecommunication regulators.
Buenos Aires, 10 December 2020 (IICA) – Bridging the connectivity divide that is placing rural communities at a disadvantage to their urban counterparts is critical to facilitating the overall production, social and community development in the countryside.
It is not merely a matter of universalizing connectivity and ensuring greater diffusion of digital technologies, but also of promoting training activities to strengthen their use, which will be essential for agricultural production and market access in the future.
This was the common view of authorities and experts participating in the seminar on “Rural Connectivity in Argentina: The Challenge of Inclusion”, which was organized by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Microsoft.
The authorities who presented the seminar stressed the importance of information and communication technologies in developing the immense social, economic and production potential of rural areas.
Luis Basterra, Argentina’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, reflected that connectivity in rural areas is a matter of social justice and equity, which is vital today, “not only to ensure the competitiveness of producers, but also to enable people in these communities to realize their potential”.
On the other hand, IICA Director General, Manuel Otero warned that, “We must work to reduce the digital gap that separates rural from urban areas, if we want to create a bridge between traditional agriculture and agriculture of the future, between the countryside and the city, creating a sector that benefits youth and women”.
Head of the Gender and Diversity Division of the IDB, Caridad Araujo, argued that the matter of connectivity, “is at the heart of the regional agenda, in our efforts to tackle inequality”. Similarly, Luciano Braverman, Director of Education for Microsoft Latin America, maintained that, “A connected population has many more opportunities to work, earn an income and access knowledge, information, healthcare and other services”.
The event was an opportunity for the three institutions to present and facilitate a discussion at the national level, regarding their recently published hemispheric study, “Rural Connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean – a Bridge for Sustainable Development During the Pandemic”.
The study demonstrates the enormous connectivity gap between the region’s urban and rural communities. IICA shared the findings with authorities and representatives at all levels – federal, provincial, legislative and municipal, as well as with members of the private sector and civil society organizations. This publication also provides a complete picture of the rural connectivity scenario, issuing recommendations for the development of inclusive public policies for rural areas, focusing on digital connectivity.
Two of the document’s authors, IICA experts, Sandra Ziegler and Joaquín Arias, indicated that 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean were covered in the study, with Argentina falling into the medium-level connectivity cluster, along with Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
Arias explained that 65% of Argentina’s rural population, some 2.3 million people, have no access to significant connectivity services.
The concept of significant connectivity is based on the fact that the study did not only measure the existence, but also the quality of connectivity. Four aspects were taken into consideration in this area: regular internet use, as well as access to the appropriate devices, to sufficient data and to an adequate speed of connection.
At the regional level, internet penetration in rural Latin America and the Caribbean is 36.8% on average, meaning that 63% of the population has no access to significant connectivity. Thus, 77 million rural dwellers in the region do not have connectivity at the necessary minimum quality standards.
The need for an active role by the state
The panel of specialists analyzed the changes arising from the pandemic, emphasizing the role that public policy should play in bringing connectivity to scantly populated areas.
Gustavo López, Vice-President of the telecommunications regulator, Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (ENACOM), summarized the public policies implemented by the Argentinian government to further expand connectivity in the country, remarking that, “The pandemic has underscored what we have been saying – access to these technologies in the 21st century is what access to energy was in the 20th century”.
Laura Marés, General Manager of Educ.ar, a state-run company that is working to infuse technology into education, explained that “connectivity is no longer simply desirable, but a basic necessity, which is something that this year has made patently clear”.
Marés said that it is extremely difficult to define what is a high-quality internet connection today, as content and platforms are becoming increasingly complex, further pushing the limit.
Hugo Scolnik, Head of Strategic Planning in the Office of the General Manager of ARSAT, an Argentinian telecommunications company, pointed out the difficulty of maintaining a stable population in rural areas, without the connectivity that would allow youth to access communication and entertainment and to engage with their peers. He stressed that, “Connectivity does not merely increase production capacity, but also stems rural-urban migration”.
Finally, Sandra Rodríguez, Coordinator of Information and Communication Technology and Continuing Education at the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), spoke to the achievements of her organization’s Luces para Aprender program, which seeks to foster quality education in the region’s rural areas, by facilitating better connectivity, among other things.
Opportunities offered by connectivity
The closing panel focused on the value of the document presented by IICA, IDB and Microsoft and emphasized the opportunities afforded by connectivity in rural Argentina. “This has a cross-cutting and transformative impact on life in these areas”, said Juan Manuel Fernández Arocena, from the General Directorate of Sectoral and Special Programs and Projects (DIPROSE) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries”.
In the opinion of Martín Olmos, Undersecretary of Information and Communication Technology, universal access to connectivity is a priority in Argentina, admitting that, “We know that without decisive State action, we run the risk that access to information and communication technologies may become another factor contributing to inequality. We cannot allow connectivity to be solely available in urban centers”.
Finally, Caio Rocha, IICA Representative in Argentina, stressed that the Argentinian agriculture sector is one of the best in the world, but that the commercial aspect will increasingly depend on connectivity.
Rocha reflected that, “This country has a highly develop rural sector, which is an example and model for other countries in the region and the world. Better connectivity will mean more exchange of knowledge, greater market access and the improved well-being of the rural community”.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
