For agricultural researchers like ourselves, it is our big aim and the dream to popularize the technology that we have as a fruit of our research, and to serve farmers. However, it is not easy. Especially in foreign countries, we face large problems such as language barriers and the difficulty in accurate communication with illiterate farmers who would not read written materials.

YMC-Viet is worthy of our attention in a few points. It is basically an attempt to communicate with illiterate farmers through their literate children who go to school. But one of its innovations is the application of Language Grid, which enables the communication between Japanese agricultural specialists and Vietnamese farmers transcending the language barriers with its multi-lingual environment. Another point is the use of children in place of sensors to collect such meteorological data as temperature and humidity and to observe and record the status of rice growth including its height and the color of leaves over time, and use them as source information to give appropriate agricultural advice.

To make these series of processes work, it is important to draw out the flexible capabilities from children, who are adoptable to new things. I felt Pangaea has accumulated the attractive mix of analogue and digital technologies to masterfully guide children for this purpose.

Thanks to Pangaea technologies, children can use PCs and mobile phones to successfully and smoothly connect with their adult population despite current ICT (Information and Communication Technology) constraints and language differences between Japanese and Vietnamese.

The true result of the project is to come out from now, and we have number of issues to be solved that has come to the surface, however, I am looking forward to its future development and have high expectations to it.

Prof. Seishi Ninomiya
Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services
The University of Tokyo