Five million smartphones will be given to farmers in Pakistan in an effort to improve knowledge of modern farming techniques, an official has said.
据巴基斯坦一名官员表示,为提高现代农业技术知识水平,巴基斯坦政府将赠与农民500万部智能手机。
The first phones would be delivered in October, said Punjab Information Technology Board chairman Dr Umar Saif.
旁遮普省星系技术委员会主席奥马尔·赛义夫博士表示,第一批手机将于今年10月份交付到农民手中。
Advice from experts would also be distributed via the devices.
通过这些手机,专家的意见也会传达到农民手中。
"The farmers will receive free alerts about the use of pesticides for their yields," said Dr Saif, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
据美联社巴基斯坦分社报道,奥马尔博士说道:“农民们将会免费收到关于在农田里使用农药的通知。”
Large numbers of farmers in countries such as India and Kenya have also recently experimented with smartphone technology.
在印度和肯尼亚等国家,大批农民最近也体验到了智能手机技术。
Hendrik Knoche at Denmark's Aalborg University was involved in a recent project to design a smartphone interface that could be used by farmers in India, even those with literacy problems.
来自丹麦奥尔堡大学的亨德里·克诺奇最近参加了一个项目,设计一个可以供印度农民,即使文盲也能使用的智能手机交互界面。
"A lot of the information that farmers are really interested in is often not available online," he told the BBC, "such as whether a local dealer has good quality material or whether it's adulterated."
他在接受BBC采访时说道:“许多农民真正感兴趣的信息在互联网上是没有的,例如当地经销商是否用了好材料、或者是否以次充好。”
At the very least, Dr Knoche said, his experience suggested that even farmers new to the devices would soon pick up the basics of how to use them - and that that could benefit them in the future.
但是至少,亨德里·克诺奇表示,从他的经验来看,即使是第一次接触智能手机的农民也能够很快掌握基本的使用方法--而那就可能在将来给他们带来好处。