BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION
Most of the rural poor in developing countries depend on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods. Farmers in rural areas have to deal with failed crops and animal illness frequently and due to limited communication facilities, solutions to their problems remain out of reach. In Ethiopia, for instance, agriculture is the largest livelihood provider (more than 80% being farmers). Nevertheless, the vast majority of gains by farmers are unsatisfactory despite the efforts put into the agriculture cost inputs.