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BBC news reports that digital technology from apps to blockchain technology are opening new ways for farmers and smallholders to new ways of doing business. The featured article focuses on one farmer, Take Muhammed Adams who is a cocoa farmer attested that technology run by commodities giant Olam has helped him improve his productivity and pest management. The case of Olam is previewed as an avenue for digital initiatives used in agriculture, and they have done so for the past 18 months. Olam apps allow farm products to be tracked from the farm to the markets and allows farmers to check cocoa...
An audio-visual podcast by MicroSave provides an insight into how Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and drone technology have a potential to improve access to finance for smallholder farmers in East Africa. MicroSave is an international financial inclusion consulting firm operating in eleven offices across Asia and Africa. While strengthening the capacity of local institutions, the firm designs and implement market-led solutions for financial services and most importantly designs a variety of financial inclusion models. In the above referred podcast entitled, “ Drones...
Small holder farmers are increasingly being exposed to loss of crop due to climate related risks caused by climate change. In this light, Weather Based Crop Insurance Schemes (WBCIS) were created with an intention to provide protection to the farmers against adverse weather incidence. When a disaster strikes, one important aspect is assessing the loss at farm level. Can technology help, well we just learnt that the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has developed WheatCam, a picture-based insurance (PBI) app that farmers can download on their smartphones. The Indian...
African agriculture is faced by many challenges and yet technology – especially satellite and drone-assisted mapping technologies are poised to improve decision making for farmers and governments. However, since most farmers in Africa are smallholder farmers and mostly poor, what business models can be employed in collecting and processing key agricultural data? As part of the Innovation in Outcome Measurement (IOM) initiative, which was a tow year program to develop and test cheaper, better, and faster ways of collecting agricultural data – TechnoServe conducted a pilot project in Uganda to...
News Release as published on FAO Website 25 June 2018, Rome - The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization and Pennsylvania State University joined forces to develop and launch an innovative, talking app - Nuru - to help African farmers recognize Fall Armyworm, a new and fast-spreading crop pest in sub-Saharan Africa, so that they can take immediate steps to destroy it and curb its spread. Fall Armyworm first appeared in Africa in 2016, in West Africa, and then rapidly spread across all countries in sub-Saharan Africa in 2017, infecting millions of hectares of maize, and threatening...
During the East African Farmers Digital Conference , Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KARLO) launched 14 agribusiness apps to help farmers in making farming choices and decisions. This development comes as agricultural industry in Africa is experiencing a growth in technology driven applications – from drones, apps, GIS and many others. These digitization efforts in agriculture allows farmers to access markets, improve their farming practices as well as to predict weather accurately. KARLO seeks to give farmers research based information they need, and the organization...
From the balcony of their apartments, to the backyards, and also small plots most urban dwellers grow crops and other plants. Urban and Peri-urban agriculture is instrumental in providing food products such as grains, root crops, vegetables, mushrooms and also small animals like rabbits, goats, fish etc. as well as non-food items such as herbs, ornamental plants. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) does support urban and peri-urban agriculture. Most urbanites farmers are perplexed when the crops they love fall prey to pests and diseases, for example caterpillars...
A promising practice on the use of ICTs in weather-data for farmers Many small holder farmers in developing countries have faced huge challenges as a result of climate change induced weather effects. Most of these farmers rely on traditional methods to understand weather predictions. Localised weather data is essential for farm based decisions such as when to plant, yet farmers can access reliable and usable weather data. If such information is available, the quality is poor or it’s inaccessible to the communities that need it most. In order to support Kenyan farmers, the Kenyan Agricultural...
Drone European Platform (DEP) is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union which realises that the use of drones offer a variety of interesting opportunities in the field of agriculture. The project focuses on the technical competences of students by strengthening current educational courses and develops strategies to support educational providers, educational managers and educational trainers. The objectives of the projects are : To include innovative technology in VET specifically in agriculture curriculum.- To develop a Drone Course at the European level. To...
The e-Agriculture Team in conjuction with AMPLIO would like to invite interested persons to the e-Agriculture webinar on Talking Books for Audio-Based Agriculture Extension . Details of the webinar The webinar is scheduled on the Date : 5th of June 2018 Time : 16:00 hrs (Rome Time) Registration : Click here Abstract Knowledge empowers farmers to grow enough food to feed and provide for their families, but millions who live in remote areas and lack literacy do not have access to this knowledge. The Talking Book is an audio device designed to share knowledge on-demand with people who are cut...
