ICTWorks published a guest article that summarizes the research findings on Smallholder Farmers Use of Mobile Phones for Agriculture. The research was done in Kenya and examined the use of ‘m-services’ by farmers. The study-examined factors affecting the likelihood of Kenyan farmers’ adoption of m-services specifically related to agriculture and livestock information, buying and selling products, and alerts about agricultural or livestock activities.The findings were that:- Farmers are using apps, but adoption is low Digital divides exist in wealth, gender and education Women lag (slightly)...
The FAO Digital Services Portfolio is a project that was started in November 2016 in Rulindo, Rwanda and Tambacounda, Senegal.The project included the development and distribution of 4 mobile applications to smallholder farmers. This project comes as a realisation that digital services are changing how farmers work and also from the understanding that ICTs can maximise various social support services for farmers – such services include rural advisory services, financial services and social protection programmes, access to market information and disease control. The four apps were the Cure and...
Serge Auguste Zaonogo from Burkina Faso won the Radio France Internationale (RFI) Challenge App Africa for his invention ‘Saagga’ - an electronic mapping system that optimizes irrigation in the agricultural sector, permitting management while on-the-move. In a recent article , FAO noted that in addition to the prize, Serge Auguste Zaonogo will be offered an Internship with FAO in one of its innovation units. The RFI Challenge App Africa aims to support and promote the integration of new, innovative technologies in the field of sustainable development in Francophone Africa. Read this news here...
Thomson Reuters Foundation profiles young farmers who have stayed on the farms despite a drift of young people from farming in Africa. According to the African Development Bank , Africa has the world’s youngest population with 60% of its 1.2 billion people under 25. Yet Africa’s young people are off the farms. There is hope that technology such as mobile telephony – where Africa penetration rates remain high – could be a rallying point to bring young farmers back to the fields. Meanwhile, developed nations turn to robots, blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve...
The Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) has launched 3 mobile apps to facilitate access to information on agricultural research. The East African reports that Boniface Akuku, director for ICT at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, helped Uganda develop the apps. The applications launched are the Naro Beans, Naro Maize and Naro Cassava and all are available via Google Play store. The choice of the three crops - bean, maize and cassava is because these crops are major commodities, alongside coffee, tea, bananas and rice. Besides the apps, an SMS...
This webinar is intended to explain ( Wednesday, 4th July 2018, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM GMT) What are the advantages of mobile data collection Live demonstration: How to run your project using a digital tool How to choose the right platform and technology for your project More information here
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...
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...
The Issue No.189 of the SPORE magazine is now available and if focuses on the ICT4Ag start-ups as avenues to build better E-Agribusiness. Within the African, Caribbean and the Pacific countries young people have shown an enthusiasm for innovation in ICTs for Agriculture (ICT4Ag). There is a burning urge by young people to use ICTs to solve agriculture problems or to improve agricultural productivity. Highlights of SPORE Magazine This current edition of the SPORE magazine overviews some innovation and ICT solutions in the region, and these include: The Feed Calculator – a Dutch firm (Single...
On the 25th of April 2018 the e-Agriculture team organized a webinar in partnership with Grameen Foundation on the FarmerLink in the Philippines: Digital Innovation for Agriculture . The webinar presented the strategy used to develop and deploy FarmerLink, and review results of an 18-month pilot implementation.You can watch the presentation here Grameen Foundation, in collaboration with the Philippine Coconut Authority, Franklin Baker, and People’s Bank of Caraga launched FarmerLink to increase farming households’ incomes and resilience by improving their productivity, providing them access...
This webinar is intended to explain ( Wednesday, 4th July 2018, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM GMT) What are the advantages of mobile data collection Live demonstration: How to run your project using a digital tool How to choose the right platform and technology for your project More information here
