SoilMapp is an app for iPad that lets users find out soil information such as how much water the soil holds, its clay content and acidity, among other attributes related to agricultural productivity and land management. The app enables users to view maps, photographs, satellite images, tables and graphs of data about nearby soils and learn about the soil’s physical and chemical characteristics (acidity, soil carbon, available water storage, salinity and erodibility). View this SoilMapp introductory video: Credits: CSIRO SoilMapp is designed for Australian farmers, consultants, planners,...
The Yield is an Internet of Things (IoT) Australian product company that aims to use technology to improve yields in agriculture and aquaculture. The Yield combines wireless sensor networks and localised data to inform farmers and growers on the best decisions to make regarding their yelds. The Yield uses Sensing+, a microclimate sensing system for agriculture which measures data from different points around the farm and provides hyper local predictions based on the farm's growing conditions by using data analytics and artificial intelligence. Watch The Yield's presentation video: Credits:...
In a recent article on Harvard Business Review, Ndubuisi Ekekwe explores how digital technology is poised at providing a solution to increase farm productivity in Africa. In this article he reviews the food challenges affecting Africa such as weather changes, rural-urban migration that deprives farming communities of young people and deforestation amongst many challenges. While African governments have employed many policy instruments to improve farm productivity, yields are still marginally improving. The article notes that African entrepreneurs are interested in how farmers work and how...
The first beta release of the FAO Water Productivity through Open access of Remotely sensed derived data (WaPOR) portal is available as of 14 April 2017. The FAO portal monitors and reports on agriculture water productivity over Africa and the Near East. The portal provides open access to the water productivity database and allows for direct data queries, time series analyses, area statistics and data download of key variables associated to water and land productivity. The portal provides information on variables such as water productivity, land productivity, above ground biomass production,...
Agricultural work in mountainous areas such as grass cutting is done manually. Because of the many slopes it is difficult to introduce a robot. At the same time, there is a huge labour shortage in japanese agriculture as the rural population is aging and the young are not attracted by the agricultural sector. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will work on the development of an unmanned mowing robot. The new unmanned vehicle is based on a passenger type mowing machine, but obviously much smaller. It has been miniaturized essentially by changing the power from engine...
Since September 2016, Tanzania's government deploys drones for land mapping in rural areas in order to stop frequent clashes between farmers and cattle herders over land and scarce water resources. "The use of drones helps us to define the boundaries of plots of land on the ground with great accuracy," said Samuel Msaki, a senior land mapping official at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), capture high-resolution images that can be used to conduct precise aerial surveys so that national planners can identify and digitize actual...
Literacy Bridge was founded in 2007 to improve livelihoods through comprehensive programs that provide access to locally relevant knowledge. Its ‘Talking Book’ is a simple and low-cost audio-based mobile device that allows people with minimal literacy skills in rural areas, without electricity or internet access, to get access and share knowledge on agriculture and health. The Talking Book can speak multiple languages and can play content on different topics based on the knowledge of local experts. It also allow recording onto it, so that users can create and document their own knowledge...
RevoFarm is a Jamaican based app designed to connect farmers to markets and market data. Farmers send an SMS with their available crops and the information is uploaded on the website. Consumers, which can also include supermarkets who want fresh produce from farmers, can then search the RevoFarm marketplace (on the website or on the app) and find fresh farm produce closest to them. The app also supplies farmers with valueable information to plan their planting season, based on projected weather patterns, crop marketability and soil type. Farmers can also rate and comment this information...
The GSMA mAgri Programme forges partnerships between mobile operators, technology providers and agricultural organisations. Although it has enourmous potential, Mexico seems to have been left out by ICT for agriculture initiatives. This article presents seven reasons for which Mexican agriculture should invest in ICT related projects to lift farmers out of poverty and into the 21st century. 1. The needs of Mexican farmers are huge 3.9 million farmers out of 5.3 million in Mexico earn of less than USD 1,000 per year. 61 per cent of Mexican farmers live in poverty. The reasons for this...
By 2050, there will be 9.6 billion people in the planet. Feeding the whole worldwide population will be a central challenge for the next generations. Farmers will have to think of ways to reduce the inputs, for example water and pesticides, while maintaining the outputs. Drones can be of great help to farmers in reducing the inputs while trying to provide the same production, or even increase it. This article presents six ways in which drones can be central in agricultural productivity and sustainability. 1. Soil and field analysis: Drones produce precise 3-D maps for early soil analysis for...
