E-Agriculture

Question 1 (opens 25 Feb.)

mawaki chango
mawaki changoCôte d'Ivoire

Greetings to all of you!

 

Here in Abidjan, it is 8:15 a.m. on this 25 February. My rolre here is to facilitate for the next two weeks our discussion of e-agriculture policies and strategies in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries. As you may know, the outcome of this discussion will serve mainly two purposes: 

- To prepare the upcoming ICT Observatory that will be held from 24 to 26 April 2013 in the Netherlands 

- To feed into the WSIS+10 activities pertaining to e-agriculture, as part of the Tunis Agenda's Action Line C7 relating to ICT applications (a WSIS Forum  will be organized to that effect from 13-17 May 2013 in Geneva) 

 

Note: WSIS is the World Summit for the Information Society which, after a series of regional and thematic preparatory meetings, took place in two phases: Geneva, 2003 and Tunis, 2005. The main outcomes were captured in the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. The WSIS+10 activities kick off as we launch our discussion, this very 25 February, with UNESCO holding a WSIS+10 Review conference entitled "Towards Knowledge Societies, for Peace and Sustainable Development."  

 

So before tackling the first question on our list for discussion, let me recall the main elements in the basic definition of e-agriculture included in my Terms of Reference for this assignment, drawing on the FAO definition. E-Agriculture: 
 

- stands at the intersection of agricultural informatics, agricultural development and entrepreneurship.

- refers to the use and application of the Internet and related technologies to agricultural services, technology dissemination, information delivery and knowledge services.

- involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of new or innovative ways to use existing or emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to enhance agricultural information processing, maintenance and transmission as well as to improve communication and learning among agriculture sector's stakeholders.

 

As some of you might have read from Michael (Riggs) post on our discussion platform (www.e-agriculture.org) the first week of the forum will consider the concept, need and adoption of e-agriculture strategies in ACP countries and beyond. Then the question to focus on is as follows: 

 

1) Why are national e-agriculture strategies (also referred to as “ICT for agriculture strategies” or “cyber-strategies for agriculture”) needed for the agricultural sector to fully realize the benefits of ICTs?

 

Please let us know your take on that based on your experience and expertise.

I wish us a great discussion ahead.

 

Best regards,

 

Mawaki

Thanks for the Informational post Mawaki. My name is Solomon, a Ghanaian resident and the Chief Operations Manager of Syecomp Business Services Ltd, a geospatial surveying and mapping company ( www.agricinghana.com).  
Well, I was wondering who should spear-head the adoption and implementation of e-agriculture in our operations in the various ACP countries.  Ghana does have policies on ICT implementation for the growth of   various sectors including agriculture but the challenge of effectively bringing these to fruition has always been a drawback.
I believe an open and strategic collaboration/engagement with the private sector operators will go a long way to bring it to scale and impact on the relevant stakeholders. Already, it is an acknowledged fact that several e-agriculture initiatives have been piloted  and numerous on-going in several ACP countries, Ghana inclusive. Example: Making research available to farmers on an online portal to improve farming practices ; awareness creation on innovative market access linkages; farmland GIS mapping for GlobalGap certification; mobile phone usage for market prices and weather access; et al.
A policy-focus e-agriculture initiative in Ghana should not exclude the  private sector operators because we are already on the ground.  Thanks

Benjamin Kwasi Addom
Benjamin Kwasi AddomThe Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)Netherlands

Dear Solomon,

Thanks for your contribution and the concern for stakeholder involvement in e-Agriculture policies and strategies in ACP countries. But I will suggest you re-post it next week since it is one of the key questions for discussion next week (in case it gets swamped in this week's discussion).

Looking forward to more thoughts on that next week.

Ben

Benjamin Kwasi Addom
Benjamin Kwasi AddomThe Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)Netherlands

Dear All,

Reacting to the question for today - Why are national e-agriculture strategies (also referred to as “ICT for agriculture strategies” or “cyber-strategies for agriculture”) needed for the agricultural sector to fully realize the benefits of ICTs?, I will first ask whether we actually need e-Agriculture policies/strategies at National/Country levels in ACP countries? 

Responses so far show a "YES" but I will be glad to know if someone thinks otherwise?

Thanks

Ben 

Justin Chisenga
Justin ChisengaFood and Agriculture OrganizationItaly

Greetings all,

I am Justin Chisenga, FAO knowledge and Information Management Officer based at the Regional Office for Africa, in Accra, Ghana.

Indeed, we need national e-agriculture strategies and there are several reasons for this.  First and foremost, the agricultural sector competes for funding from the central government with other sectors. A strategic approach to ICT in sector is more likely to guarantee some funding from the government. Secondly, are several stakeholders in the agricultural sector. In addition to Governments, we have the civil society, the international development organizations and of the course the private sector. All these stakeholders are involved in ICT-based initiatives in the agricultural sector. A national e-agriculture strategy could bring some coherence to the ICT initiatives which could include a focus on the identified ICT problem areas and priorities for the sector by the stakeholders.

Considering that ICT has no respect for boundaries/borders, we also need regional e-agriculture strategies.

mawaki chango
mawaki changoCôte d'Ivoire

Welcome, Justin!

You make a solid case for articulating a strategy:

1) we need strategy to get ahead or get a chance in a context of competition for limited resources/funding

2) we need a strategy for making various initiatives into a coherent set of actions and prioritization of (possible) objectives

Regarding regional strategies, can you think of a well-formed regional e-agriculture strategy at this point, with some real implications in the way business is conducted in the sector and across that region? It is true that we explicitly refer to national e-dtrategies, but if there is any significant regional ones, especially in ACP regions, I'd welcome discussing or referencing them.

Justin Chisenga
Justin ChisengaFood and Agriculture OrganizationItaly

Hi Mawaki,

Unfortunately, I have not yet come across a regional e-agriculture strategy. I referred to the potential need for regional e-agriculture strategies after taking into account the fact most countries in the ACP region belong to regional economic groupings. For example in Africa you have ECOWAS (for West African Countries), SADC (for Southern Africa), COMESA (East and Southern Africa), East African Community (East Africa). There is also the Caribbean Community. One key objectives of these groupings is promotion of cross border trade, mainly in agricultural products. The same groupings are implementing regional ICT4D strategies (all encompassing strategies) (see draft strategy for CARICOM at  http://tinyurl.com/ae62up4) or regional agricultural information systems such as the ECOWAS Agricultural Information System (ECOAGRIS) (see a very summary in French - http://tinyurl.com/akz8tqc) . In my view, regional ICT initiatives in agriculture should address priorities identified at the regional level. Regional strategies are also likely to guarantee coherence in  approaches and efficient utilization of available resources in the region. Regional strategies could also in a way help countries that may not have developed national e-strategies in the sense that their needs could be taken into account, especially if development of these strategies is done in a truly participatory way.

Henry Ligot
Henry LigotUniversity of Asia and the PacificPhilippines

Thanks Mawaki! I am Henry Ligot from the Philippines. A recent news in the media highlighted that despite years of investments in agriculture inn the Philippines, the sector remains heavily inefficient, farmers are aging, in debt, and dwindling in numbers, and on the whole not competitive with our neighbors, in fact, we prefer to import chickens, pork, rice, etc. because transport in the country is expensive (we have 7,000+ islands). This is why a national policy on eAgriculture is urgently needed, because ICT can address the factors (islands of producers and markets, ignorance of market conditions, lack of means for producers to tap into the ICT system, etc.) that contribute so much to inefficiencies and lack of competitiveness. All our expertise teaching farmers how to be more productive is wasted because those with more resources (middle men, who control the farm-to-market infrastructure) hold more power. ICT can help level the playing field, and a national policy can help achieve that.<div>
</div><div>Henry Ligot</div><div>UA&amp;P School of Sciences and Engineering<span></span><br><br>On Monday, February 25, 2013, e-Agriculture wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dear Mawaki,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thank you for your very capable facilitation of the forum. I have enjoyed following the discussion. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>We look forward to taking this discussion to this year’s WSIS Forum. It is now 10 years since the process began in 2002. In 2015 we are looking forward to a major review of WSIS progress. For anyone interested, the e-Agriculture community collects information on WSIS agriculture related developments here <a href="http://www.e-agriculture.org/en/wsis-follow-up">http://www.e-agriculture... <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Michael <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Fr

Henry Ligot
Henry LigotUniversity of Asia and the PacificPhilippines

Thanks Mawaki! I am Henry Ligot from the Philippines. A recent news in the media highlighted that despite years of investments in agriculture inn the Philippines, the sector remains heavily inefficient, farmers are aging, in debt, and dwindling in numbers, and on the whole not competitive with our neighbors, in fact, we prefer to import chickens, pork, rice, etc. because transport in the country is expensive (we have 7,000+ islands). This is why a national policy on eAgriculture is urgently needed, because ICT can address the factors (islands of producers and markets, ignorance of market conditions, lack of means for producers to tap into the ICT system, etc.) that contribute so much to inefficiencies and lack of competitiveness. All our expertise teaching farmers how to be more productive is wasted because those with more resources (middle men, who control the farm-to-market infrastructure) hold more power. ICT can help level the playing field, and a national policy can help achieve that.<div>
</div><div>Henry Ligot</div><div>UA&amp;P School of Sciences and Engineering<span></span><br><br>On Monday, February 25, 2013, e-Agriculture wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<u></u>

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