E-Agriculture

Stories from the field: Going to scale with ICTs for agriculture

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Stories from the field: Going to scale with ICTs for agriculture

ICTs in agriculture have a huge potential: they can increase agricultural yields or help farmers get a fairer price for their produce. Farmers now have access to farm mapping, weather data, marketing tools, financial credit, advice from extension workers, and social networks thanks to SMS applications, mobile banking and satellite data.

However, there are some limits to the reach of ICTs in rural areas: poor internet connectivity, high illiteracy rates and the inability of pilot projects to go to scale due to the lack of long-term funding or not having measures for their sustainability. This booklet by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) presents a range of projects which in different ways highlight the potential for the long term and scaled use of ICT4Ag designed to inspire all agricultural workers, from the smallholder farmer to governments and their international trading partners.

Here is the list of the different case studies presented:

  • Hand-held technology for surveying farms transforms the lives of Ghana’s farmers
  • Saving water and quadrupling crop yields in Sudan via an SMS subscription
  • Using digital data to create a fair trade ethos for food producers in west and central Africa
  • Supporting stakeholder cooperation with a smartphone app in Trinidad and Tobago’s small-scale fishing industry
  • Agripol web platform supports agricultural advocacy in Burkina Faso
  • Using technology to bring financial services to rural farmers in Uganda
  • Empowering women farmers in Ghana with access to information

Download the PDF here

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