All roads this week lead to Accra, Ghana which hosts the African Green Revolution Forum 2019 under the theme, “ Grow digital: Leveraging digital transformation to drive sustainable food systems in Africa ” The Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) is a platform for global and African leaders to develop actionable plans that will move African agriculture forward. Initially established as an annual “African Green Revolution Conference” by Yara International ASA in Norway in 2006, the conference moved to the African continent in 2010 with the championing of the late Kofi Annan to take an African...
The world is facing an imminent challenge – the world population is expected to grow from 7.7 billion to 10 billion by 2050 ; today (with a population of 7.7) more than 820 million people are hungry globally. Does this mean that the world needs to produce more food to feed the hungry? Evidence seems to suggest that food production should increase. However, many of the farmers in the global south are aged and very few youths are replacing them. Can technology help in ensuring increased agricultural productivity? In a recent blog , Jean –Philippe Courtois , President at Microsoft Global Sales...
Scaling up innovations and solutions in agriculture was discussed in the September 2018 conference, Innovations in Agriculture: Scaling Up to Reach Millions , organized by Purdue University, in partnership with the African Development Bank. The Scale Up Sourcebook is a collection of contributions at the said conference and also aims to capture methodologies for leveraging globally the technology and innovations designed to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods in the developing world. The publication distils the expertise, ground-breaking innovations, and examples of successful...
The e-Agriculture team is launching a user survey to obtain feedback from the Community of Practice and interested users to better understand their needs, interaction on the platform and how content can be designed to meet their needs. The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete and it will be open until the August 31, 2019. The e-Agriculture Community of Practice and the platform is in the process of being studied with a view to a redesigned solution that closely meet the needs of the community. Technology also provides a potential to better achieve the reach and needs of our...
The AGRF is considered the world’s most important and impactful forum for African agriculture, pulling together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. First established in 2010, following a three-year series...
The 3rd session of the AP-IS Steering Committee is planned to review the latest research findings, current implementation of the Master Plan 2019-2022 by member countries, ESCAP and partner organizations and discuss emerging trends and technologies which affect the implementation and agree on...
By Abdul-Rahim Abdulai, Emily Duncan and Evan Fraser Digitisation could change the game for agriculture in Africa. That’s a key message in a report recently released by an international institution that enhances smallholder farming in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The Centre for...
CGIAR and partners are holding the Big Data in Agriculture Convention 201 9 , under the theme, TRUST: Humans, Machines & Ecosystems. This year’s Convention will be hosted by The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics ( ICRISAT ) and held at their campus in Hyderabad,...
IMC Worldwide have been commissioned by DFID to undertake a Deep Dive Study on Digital Innovation within DFID’s agriculture programmes. In 2018, DFID launched its Digital Strategy, aiming to establish DFID as a global leader in digital technology and development in order to have greater, faster and more cost-effective impact on the lives of poor people. The strategy commits DFID to making greater and better use of digital technology to tackle global poverty and deliver on the Global Goals, as well as to maximise opportunities from digital products and services to improve the lives of poor...
OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2019-2028 The Agricultural Outlook report is a collaborative effort of the OECD and FAO. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organizations as well as input from a wide range of national and international institutions to provide FAO...