Africa’s economy is based largely agriculture and most of them being smallholder farmers. One of the challenges these family farmers face is access to weather information and forecasting services. Lack of access to relevant weather information is due to lack of access of weather source information, dilapidated weather stations that fail to accurately provide reliable weather data, amongst many other reasons. Kukua is an initiative whose vision is to close Africa’s weather information gap by providing new weather station technology and improved weather forecast accuracy. Kukua seeks to...
On the 24th of November GFAR (Global Forum on Agricultural Research) has convened a syposium on farmers' rights and access to data in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event is co-funded by GODAN and CTA and organized by ITOCA . In order to learn more about the event or to register for the event, click here . During the symposium different angels of data access and data ownership will be adressed, specifically focussing on smallholder farmers. The fulll programme of the day is not yet available, but the announcement of the symposium gives us already a previeuw of some of the keynote speakers:...
" ICT-centric economic growth, innovation and job creation ", is the title of a book written by leading scholars and experts. The book's objective is to address the challenges and opportunities offered by ICTs in the areas of innovation, governance, education, job creation and economic growth. The book is written against the background of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the book recognizes that ICTs are permeating all aspects of the global economy and society. This book was launched at the Ministerial Roundtable on ICT4SDG organized to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the ITU...
From 16 to 27 October, e-Agriculture Team organized the “introduction to drones in agriculture’ learning activity . This self-learning activity is intended to increase the appreciation of and knowledge on the use of drones in agriculture and rural development to members and followers of the e-Agriculture Community of Practice (CoP). During the second week of the activity participants reviewed academic literature on drones, including the ongoing research from Catheline Pieters on the monitoring of orchards using drones. The participants also had the opportunity to present their work during a...
The role of the mobile phone in accelerating Africa’s social and economic development was reflectedby the UCT Vice-Chancellor’s Inaugural Lecture , titled “ ICTs for development: the good intentions of the mobile phone ”. This lecture was delivered by Professor Rivett is the first woman to be appointed as a full professor at her department. While this address was academic, it provides an insight into the history and uptake of technology within the development and in the African context, in various fields. Some key excepts from the lecture :- “ One of the things the mobile phone allowed for...
Drones can have multiple uses in agriculture, from mapping to spraying. Here is a short list of how can drones help in agriculture. Precision agriculture uses information technology to ensure that the crops and soil receive exactly what they need for optimum health and productivity. Drones are an essential tool in precision agriculture, as they allow farmers to constantly monitor crop and livestock conditions by air. Mapping : With new drone models, the user only needs to draw around the area he needs to cover as drones come equipped with flight planning software allowing it to follow an...
This blog is shared as published on AGORA website Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) is one of the four Research4Life programmes that provides free or low cost access to major scientific journals in agriculture and related biological, environmental and social sciences to public institutions in developing countries. AGORA was launched in October 2003 and today, after more than 14 years, it provides access to up to 8200 journals from the world’s leading academic publishers. AGORA is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its goal is to...
The Government of Andhra Pradesh, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dalberg Advisors and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), invites applications for a Pitch Competition to identify technology-based solutions that solve agricultural challenges faced by small and marginal farmers in Andhra Pradesh'' . - read more In this competition there are four themes in which each submission can be made under:- Technology-enabled Rural Advisory Services (RAS) v2.0. Technology-enabled market linkages. Digital Financial Services for agriculture. Data mining for agriculture Who...
The FAO Director-General, Mr. Jose Graziano da Silva launched one of the FAO flagship publication, " The State of Food and Agriculture ", which this year focuses on leveraging food systems for inclusive rural transformation. The publication was launched during the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) which started on the 9th of October 2017 in FAO headquarters, in Rome. He noted that some 815 million people suffered from hunger in 2016. Key messages of the report The State of Food and Agriculture aims at bringing to a wider audience balanced science-based assessments of important issues in...
The USAID has launched the Gender and Information Communication Technology Survey Toolkit which was prepared in collaboration with its partners. It was noted that over 1.7 billion women in low and middle-income countries do not own mobile phones. Even in cases where women own mobile phones, they are less likely to make the full use of their full suite of services. The gender gap impacts greatly on the developmental work, for example the USAID and implementing partners are increasingly using mobile technology and lack of access by women posses a great challenge in the fullfilment of various...
