A promising practice on the use of ICTs in weather-data for farmers Many small holder farmers in developing countries have faced huge challenges as a result of climate change induced weather effects. Most of these farmers rely on traditional methods to understand weather predictions. Localised weather data is essential for farm based decisions such as when to plant, yet farmers can access reliable and usable weather data. If such information is available, the quality is poor or it’s inaccessible to the communities that need it most. In order to support Kenyan farmers, the Kenyan Agricultural...
Research findings by the youth at Mastercard Foundation Rome – Africa is in the height of a crisis and an opportunity. Africa’s population stands at 1,2 billion people and over 60% are below the age of 25. Yet most African youths are not employed, and according to the World Bank by 2035, 350 million new jobs will be needed . Africa’s population is growing faster than jobs are created. There is a potential for agriculture to create employment, however, African youths in Sub-Saharan Africa do not realize agriculture as a profitable opportunity for livelihood. There is a growing notion that the...
Location specific and timely advice to improve productivity and climate resilience among smallholder farmers Farmers in developing countries have a challenge of accessing localized weather data. Recently the e-Agriculture Team at FAO and aWhere published a Promising Practice that explains how aWhere can provide weather-based data and tips for smallholder farmers. aWhere delivers agricultural intelligence to farmers, crop consultants and researchers all over the world. How does aWhere achieve this? “The company aims at making agronomic and weather data available to farmers through...
The African Union, High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and NEPAD have published a report entitled, Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture . The report explains how drones are a vital part of precision agriculture and how drones can be used to provide detailed and on-demand data that support decision making by farmers in Africa . The publication of this report is the second high-level commitment by AU to the use of drones in agriculture across the continent. Earlier this year, the African Union’s Executive Council requested the AU and Member States to harness...
In the just ended European Development Days 2018, The Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) sponsored a session on women’s access to ICTs for agriculture. Through this event and supporting women’s access to ICTs for agriculture, CTA is helping to close the gender gap and improve livelihoods. The question of ICTs and Women Within ICTs for development, this event comes heels after the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women and its review on the role of ICTs in empowering rural women and girls encapsulated in the CSW47 Agreed Conclusions . Meanwhile, despite...
A case study in Guruve and Mt Darwin, Zimbabwe under the Ensuring Nutrition, Transforming and Empowering Rural Farmers and Promoting Resilience in Zimbabwe (ENTERPRIZE) program by Innocent Kafembe Guruve Zimbabwe, 2018 -The Zimbabwe Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP) is improving the...
This training is to build capacity among FAO-ITU member countries in the use of these emerging technologies and to equip them with the needed technical knowledge to fully utilize these technologies for agriculture (including forestry and livestock), early warning systems and disaster risk...
ICTforAg 2018 annual conference brings together 300 practitioners and decision makers in agriculture and international development . This year’s edition seeks to focus on new ICT solutions that can boost the productivity of both smallholder farmers and agricultural markets systems. ICTforAg is supported by Abt Associates , DAI , FHI 360 , and RTI International . The conference will focus on three areas:- Market systems Technological innovation, and Crisis Response A glimpse of the agenda The agenda reveals that this edition will focus on real challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders...
The e-Agriculture Team in conjuction with Welthungerhilfe, Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Land, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement (Midlands, Zimbabwe) invites interested persons to the webinar on "Transformative Digital Extension delivery and smallholder farm marketing in Zimbabwe through the Kurima Mari Mobile app " Details of the webinar The webinar details are as follows Date : Thursday 14th of June 2018 Time : 11:00 hrs (Rome Time) Registration : Click here About this webinar This webinar that will be jointly presented by Welthungerhilfe and the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural...
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has contributed its innovative initiatives with the broader 17 UN agencies on how it is using innovative technology and digital solutions to assure food security and end hunger in middle-and lower-income countries. This contribution was published by the UN Innovative Network (UNIN) in their Q2 Quarterly Update on Innovation . UNIN is an informal collaborative network of UN Agencies innovation teams, the teams seek to find new innovative approaches and technologies as well as challenges in developing innovative ideas. FAO’s...