The CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas team won US$100,000 grant to refine a mobile application that uses artificial intelligence to diagnose crop diseases . This new app will attempt to solve the problem of pests and diseases that be face farmers with small holder farmers hardly hit. Its estimated that every year pests and diseases costs billions of dollars to potential agricultural economy as they damage agricultural outputs such as crops, livestock and fish harvests. Technology plays a big role in warning the communities of possible outbreaks and also as a monitoring tool...
Kaleidoscope 2017: Challenges for a data-driven society is the ninth in a series of peer-reviewed academic conferences organized by ITU to bring together a wide range of views from universities, industry and research institutions. The aim of the Kaleidoscope conferences is to identify emerging...
The NewTimes Newspaper in Rwanda reports the testing of mobile applications developed under the "Agricultural Services and Digital Inclusion in Rwanda" - which includes the four mobile applications - 'Cure and feed your livestock', 'eNtrifood', 'Weather and crop', and 'AgriMarketplace' developed in support of FAO. The testing was done on Tuesday, 7th of November 2017 in Rulindo District, Northen Province in Rwanda. The purpose of the testing was to get the feedback of the technology based on the field farming practices or challenges they face in the farming process. This feedback will help...
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...
In most developping countries, agriculture is the main source of the population’s income. Lack of acces to relevant informations leads to low yields, famers stress and low income. Nowadays Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform agriculture in rural area...
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...
The ICT4Ag: The new technologies that will achieve food security, is part of an ongoing series around ICT4D, that is exploring new ICT innovations. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, October 17, 2017 6:00 AM PDT (Pacific Daylight Time). The participants will discuss the challenges of acceptance and distribution of those technologies in agricultural programs. The expert panel will discuss which ICT technologies are more useful to each participan't project. The factors taken in consideration are: research and big data, push vs pull technologies and user-friendly designs and sustainability...
The Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) was launched in 2007 as a dialogue platform that cuts across borders and disciplines in support of a world free of food insecurity and malnutrition. On the 10th of October 2017, at the FAO headquarters, the FSN Forum team held a luncheon to celebrate the 10 year of existence. Today the FSN Forum stands as one of the most inclusive, multilingual platform that hosts discussions related to food security and nutrition issues. The FSN approach to online discussions have attracted a wider range of stakeholders and members from the civic...
ICT4Ag: The New Technologies That Will Achieve Food Security Date Tue, October 17, 2017 6:00 AM – 7:00 AM PDT Description This webinar, ICT4Ag: The New Technologies That Will Achieve Food Security, is part of an ongoing series around ICT4D, that is exploring new ICT innovations. The participants...
Kaleidoscope 2017: Challenges for a data-driven society is the ninth in a series of peer-reviewed academic conferences organized by ITU to bring together a wide range of views from universities, industry and research institutions. The aim of the Kaleidoscope conferences is to identify emerging...
In most developping countries, agriculture is the main source of the population’s income. Lack of acces to relevant informations leads to low yields, famers stress and low income. Nowadays Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform agriculture in rural area...0 comments