African Union publishes a Decision EX . CL/Dec. 986-1007 (XXXII), the Executive Council of the African Union (AU), requests the AU and Member States to harness drones for agriculture as one of three emerging technologies of relevance for African development. The recently held African Union saw its Executive Council of the African Union requesting the AU and Member States to harness drones for agriculture. Drones or the Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been in existence for decades and initially used in the military. Today drones have permeated the development world and has been applied in...
This two-day business forum is designed to provide leading discussion and debate around how to leverage technology, climate-smart agriculture and cross-sector collaborations to improve sustainable farming, deliver against company objectives and balance positive impact for farmers, businesses and...
A review of research on how information services based on mobile phone technology can improve the lives of smallholder farmers has found only patchy evidence of success. The study conducted through an exploratory literature review focused on the impact of mobile phone-enabled services on farmers. They looked at 23 studies of such services in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The study was conducted against a commonly held notion that these services hold a promise for developing world farmers and that these mobile services can improve their yields. Mobile phone services for farmers covered...
Does your agricultural ministry still use paper for filing documents and submissions? How can technology help? The e-service support to farmers in Latvia is a good example of how technology can help in these situations. The Electronic Application System (EAS) of the Rural Support Service of the Republic of Latvia was created to electronically submit different types of applications for EU and Latvia’s state support for agriculture, fisheries, forestry, rural areas development, fishermen and rural entrepreneurs. The EAS system held in administration of the ministry and the implementation of...
There is a growing momentum to encourage the participation of youths in agriculture in Africa. Migration – both rural to urban and intercontinental - seemed to have sparked this debate. In any case, agriculture is poised to be a major path to eradicate hunger and poverty in Africa. The theme of youth, ICTs and agriculture arose during the online discussion forum held by FAO and partners (on FSN Forum Africa ) from 25 October to 17 November 2017. The debate was aimed at soliciting opinions on capacity development sustainability for young agripreneurs in Africa and to contribute to identifying...
Agriculture has always been affected by plant pests and diseases, outbreaks can cause huge losses to crops and pastures and threatening the livelihoods of vulnerable smallholder farmers. The following are some of the known pests that have caused in agriculture include, locusts, armyworm, fruit flies, banana diseases, cassava diseases and wheat rusts. Currently, the Fall Armyworm (FAW) has ravaged many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. FAO has already offered a briefing note on FAW which can be read here . The following map shows the countries in Africa affected by the FAW ICTs and pests...
UN Broadband Commission sets global broadband targets to bring online the world’s 3.8 billion not connected to the Internet. This is designed to bring the unconnected online so that they also can benefit from Internet as a resource. Therefore, in response the United Nations’ Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development launches 2025 targets to support “Connecting the Other Half ”. This announcement and targets were launched today at the joint meeting of the Commission and the World Economic Forum. Read the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development 2025 Targets here The press...
For commercial agriculture to succeed, an investment into cash crops and investing in traditional agriculture is essential, also using information and communication technology (ICT). Mountain Hazelnuts is a company established with funding from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank , to develop innovative uses of ICT for its commercial agriculture operations. The company has helped farmers integrate ICTs within each step of the Mountain Hazelnuts business model. Furthermore, about 150 staff provide extension support to farmers and also use smart phones and ICTs to communicate with...
The recently ended Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Conference under the auspices of the 10th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (organized by Federal Ministry of Agriculture ) held in Germany affirmed to the role of ICT technologies as an important tool to agriculture, for example in improving water-use efficiency. The theme of the meeting as “ Agriculture and Water – Key to Feeding the World ”, and pointed out that climate change, land degradation and many trends such as urbanisation, population growth, migration have increased the competition for the demand of water, resulting in the need...
The curtain of 2018 came down, and as we begin the year e-Agriculture is hopeful to main the 2017 momentum in facilitating the dialogue, information exchange and sharing ideas related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture and rural development. We are looking forward, first and foremost, to the launch of a newly improved and redesigned platform under the FAO Domain. This will provide the community with a corporate look at feel and while maintaining the core- services, such as News , Blogs , Forum Discussions and other capacity development activities,...