Millions of underemployed skilled farmers and millions of hectares of underused arable land exhist all over the world, especially in developing countries. At the same time, the demand for high-quality organic food increases daily. According to FAO , our food production will have to increase dramatically to feed a growing population that will reach 9.7 billion in 2050. iGrow is a marketplace that helps underemployed farmers, under-utilized land, and investors to produce high-quality organic food and sustainable incomes through cloud-based agricultural management software. The online platform...
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently held on the 27th of June a seminar entitled, " Towards Inclusive Rural Communication Services: Contributing to Poverty Reduction and the SDGs ". This seminar is timely in that FAO recently aligned its strategic objectives with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is an interest in reaching out to the rural communities, and in particular smallholder and family farmers face social, economic and environmental challenges and access to information can make a huge difference in allevieting poverty. In 2014, FAO...
Youth employment should be at the center of any strategy to face economic and demographic challenges in Africa, the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization José Graziano da Silva told a joint African Union - European Union meeting, hosted at FAO headquarters in Rome on July 2nd, 2017. In 2014 alone, about 11 million young people entered the labor market in Africa. Fostering sustainable agriculture and rural development is essential to absorb these millions of youth looking for a job. The problem is that young people see few opportunities in remaining in the traditional...
EFITA is the European conference dedicated to the future use of ICT in the agri-food sector, bioresource and biomass sector. The 2017 conference, which is the 11th of the series is being held in Montpellier in France from the 2nd to the 6th of July 2017. According to the conference website, there are 200 participants that are expected from around 30 countries. This year's conference is held in collaboration with the World Congress on Computers in Agriculture (WCCA). Program overview The program is comprised of a number of sessions, keynotes speakers, workshops and panel session. The abstracts...
Making Sustainable Agriculture a Future for Youth in Africa was the joint African Union and European Union Agriculture Ministers Conference held in Rome, at the Food and Agriculture Organization premises. The AU-EU Agriculture Ministerial Conference aimed to build up political engagement ahead of the Africa-EU Summit in November 2017 whose objective is a common vision on how to generate sustainable, inclusive jobs for African youth in the agri-food sector and rural economy. Making Sustainable Agriculture a Future for Youth in Africa Plenary Opening The opening plenary was addressed by Mr José...
The second week of the e-forum discussion on ICTs and Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition continued with participants sharing examples and case studies on open data in agriculture. The question for week 2 was: What is the potential for open data in agriculture and nutrition? Does open data benefit and damage farmers, especially smallholder family farmers, women and the youth in developing countries? What case studies can demonstrate the benefits and/or damages of the use of ICTs and Open Data? Summary of contributions The Global Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative...
Four new videos on four different areas (mango seedlings, making soumbala from soya beans, sheep & goats, and pumpkins) have been posted on the platform www.accessagriculture.org . They are currently available in English and French for the one on soya while in English, French, and Bangla for the other three. They are freely downloadable, also in 3gp format for mobile phone viewing. Four new videos Grafting mango seedlings : The benefit of grafting is that from grafted trees we can get fruits within two to four years. Making condiment from soya beans : In West Africa, women prepare a...
FAO, along with several partners, is involved in the implementation of ICT initiatives in Africa The majority of family farmers in developing countries live rural areas and in most cases don't have access to technology and digital agricultural services. Through the use of ICTs, farmers have more access to information on markets, weather and nutrition. The digital service project is part of FAO's Digital Strategy and is aimed at people in the field, local governments, community leaders and extension workers. The project aims to develop four apps designed to help farmers have better...
Text taken from WSA The WSA Young Innovators call is elidgible for projects that: Are deveolped by young innovators under the age of 30 Offer digital solutions to any of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Deliver content rich digital solutions to the user including individuals, businesses and organisations have a strong digital component: websites,apps, sms based solutions, IoT, wearables etc. are market ready or already launched on the market - no ideas or concepts are elidgible WSA Young Innovators is a special recognition for young social entrepreneurs under 30 years of age, using ICTs...
Harnessing Research and Innovation for FOOD 2030: A Science Policy Dialogue Date 16 October 2017 Location Brussels, EU Commission, CHARLEMAGNE building Description This one day conference will serve to disseminate successful European Research and Innovation (R&I) initiatives and contribute to...
Harnessing Research and Innovation for FOOD 2030: A Science Policy Dialogue Date 16 October 2017 Location Brussels, EU Commission, CHARLEMAGNE building Description This one day conference will serve to disseminate successful European Research and Innovation (R&I) initiatives and contribute to...