E-Agriculture

2018 News and Events

2018 News and Events

  • A 360 degrees view of the Principles for Digital Development

    Highlights: Why do we need the digital principles? What are these principles? How have they been implemented? The developmental world has seen an investment into platforms and infrastructure to support information and knowledge sharing, and lately hackathons, contest and apps galore have mushroomed. While these efforts are commendable and justifiable, there is an obvious result, systems and platforms are developed in silos. In some cases even duplicating efforts. The situation l just described above explains why the donor agencies and multilateral organisation thought of best practices in the...
  • Ethiopian herders get automated weather stations

    Image credit : Panos/SciDev.Net Ethiopian herders have been provided the automated weather stations which are providing them with reliable climate information; armed with this information they can weigh up risks and make preventative decisions – reports SciDev.Net . The Automated weather stations (AWS) are reported to be part of the Market Approaches to Resilience (MAR) project led by the NGO Farm Africa in three Ethiopian regions which are seeing an increase in climate variability. A total of 25 solar –powered AWSs have been installed since 2015.There are other challenges those that the MAR...
  • ICSD 2018: 6th International Conference on Sustainable Development

    The 6th International Conference on Sustainable Development (6th ICSD 2018) will be held in Rome,Congress Center, Piazza della Pilotta, 4, Rome, Italy Wednesday 12 to Thursday 13 September, 2018. The conference is organized by the European Center of Sustainable Development in collaboration with CIT...
  • 10 Key elements to enhance technological innovation for the Paris Agreement

    In 2015, many countries adopted the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , there by committing to a vision of a low- carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable future for all. The world events leading to and after the signing of the agreement have shown that climate issues are becoming a reality; for instance, 2016 was the hottest year on record with the average global temperature at almost 1 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. Under the Paris Agreement, countries have developed nationally determined contributions (NDCs), national adaptation plans and mid-...
  • Is Blockchain Technology (BCT) relevant in food and agriculture?

    Image credit: JavaCoin News A recent study on blockchain for Food and Agriculture by GODAN partners TNO and Wageningen UR explored the use of blockchain technology (BCT). The study was conducted amidst the growth of bitcon and other crypto currencies and their acceptance in many other fields. In comparison, blockchain technology is believed by some to have a much wider application also within food and agriculture. For example 'bitcoin-derived applications have improved mobile payments, and credit and supply chain transaction administration, blockchain in agriculture and food is believed to...
  • Machine Learning for Future Networks

    The ITU-T Focus Group on Machine Learning for Future Networks including 5G was established by ITU-T Study Group 13 at its meeting in Geneva, 6-17 November 2017. The Focus Group will draft technical reports and specifications for machine learning (ML) for future networks, including interfaces,...
  • Mobile Learning Week 2018

    UNESCO and ITU have announced the ‘ Mobile Learning Week 2018 ’ which is a flagship ICT in education conference. The event will be held from 26 to 30 March 2018 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.The details of this conference can also be interests to e-Agriculture CoP. The theme of the event is, “Skills for a connected world” will examine the type of skills needed in a connected network and will focus on digital skills and competencies. The meeting will also review strategies and skills in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) The Objectives Mobile Learning Week 2018 has been...
  • Private sector provides ICT solution for Japanese farmers

    Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Vegetalia , an ICT startup, have joined forces to provide solutions for the Japanese agricultural sector. This is an example where private sector investing in agriculture. The challenge in Japan is that the Japanese farming population is ageing and decreasing. ICT solutions, hence, could be leveraged to help modernize the sector. Therefore, to help solve this Mitsubishi invested in Vegetalia which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) to solve agriculture’s problems. An extract from the press statement states , ‘Vegetalia is a next-...
  • Harvesting Robotics: A solution to farm labour?

    If you have worked and lived on the farm you will agree that farm labour is one of the key inputs and cost center in the farming system. In most countries farm labour is controlled, that is their condition of service and earnings. Can technology halve or eliminate labour costs? As l was reading the blog by AgFunder News , which noted that harvesting robotics market is on the rise and to reach US$5.5 bn. The reality is that despite the rising cost of labour amidst unpredictability in farm profitability, farm robotics is still immature. Another factor is that while many farming aspects have...