The study entitled Arab Horizon 2030: Digital Technologies for Development is a central part of ESCWA efforts to promote radical policy changes towards utilizing digital technologies for sustainable development in Arab countries. It sets out proposals and recommendations for harnessing these technologies for social, economic and human development opportunities. The following seven thematic policy areas relevant to digital technologies are identified: digital strategies; information and communication technology (ICT) sector; ICT infrastructure; cybersecurity; the digital divide; e-applications...
FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia has launched a call on digital innovations for agriculture in that region. The call aims at collecting lessons learned and recommendations for the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) or digital innovations in the sectors of agriculture, livestock, fisheries, forestry or rural development. Selected innovations will be disseminated on online platforms, social media and will be part of an online FAO publication on the use of digital technologies for agriculture in Europe and Central Asia. Topic The innovations you wish to...
In most developing countries due to rural-urban migration, rural communities are losing young people and agriculture is robbed of the needed workforce. The result has been that many smallholder farms have more women and girls remaining on the farms providing bulk of the labour force. Advances in agricultural innovation are important to support rural livelihoods and are poised to support the role of women in our food systems. Furthermore, the digital revolution has changed the way we work and offers opportunities when implemented fairly. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in...
As the WSIS Forum 2019 , a multistakeholder platform facilitating the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines for advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the FAO Director-General Mr. José Graziano da Silva has delivered a video message to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and delegates ahead of the meeting to be held on the 8th to the 12th of April 2019. The message confirms FAO commitment to ending hunger through using digital technologies to bridge the rural-urban divide; and most importantly he pledged FAO’s commitment to WSIS and FAO's co-facilitation to the E-...
In an opinion piece on CNN Business , the WorldBank Group CEO and interim presidents noted that automation and artificial intelligence (and other disruptive technologies) could revolutionize the industrialized world, and with great potential to the developing world. O n her tweeter account , Ms Kristalina Georgieva noted in order to support Africa’s digital transformation, the WorldBank Group will invest $25 billion between now and 2030 and is aiming to mobilize $25 billion more from the private sector. How can African countries leapfrog themselves for this challenge? In the above mentioned...
In sub-Saharan Africa and indeed in most of the developing world, women form a greater part of the agricultural labour force. There is potential of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to include women fully in the agricultural systems. The recent ICT Update 90 focuses on Women and Digitization in Agriculture and chronicles the work that The Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has done within the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). The interventions deal with CTA’s contribution to rural economies, the growing advancements in digitization and lessening...
The International Award “ Innovative Ideas and Technologies in Agribusiness ” is organized by UNIDO ITPO Italy in collaboration with the Future Food Institute . The international contest is aimed at identifying worldwide the most innovative ideas in the foodtech & agtech sectors from startups, think tanks, universities, incubators, research and technology centers, that could lead to social, environmental and economic improvements in Developing Countries. Applications must be received by 31st March 2019, at the following link: https://www.unido.it/award2019 The award ceremony will be held...
By Günther Feiler , Capacity Development Officer, FAO Rome, and Thomas Muenzel , Investment Support Officer, FAO Bangkok ( The article was originally published by the ICTworks and we reproduce for our community. All rights acknowledged) Experience has shown that substantial public investments in agricultural production, transport and storage infrastructure, combined with private on-farm investment are essential for promoting pro-poor economic growth, bringing people out of poverty and ending food insecurity and malnutrition. The FAO State of Food and Agriculture Report in 2012 found that the...
ITU has just announced 90 Champions of the WSIS Prizes contest. From the announced 90, 18 projects will be selected to be Winners will be awarded for each of the 18 categories of the WSIS prizes. The submission phase opened on the 2nd of July 2018 to the 5th of December 2018 and 1,149 submissions were received (of which 1062 were found exceptional and were nominated for the WSIS Prizes 2019). Champion Projects under Action Line C7 E-agriculture The Action Line C7 (E-agriculture) is jointly facilitated by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International...
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTAs) project, ‘ Transforming Africa’s Agriculture: Eyes in the Sky, Smart Techs on the Ground ” was this week showcased at FAO headquarters in Rome, at the IFAD Governing Council Meeting. Besides the stand display, there was a presentation on the last day where drones for agriculture were presented. This project was nominated for the WSIS Prizes 2019, category AL C7 – E-agriculture , whose voting is underway at the time of writing. About the project CTA is assisting African start-ups in acquiring capacity to deliver Unmanned...
