The US Embassy in Nepal organized a ‘Farm to Table’ event on August 29th to identify opportunities to maximize the market potential of Nepal’s agricultural sector. The conference brought together agro-entrepreneurs, buyers, suppliers, financial service providers, and farmers from Nepal and the United States. The main discussion of this round-table was based on finding innovative ways to improve efficiency and maximize productivity in Nepali agriculture. One of the main recommendations was to improve value chains by investing in ICTs connecting farmers to knowledge, market information and...
mFish is a set of mobile applications for fishing and aquaculture that educates fishers and connects them to market prices. The app is innovative in the way that it gathers information directly from the fishermen. Many small scale fishers lack the access to vital data such weather data, fish prices at port, fish handling and safety best practices. mFish aims to aggregate and distribute useful content to fishers around the world helping them to be more sustainable in their methods and as a small enterprise. mFish is available on Google Play, Facebook’s Free Basics, and even as a browser based...
Farm Fresh is a Gambian social entreprise that helps market smallholder farmers’ local products through an e-commerce platform. It was established in 2014 and is the first online food store and delivery service in Gambia. The platform markets and sells online fresh and locally grown vegetables, fruits and processed food items in partnership with farmers across the country. By doing so, Farm Fresh ensures a regular source of income generation for farmers. Currently, Farm Fresh has more than 200 local products on the website, also allowing Gambians from the Diaspora to order fresh and healthy...
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...
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...
Esoko is a communication tool created with a view to building connection between businesses, projects, NGOs, governments and smallholder farmers. Esoko started as a price information service but the team soon realized that farmers needed much more than market information and added weather alerts, crop advice, and linking buyers with sellers. Various research finds such services can improve incomes for farmers by roughly 10%. Watch this introductory video on Esoko: Credits: Esoko Over the years, Esoko developed two products: Tulaa and Insyt . Tulaa is a mobile money solution that allows...
The seafood industry has one of the most complicated supply chains in the world, with sometimes up to seven companies involved from catch to plate, each keeping records on paper in long distance locations. In fisheries, traceability is defined as the ability to track the source of seafood, the conditions under which it is farmed or caught, and the intermediaries it passes through. Improving traceability is critical to promoting sustainability in both aquaculture and wild-caught fish. FairAgora , a corporate social responsability firm based in Bangkok, aims to help buyers audit seafood...
Abalobi, which is Xhosa name for fishermen, is as a mobile application for the small-scale fishermen to let them produce their own knowledge on fishing and build resilient communities in the face of climate change. There are currently 30,000 artisanal fishers along South Africa's coastline making their living from the sea and living on a thin line between commercial and subsistence fishing. The innovation of Abalobi is the fact that small-scale fishermen can record what they caught, when, where, using what method and how much they sold the fish for. All that information is stored in the app...
RevoFarm is a Jamaican based app designed to connect farmers to markets and market data. Farmers send an SMS with their available crops and the information is uploaded on the website. Consumers, which can also include supermarkets who want fresh produce from farmers, can then search the RevoFarm marketplace (on the website or on the app) and find fresh farm produce closest to them. The app also supplies farmers with valueable information to plan their planting season, based on projected weather patterns, crop marketability and soil type. Farmers can also rate and comment this information...
Ari.farm is a new agricultural app based in Stockholm and designed to bring nomadic Somali livestock farmers into the digital economy. The concept on which the project evolves is called “crowd-farming,” similar to crowd-funding but adapted to agriculture, consisting in connecting farmers and investors through a digital platform. The Ari.farm mobile application permits users to purchase and invest in livestock in Somalia with the help of a smartphone. Users can buy animals such as goats, sheep, cows or camels which are then raised and cared for by the nomadic farmers. Profits are then shared...
