Image credit : FAO/ART Project In Rwanda, one main constraint limiting the development of the potato value chain is related to a lack of reliable information on the prices of potatoes and quantities available in the market which makes forecasting costs of processors difficult, a constraint which is outside the direct control of the firm. Furthermore, the impact of climate change is putting unprecedented stress and threats on the livelihoods of potato farmers in north-western districts of the country. Reducing climatic risks require robust and innovative tools that can help producers and...
The Digital Innovation to Tackle Climate Change Project was initiated in Senegal and Rwanda in December 2017 after the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU). This MoU seeks to strengthen cooperation between the two entities and tostrengthen cooperation to respond to climate change and variability. The project is led by the Digital Innovation Unit at FAO. Through this project, FAO and WMO are joining forces: To enhance capacity for the countries to provide meteorological and...
FOSS4g2018 meeting will take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from the 27th of August to the 2nd of September 2018 and there will be a large GIS community in attendance. In this light, CGIAR, IFPRI, WeRobotics and Tanzania Flying Labs are organising a "Drones for Agriculture" Knowledge Sharing Day on Friday 24th of August in Dar es Salaam. Interested persons within the agriculture are invited to sign-up. Places are limited to 50 participants. Participants will be chosen based on their application. The event is free of charge, however travel & lodging needs to be paid by participants...
This week is the 6th World Forest Week and it coincides with the 2th session of Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on Forestry (COFO) Undoubtedly the focus of this week is forests! The theme of this week is ‘ Forests and the Sustainable Development Goals –from aspiration to action ’ The major highlight of this week is launch of publication, The State of The World’s Forests: Forest Pathways to Sustainable Development, whose aim is to provide new information to help interlinkages and enhance the understanding of how policies on forests and trees help achieve SDG15 and also seeks to...
A promising practice on the use of ICTs in weather-data for farmers Many small holder farmers in developing countries have faced huge challenges as a result of climate change induced weather effects. Most of these farmers rely on traditional methods to understand weather predictions. Localised weather data is essential for farm based decisions such as when to plant, yet farmers can access reliable and usable weather data. If such information is available, the quality is poor or it’s inaccessible to the communities that need it most. In order to support Kenyan farmers, the Kenyan Agricultural...
The regional conference seeks to help farmers and other value chain actors to harness the benefits of technology and data, and drive the adoption of these digital tools by farmers. It bring together end users, service providers, disseminators, regulators, policy formulators, and technology...
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...
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-...
WSIS has announced the opening of the WSIS Prizes 2018 and they are encouraging all the stakeholders to SUBMIT their project descriptions to the WSIS Prizes contest from 11 September 2017 – 2 January 2018. The e-Agriculture team encourages eligible projects in agriculture to submit their projects for this prestigious award. WSIS Prizes are a major highlight of the WSIS Forum every year and they recognize outstanding initiatives by governments, private sector, and civil society that leverage the contributions of ICT for the benefit our society. Projects related to ICTs in Agriculture fall...
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) is hosted by the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and presided over by Fiji; signaling the return of climate change to the international agenda. This meeting comes just in time when the world is seeing climate induced catastrophies in many parts of the world. At this UN Climate Change Conference, nations will meet to advance the aims of the Paris Agreement and measure progress of its implementation guidelines. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is representing as a leader of the...
The regional conference seeks to help farmers and other value chain actors to harness the benefits of technology and data, and drive the adoption of these digital tools by farmers. It bring together end users, service providers, disseminators, regulators, policy formulators, and technology...
