The WSIS Process has just announced the opening of submissions for the #WSISPrizes2019 . All stake holders are invited to submit #WSIS related projects during the period 2 July to 30th of November 2018. WSIS prizes are part of the annual World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum which is a global multi-stakeholder platform for facilitating the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines. WSIS Forums are co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD which a close collaboration of other agencies. The theme for the WSIS Forum 2019 is “ Information and Knowledge Societies for Sustainable...
Blockchain explained: A guide to one of the modern world’s greatest innovations Blockchain! What comes into your mind when you hear this word? Bitcoin, Crypto-currencies etc. Indeed there has been a lot of interest in this subject from many people interested in technology and development. An article by Michael Kern provides some background information of this technology, in this article he explains how exactly the technology came about, how does it work, and what industries is it reshaping? Below we attempt to summarize this article. What is blockchain technology and where did it come from?...
News Release as published on FAO Website 25 June 2018, Rome - The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization and Pennsylvania State University joined forces to develop and launch an innovative, talking app - Nuru - to help African farmers recognize Fall Armyworm, a new and fast-spreading crop pest in sub-Saharan Africa, so that they can take immediate steps to destroy it and curb its spread. Fall Armyworm first appeared in Africa in 2016, in West Africa, and then rapidly spread across all countries in sub-Saharan Africa in 2017, infecting millions of hectares of maize, and threatening...
The 14th International Conference on Precision Agriculture is being held in Montreal, QC Canada and is organised by the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) which is a non-profit professional scientific organization. The final Oral and Poster programs are posted on the 14th ICPA...
The Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS) is a monitoring and education tool that feeds several platforms that are used to make decisions about Fall Armyworm (FAW). Data are inputted via an app for smartphones, which provide exact locations of the source of the information. Data can be collected on FAW prevalence in fields (infested crop plants) or from pheromone traps that attract adult moths. Data collection is done using FAO’s FAW Guidance Notes and is available in five languages. The app also provides basic background information on FAW and will soon incorporate an...
Location specific and timely advice to improve productivity and climate resilience among smallholder farmers Farmers in developing countries have a challenge of accessing localized weather data. Recently the e-Agriculture Team at FAO and aWhere published a Promising Practice that explains how aWhere can provide weather-based data and tips for smallholder farmers. aWhere delivers agricultural intelligence to farmers, crop consultants and researchers all over the world. How does aWhere achieve this? “The company aims at making agronomic and weather data available to farmers through...
The African Union, High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and NEPAD have published a report entitled, Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture . The report explains how drones are a vital part of precision agriculture and how drones can be used to provide detailed and on-demand data that support decision making by farmers in Africa . The publication of this report is the second high-level commitment by AU to the use of drones in agriculture across the continent. Earlier this year, the African Union’s Executive Council requested the AU and Member States to harness...
Cracking the Nut 18 : Promoting Agricultural Technology Adoption and Resilience Cracking the Nut 18 conference focuses on encouraging the uptake of new technologies for agriculture and access to finance in a way that promotes resilience. This two-day event will bring together approximately 300 of...
This training is to build capacity among FAO-ITU member countries in the use of these emerging technologies and to equip them with the needed technical knowledge to fully utilize these technologies for agriculture (including forestry and livestock), early warning systems and disaster risk...
The 14th International Conference on Precision Agriculture is being held in Montreal, QC Canada and is organised by the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) which is a non-profit professional scientific organization. The final Oral and Poster programs are posted on the 14th ICPA...
Cracking the Nut 18 : Promoting Agricultural Technology Adoption and Resilience Cracking the Nut 18 conference focuses on encouraging the uptake of new technologies for agriculture and access to finance in a way that promotes resilience. This two-day event will bring together approximately 300 of...