The proliferation of smartphones and their usage has spread throughout the world, including in Africa. In Liberia, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has supported and funded the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) to train extension workers in the latest data collection technology. The Daily Observer reported that 24 extension officers, including 6 employees from the Liberia Institute for Geo-Information Services had a three-day training at the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) in Suakoko District, Bong County. The attendees received a training on the...
SciDevNet published an article supported by the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA). The article focuses on the various apps that are available in agriculture as curated by the Apps4Ag database . The example of Farmerline app is highlighted; this app gives smallholder farmers voice-based messages in their local langauges. Through this service farmers can get price related information; the use of insecticides and weather information. Other cited in the article that are popular in agriculture include the iCow – cattle information services in Kenya; Mrittikā – weather...
In this article, you will Learn about the possibility of using ICTs to combat illegal logging Review some Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) that have been used elsewhere Appreciate some few cases from LAOs, Cameroon and Greece where ICTs have been used to combat illegal logging. In the beginning of the year, l wrote a piece focusing on ICTs and Forestry management in general. Additionally, for more information on how ICTs can be used to improve forestry governance, see Module 14 of the ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook . However, in this present piece l would like to focus on...
This event is reported here as announced and their text re-used UNESCO is pleased to announce that it will partner with ITU, the United Nations specialized agency for ICTs, to organize Mobile Learning Week 2018 under the theme 'Skills for a connected world'. The event will examine how governments...
The Indian Economic Times reports that Indian agriculture is set to benefit from adopting Israeli technology. In India, agriculture is facing various challenges such as lower productivity, erratic weather patterns amongst the many ills. The most critical issue is the critical shortage of fresh water, yet the agricultural sector accounts for nearly 84-85 percent of water drawn from fresh water sources. The news reports that the ‘India – Israel Agriculture Project”, Centre of Excellences were established to help Indian farmers to adopt the latest technologies which includes micro irrigation...
In the sidelines of the 6th EU-Africa Business Forum , held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) panel led by CTA Director Michael Hailu affirmed that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are key to attracting African youth to agriculture. CTA held a business forum whose theme was, “ Creating Jobs for Africa’s Youth ” which saw policymakers and civil society leaders from across Africa and Europe attending. The CTA Director highlighted the importance of access to finance to agriculture and that lack of it still remains an...
The Digitalisation in Agriculture session will discuss how to successfully integrate innovative digital technologies into agriculture and agribusiness. In this session, young ICT4Ag innovators, service providers, representatives of farmer organizations and policy makers will share their...
What has ICTs to do with climate change? Malcolm Johnson the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Deputy Secretary General, answers this question in the published news items coinciding with the COP23 that was discussing The Paris Agreement . He positions ICTs as a solution to the current world climate challenges. These include the (i) reported increase in the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, (ii) extreme weather induced events happening with increasing frequency. These disasters are estimated to have cost the global economy $520 billion a year and have pushed more...
The latest edition of SPORE magazine focuses on COP23 , however it has an article focusing on precision agriculture entitled, ‘Precision agriculture: A smart farming approach to agriculture’. The ability to use smart technologies could make today’s farmers manage their farming practices remotely. For this to happen these technology need access to data usually collected by satellites and drones. The ability of implementing sensors in the field, on animals and in the soil which transmit real time data allows for cost-effective and accurate means to predict and protect the growth of agricultural...
The regional forum on e-agriculture for Central and South-East Europe began on the 13th of November 2017. The forum is themed, “ Precise and integrated response for sustainable farming and inclusive food systems ” is being held in Novi Sad, Serbia. The agenda of the event is available here , and is comprised of an opening ceremony, high-level roundtable discussions and parallel sessions. Some of the themes to be discussed, Sustainable intensification of agricultural production ICTs assisted Food Systems ICT assisted Climate Smart Agriculture Empowerment of smallholders and family farmers...
This event is reported here as announced and their text re-used UNESCO is pleased to announce that it will partner with ITU, the United Nations specialized agency for ICTs, to organize Mobile Learning Week 2018 under the theme 'Skills for a connected world'. The event will examine how governments...