Papua New Guinea's Department of Agriculture & Livestock (DAL), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), among other partners working on ICTs for agriculture, met in Port Moresby on May 30th, 2017 to consult on the e-agriculture strategy for Papua New Guinea. The aim of the meeting was to advance in the implementation and adoption of ICTs in the agricultural sector. Watch the video report on the consultation: Credits: EMTV Papua New Guinea's farmers (which represent the majority of the population) have always...
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...
The Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) was created by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) , a leading repository of information on the impact of disasters, in 1988. The Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) is a free database containing worldwide data on the occurrence and impact of over 20,000 natural and technological disasters from 1900 to the present day. The main objective of the database is to help by giving data instruments for humanitarian action at national and international levels. The initiative aims to be a basis for vulnerability assessment and to...
InterDrone: The International Drone Conference and Exposition Date September 6-8, 2017 Location Rio Hotel - Las Vegas, NV Description InterDrone is where the UAV industry comes together, bringing drone pilots, UAS engineers and developers, commercial drone service businesses, UAV manufacturers,...
FAO introduced a new and updated FAOSTAT website , making the world's most comprehensive statistical database on food, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, natural resource management and nutrition even more accessible. The updated web tool - in its fourth edition - incorporates multiple technology improvements as well as various easy-to-use innovations, full mobile device compatibility and new download options, which will significantly enhance the overall user experience. New FAO STAT Website FAOSTAT offers free, open and simple access to time series and cross-sectional data from 245 countries...
SoilMapp is an app for iPad that lets users find out soil information such as how much water the soil holds, its clay content and acidity, among other attributes related to agricultural productivity and land management. The app enables users to view maps, photographs, satellite images, tables and graphs of data about nearby soils and learn about the soil’s physical and chemical characteristics (acidity, soil carbon, available water storage, salinity and erodibility). View this SoilMapp introductory video: Credits: CSIRO SoilMapp is designed for Australian farmers, consultants, planners,...
The Yield is an Internet of Things (IoT) Australian product company that aims to use technology to improve yields in agriculture and aquaculture. The Yield combines wireless sensor networks and localised data to inform farmers and growers on the best decisions to make regarding their yelds. The Yield uses Sensing+, a microclimate sensing system for agriculture which measures data from different points around the farm and provides hyper local predictions based on the farm's growing conditions by using data analytics and artificial intelligence. Watch The Yield's presentation video: Credits:...
In a recent article on Harvard Business Review, Ndubuisi Ekekwe explores how digital technology is poised at providing a solution to increase farm productivity in Africa. In this article he reviews the food challenges affecting Africa such as weather changes, rural-urban migration that deprives farming communities of young people and deforestation amongst many challenges. While African governments have employed many policy instruments to improve farm productivity, yields are still marginally improving. The article notes that African entrepreneurs are interested in how farmers work and how...
The first beta release of the FAO Water Productivity through Open access of Remotely sensed derived data (WaPOR) portal is available as of 14 April 2017. The FAO portal monitors and reports on agriculture water productivity over Africa and the Near East. The portal provides open access to the water productivity database and allows for direct data queries, time series analyses, area statistics and data download of key variables associated to water and land productivity. The portal provides information on variables such as water productivity, land productivity, above ground biomass production,...
Agricultural work in mountainous areas such as grass cutting is done manually. Because of the many slopes it is difficult to introduce a robot. At the same time, there is a huge labour shortage in japanese agriculture as the rural population is aging and the young are not attracted by the agricultural sector. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will work on the development of an unmanned mowing robot. The new unmanned vehicle is based on a passenger type mowing machine, but obviously much smaller. It has been miniaturized essentially by changing the power from engine...
InterDrone: The International Drone Conference and Exposition Date September 6-8, 2017 Location Rio Hotel - Las Vegas, NV Description InterDrone is where the UAV industry comes together, bringing drone pilots, UAS engineers and developers, commercial drone service businesses, UAV manufacturers,...