The Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) has launched 3 mobile apps to facilitate access to information on agricultural research. The East African reports that Boniface Akuku, director for ICT at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, helped Uganda develop the apps. The applications launched are the Naro Beans, Naro Maize and Naro Cassava and all are available via Google Play store. The choice of the three crops - bean, maize and cassava is because these crops are major commodities, alongside coffee, tea, bananas and rice. Besides the apps, an SMS...
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...
African agriculture is faced by many challenges and yet technology – especially satellite and drone-assisted mapping technologies are poised to improve decision making for farmers and governments. However, since most farmers in Africa are smallholder farmers and mostly poor, what business models can be employed in collecting and processing key agricultural data? As part of the Innovation in Outcome Measurement (IOM) initiative, which was a tow year program to develop and test cheaper, better, and faster ways of collecting agricultural data – TechnoServe conducted a pilot project in Uganda to...
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has contributed its innovative initiatives with the broader 17 UN agencies on how it is using innovative technology and digital solutions to assure food security and end hunger in middle-and lower-income countries. This contribution was published by the UN Innovative Network (UNIN) in their Q2 Quarterly Update on Innovation . UNIN is an informal collaborative network of UN Agencies innovation teams, the teams seek to find new innovative approaches and technologies as well as challenges in developing innovative ideas. FAO’s...
FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia has just published a status report on the E-Agriculture implementation within selected FAO member countries in the region. This publication coincided with the FAO Regional Conference for the region and the report is a follow-up to the Regional Capacity Development Workshop on National e-Agriculture Strategies in Europe and Central Asia, organized by FAO and the GAK, non-profit organization of the Gödöllő Agricultural University and with the valuable participation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This effort follows FAO’s role...
Do you know talented African web developers? As part of the ICT4D conference, John Deere is hosting a hackathon that seeks to improve African smallholder farmers' access to tractors. This application development competition is an opportunity for developers from across the continent to showcase their skills, connect with tech leaders from around the world, and develop tools to serve others. The winning teams will receive USD$2,000, USD$1,000, & USD$500 for 1st, 2nd & 3rd place respectively at the ICT4DConference , attended by technology leaders from around the world To learn more and...
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) sponsored the WSIS Forum Session entitled, ‘ Building a Framework for Digital Innovation in Agriculture ’ under the WSIS Action Line C7-ICT Applications (e-Agriculture). The session advocated for the enhancement of digital innovation for the poorest within agriculture through developing a framework of application to support them. Digital innovation and ICTs have a great potential to transform the approach in 17 SDGs, yet within FAO scope also particularly 1, 2, 8, and 13. Meeting highlights Mr...
This year’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum was held on the 19-23rd of March 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland under the theme “ Leveraging ICTs to Build Information and Knowledge Societies for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ”. While each WSIS Forum is different, each edition is preceded by the Open Consultation Process that enable members to come up with an agenda. The final WSIS meetings is comprised of, Best Practices, WSIS Prizes, Special Tracks and High level panels. In 2018, the WSIS debate focused on how to achieve the sustainable development goals (...
The Feed the Future initiative and the Challenge Prize Centre and partners , launched the Fall Armyworm Tech Prize , to stimulate usage of digital tools and approaches to provide solutions to help combat the fall armyworm The Fall Armyworm has ravaged the crops in sub-Saharan Africa and mostly affected maize, although it can feed on other crops such as rice, sorghum, millet, sugarcane, cotton and vegetable crops. The Food and Agriculture Organization launched a guide that seeks to guide efforts in tackling the FAW in Africa and also a dedicated portal to support the fight against the FAW...
A conference focusing on effective approaches to scaling up agricultural technologies and innovations in the developing world.
