E-Agriculture

government(s) News and Events

  • FAO Global Forest Survey: Assessing the status of the world forest resources and their changes over time

    The assessment of the status of the world forest resources and their changes over time can only be done through the collection of field data, which is not widely collected in developing countries, and it is generally not shared. Remote sensing is improving knowledge on the extent and spatial distribution of forests, but information on their health status and characteristics is very limited. FAO, with the support of the International Climate Initiative of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) of Germany , is implementing the Global...

  • CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture: Transforming rural livelihoods with the power of information

    CGIAR launched the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture, a new initiative that aims to convene researchers to use big data in order to help improve food security, resilience in the face climate change as well as encouraging rural development. Big data are immense stocks of information collected in computers worldwide, and it can be a potential resource for planning and decision-making. Applied to agriculture and rural development it can help give robust responses to some of the most important challenges of our time: climate change, food insecurity and environmental degradation. For this...

  • FAO Director-General urges African agriculture ministers to tackle rural youth unemployment through investments and ICTs

    Youth employment should be at the center of any strategy to face economic and demographic challenges in Africa, the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization José Graziano da Silva told a joint African Union - European Union meeting, hosted at FAO headquarters in Rome on July 2nd, 2017. In 2014 alone, about 11 million young people entered the labor market in Africa. Fostering sustainable agriculture and rural development is essential to absorb these millions of youth looking for a job. The problem is that young people see few opportunities in remaining in the traditional...

  • FAO launches four new agricultural service apps in Africa

    FAO, along with several partners, is involved in the implementation of ICT initiatives in Africa The majority of family farmers in developing countries live rural areas and in most cases don't have access to technology and digital agricultural services. Through the use of ICTs, farmers have more access to information on markets, weather and nutrition. The digital service project is part of FAO's Digital Strategy and is aimed at people in the field, local governments, community leaders and extension workers. The project aims to develop four apps designed to help farmers have better...

  • Harnessing Research and Innovation for FOOD 2030: A Science Policy Dialogue

    Harnessing Research and Innovation for FOOD 2030: A Science Policy Dialogue Date 16 October 2017 Location Brussels, EU Commission, CHARLEMAGNE building Description This one day conference will serve to disseminate successful European Research and Innovation (R&I) initiatives and contribute to...
    Belgium, Brussels

  • Esoko - Virtual marketplace and data collection service

    Esoko is a communication tool created with a view to building connection between businesses, projects, NGOs, governments and smallholder farmers. Esoko started as a price information service but the team soon realized that farmers needed much more than market information and added weather alerts, crop advice, and linking buyers with sellers. Various research finds such services can improve incomes for farmers by roughly 10%. Watch this introductory video on Esoko: Credits: Esoko Over the years, Esoko developed two products: Tulaa and Insyt . Tulaa is a mobile money solution that allows...

  • WSIS 2017 Outcomes

    More than 2,500 information and communication technology (ICT) experts from around the world took part from the 12th to the 16th of June 2017 in the World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2017, where they exchanged knowledge and experiences to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . Sustainable development and ICT projects in key areas such as health, education, gender empowerment, the environment, infrastructure and innovation were the main focus of this year's forum. 500 high-level policy-makers from more than 150 countries participated in the process,...

  • Plantix lets farmers recognize plant diseases, pests and nutrient diffidences just by sending a picture

    Plantix is a plant diagnostic app developed by PEAT, a software company that uses geodata and crowdsourcing to provide ecological informations to farmers, researchers and stakeholders. Plant diseases and pests cause the loss of up to 30 % of the annual harvests. To tackle this issue Plantix uses artificial intelligence and image recognition to help farmers to protect their plants. Plantix supports farmers to recognize plant diseases, pests and nutrient diffidences just by sending a picture. Plantix uses image recognition and deep learning to detect more than 120 plant pests & diseases on...