Over 90% of sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 million smallholder farmers lack access to formal credit. Although agriculture accounts for around 65% of employment and 32% of gross domestic product, less than 6% of commercial loan recipients are smallholder farmers. The problem is on both sides: on the one hand, farmers cannot purchase quality inputs to improve their production, on the other hand, financial institutions cannot provide loans without an accurate assessment of the farmers’ financial viability. Farmers are therefore left with little access to credit, and financial institutions with a hole...
In Ghana, the agricultural north supplies food to buyers in the south. The travel is mostly done by car and takes up a lot of time. Also, these long journeys are done carrying large sums of money, as the north suffers from a lack of banks. To face the issue of large money trandactions across the country, the ADVANCE II Project (Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement) has developed a mobile money solution as it diminishes the threat of theft, ensures efficient payment and offers the access to financial services such as savings, insurance, and credit. USAID ’s ADVANCE II Project...
In this blog Oxfam publishes a report that gives a glimpse on the use of ICTs in humanitarian response. The report details activities, outcomes of the Scaling Humanitarian ICTs Networks (SHINE) project. Similarly e-Agriculture forum on ICTs and resilence provided use cases of ICTs in humanitarian situations in the agricultural domain Natural disasters such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, diseases epidemics and man-made crises such as conflicts, war and socio-economuc shocks still bedevil communities and affect agricultural activities. Are ICTs a tool in a humanitarian response...
The PRISE (Pest Risk Information Service) project forecasts pest outbreaks based on earth observation providing risk forecasts and early warnings in order for smallholders to take action and avoid crop losses. The project has been awarded £6.38 million (or 7,9 million USD) in funding over five years by the UK Space Agency . CABI CEO, Dr Trevor Nicholls, said, “An estimated 40 per cent of the world’s crops are lost to pests. This impacts the ability of smallholders living in poor rural communities to feed their families." The project will also be based on Plantwise, a CABI program combining a...
In Uganda, the spread of agronomical information is quite challenging, and the number of extension officers cannot meet the growing demand from farmers who often need immediate assistance. Thanks to innovations in information technology, mobile and web-based platforms are proving to be a huge help. m-Omulimisa provides smallholder farmers with real-time farming information and solutions written in local languages via mobile technologies. Farmers can use their phones to ask questions in languages that they understand, and receive understandable feedback from extension officers in the region...
There are about 500 million small-scale farmers on Earth, and most of them live on less than $1 a day. They’re often separated from larger population centers, or lack the means to educate themselves on specialized farming methods. Internet connections might be less common in the developing world, but mobile technology is pervasive. Today, 90% of smallholder farmers are able to access a basic mobile phone. In Africa especially, people have turned directly to mobiles instead of owning first personal computers. WeFarm is a peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge sharing platform for small-scale farmers in...
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in conjuction with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and the Ministry of Youth and ICT has launched a new project called ' Agricultural Services and Digital Inclusion in Rwanda ". Mobile applications in this project This project is set to develop four mobile applications: "Cure and feed your livestock","eNtrifood","Weather and crop calendar"and "AgriMarketplace". The applications centre around the four themes - animal health and feed,weather and climate change adaptation services, nutrition and agricultural market. These Apps will be...
For poultry farmers in Bangladesh, avian influenza can be a devastating problem. The avian influenza, called H5N1 HPAI, is highly pathogenic and spreads very fast. Once the flu is spread out, birds can die in 5 to 10 minutes from it and the farmer sees its poultry farm devastated. This information fact sheet sets out to show how an SMS Gateway system developed by FAO has been used to improve rural communication, support animal disease crisis management and contribute to livelihood resilience for small-scale farmers in Bangladesh. Focusing on the case study of avian influenza in Bangladesh,...
ICTforAg2017 Date Friday 23 June 2017 Location Washington DC, United States of America Description ICTforAg2017 conference will bring together 300 thought leaders and decision-makers in agriculture and technology from the international development community and the private sector. With community-...
In a recent news article, it was reported the South-Western Kansas (U.S.A) is dealing with a significant amount of drought, with 65% of the state affected. Farmers are paying a high price for this situation, but some of them have now begun to take action thanks to ICTs. To tackle the drought, farmers in Kansas have started to use soil moisture sensors, a tool to measure the volumetric water content present in the soil. With this technology, farmers can check how much water their crops get naturally and adjust their irrigation systems accordingly. The soil moisture sensors are useful in many...
ICTforAg2017 Date Friday 23 June 2017 Location Washington DC, United States of America Description ICTforAg2017 conference will bring together 300 thought leaders and decision-makers in agriculture and technology from the international development community and the private sector. With community-...