Precision Farming tool becomes free for European Farmers
Yara ImageIT is a smartphone app designed to measure nitrogen uptake in a crop and generate a nitrogen recommendation based on photographs of the crop. ImageIT calculates nitrogen uptake based on leaf cover, leaf green color and estimated fraction of brown leaves. The app also generates an intelligent recommendation for adjusting the fertilization program based on measurements. ImageIT is user-friendly and flexible in terms of technical requirements: it works with low resolution images with a file size as small as 50 – 200 KB. If internet coverage is poor, ImageIT can save the photos on the...CTA Handbook: An ICT Agripreneurship Guide
ICTs are pivotal for the future of agriculture. As they are finding an ever important space in most sectors of everyday life, agriculture should't be an exeption. ICTs can help in many ways producers and particularly smallholders in their livelihoods and development. In particular, ICTs can be an essential tool for young people aspiring to create their own agricultural business. As most of them have grown with these tools, they are more eager to use them in their worklife as well. This handbook published by the CTA is a guide designed for aspiring ICT entrepreneurs to instruct them with the...International Girls in ICT Day : 27 April 2017
Today marks the International Girls in ICT Day 2017, which is celebrated yearly on the 4th Thursday in April. The day is organised by ITU ; the UN Women has also issued a commemoration statement. What is Girls in ICT Day? This is an initiative that was backed by all International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Member States in 2014. The the aim was to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of ICTs, enabling both girls and technology companies to reap the benefits of greater female participation in the ICT sector...Youth, Agripreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals Workshop
By the year 2050, the world population is expected to grow to 9.7 billion: demand for food will grow dramatically. Following a present trend, 2/3 of this population will be concetrated in big cities. In sub-saharan Africa, the number of 15-24 year olds will dramatically increase. The challenge at this point is to engage the youth in Africa to work in agriculture and develop its potential. The problem is that young generations living in rural areas prefer to migrate to big cities in search for a stable job instead of trying to develop the rural areas in which they grew up. The aim of this...Blog Post26.04.2017
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AGRIinsight | Connecting People - to Place - to Opportunity
AGRIinsight is a UK-based company developing innovative technologies to be used in emerging markets. AGRIinsight has developed an online platform that has a powerful geo-visualisation interface, relevant map overlays and search and communication tools that enables users to store, visualise and analyse private and public data in context, create new insights, connect and collaborate with agribusinesses including smallholder farmers to create sustainable and profitable supply chains.
AGRIinsight has begun work in Tanzania. The assignment focuses on the support of an agribusiness investment agency based in Dar es Salaam.
AGRIinsight is providing an online “client space” where relevant information is organized, deposited in various forms and imagery, to which access is facilitated to advance the agency’s objectives.
AGRIinsight gives users tools to map locations of agri-businesses and infrastructure, aggregate relevant information and enable targeted information sharing within different value chains, projects or investments.
AGRIinsight will also be providing training to agency staff to map a wide range of organisations involved in agriculture in specific high productive regions of the country. Ultimately, the work will enhance and crowd in investment into the region and thereby help develop a vibrant and profitable farming and agribusiness sector.
“We are very excited to be working with our colleagues in Tanzania,” says Patrick Guyver, CEO of AGRIinsight. “The aim is to visualise the agricultural landscape of an area the size of Belgium.
But once completed it will have overcome one of the key challenges by bringing together relevant and reliable data onto one platform. We truly believe in the ability of relevant data, packaged in smarter and highly visualised ways, to unlock agricultural development.”
Visit www.agriinsight.com or contact us at [email protected] to learn more about AGRIinsight and register your interest in the online platform.
Topics:
big dataTechnologiescomputer-controlled devicesgeographic information systems (GIS)machine to machineextensionistsgovernment(s)information management specialistsresearchersDrone Technology is aiding data collection for crop breeding in Africa
Preliminary results of a study shows that using drone technology could cut labour and costs spent in collecting data for maize breeding by at least 10% . The SciDevNEt reported that The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center ( CIMMYT ) in Southern Africa has adopted the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also known as drones to collect data as a critical part of a breeding programme. The article quotes Mainassara Abdou Zaman-Allah, a maize physiologist at CIMMYT who noted that UAVs facilitated the collection of instant data gathering and that drones are able to collect data from...Blog Post24.04.2017
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ICTs and management of water resources in agriculture
In this blog,
- The water sources worldwide are dwindling, the SDGs and the Paris agreement have an overaching policy guides on the use of water
- FAO focuses on water in 3 main categories; information and knowledge,policy advice, and technical support to member countries.
- The role of ICTs in water management and examples of ICTs application in the agriculture domain
‘Water is life’ goes a common adage. Water is needed by all living organisms. To produce food, farmers need water and agriculture is the largest user of water in the world.
According to the UN World Water Development Report, by 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of freshwater (UN,2015)
The demand for water at personal, household, enterprise needs has increased the competition for water use and the world water resources are under increasing stress due poor management, climate change and pollution.
The Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change are some of the international high level policy guides for water use. Water is specifically mentioned on SDG 6; Clean Water and Sanitation.
In this short blog, l look at the role played by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in water, thereafter look at the role of ICTs in water management, then append some few case studies on ICTs and water issues.
FAO’s programme in water FAO’s main concern is the sustainable use and conservation of water in agriculture and also in the technical aspects of water in sustainable crop production, aquaculture, livestock watering, forestry and watershed management.
While thematically FAO looks at Water Governance, Water Management, and Water Scarcity.
FAO’s water activities can be classified in three main categories:
- Information and knowledge
- Policy advice
- Technical support to countries and their constituents
The specific details are covered in this information note
The role of ICTs in water management
ICTs are an enabler in the management of water as a natural resource. ICTs can facilitates the collection and analysis of data and information on water sources and potentially improve their management and enumeration.
Technologies such as remote sensing and geographical information systems have been used by water authorities to track water usage and forecast river levels.
Recently these technologies are also applied in irrigation and water based early warning systems.
Examples on the use of ICTs in water management within agriculture
Below l encountered a few projects that are utilising ICTs in various aspects of water management
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FAO Water Productivity Open-Access Portal (WaPOR) The WaPOR monitors and reports on agriculture water productivity over Africa and the Near East. The database uses satellite data to help farmers achieve more reliable agricultural yields. This tool provides open access to the water database over underlying maps - the tool allows quering of data; time series analyses, area statistics related to water and land use assessments. The database searches through satellite data and its computation-intensive calculations are powered by Google Earth Engine. Read more
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FAO-SWALIM Flood Risk Management System (FRRMIS) The FRRMIS is a web-based information dissemination and sharing platform that brings together the essential information on floods under a single user interface.The system is based on GIS Major flood years in Somalia and web technology and contains various types of flood information. It promotes flood preparedness and contingency planning, as well as rescue and response operations. Read more |
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FAO SWALIM Water Resources Map The Water Sources Live Map is a web application that has features for both data management and data visualization through the internet. This map shows various ground water sources and their status. Read more |
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FAO CHINA and China Agricultural University - Case Study on ICT Application for Rural Groundwater Management The case study focuses on the application of ICards in groundwater irrigation management in China. This is against a problem be facing China –a country with scarce per capita freshwater resources. This research focused on four townships in Sanhe City, Hebei Province, China as research sites and conducted fieldwork studying groundwater management in six villages using the ICard and two villages without ICard use. The research suggested that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is promising with significant economic benefits when applied in the management of rural groundwater. Read more |
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FAO AQUASTAT Thus AQUASTAT started, with the aim to contribute to FAO's goals through the collection, analysis and dissemination of information related to water resources, water uses and agricultural water management, with an emphasis on countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Read more |
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Nano Ganesh – a revolutionary ICT tool for farm irrigation Nano Ganesh is an electronic modern simple and low-cost solution in e-irrigation that empowers farmers to control water pumps with the help of a mobile phone. “After installing the Nano Ganesh unit at the pump end, a farmer can switch it on or off with the help of a mobile phone from any distance. His phone also displays the availability of the power supply at the pump end as well as on/off status. Hence, farmers are not needed to physically visit sometimes hazardous pump sites in remote locations all the time”…(FAO,2015) .Nano Ganesh was developed by Santosh Ostwal |
ICTs application in Irrigation
As can be seen from the above examples, ICTs are applied in various aspects of water management. FAO Asia-Water organised a conference on Irrigation ICT e-Conference on 20 December 2016 to 26 January 2017.
The irrigation ICT e-conference was based on the review of 4 country reports from Bangladesh, China, India and Nepal which analysed the existing ICTs and their trends to improve irrigation management. The following country reports are also interesting to peruse
- BANGLADESH - Impact of ICT in Ground Water Management
- CHINA -Case Study on ICT Application for Rural Groundwater Management
- INDIA- Role of ICTs in Water Management in India
- NEPAL - Study on Application of Modern Technologies to Facilitate Commercial Irrigated Agriculture for Improving Rural Livelihood
The major objective was to understand the application of ICTs in water management and to design community responsive technology and mitigate the negative impacts on the rural poor.
There still exist a wider opportunity to implement ICTs in the smart management of water resources. The ITU Technology Watch Report gives further information
References
- FAO.2017. Case study on the use of Information and Communication Technology in the Management of Rural Ground water in China. Rome
- FAO.2017 FAO offers water-scarce countries a new satellite tool to boost agricultural productivity.
- FAO Asia-Water. ICT Irrigation e-Conference
- FAOSWALIM website
- FAO programme in Water.
- FAO.2015. Towards a water and food secure future. Rome : FAO and WWC
Topics:
access of informationglobal positioning systems (GPS)sensor networksflood monitoring systemswaterextensionistsfarmersresearchers