HSRC Annual innovation and development lecture: Interrogating agricultural innovation systems from a small farmer perspective
Date & Time: 02 March 2017 - 12:15 Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes Venues: Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town or watch online at: https://www.youtube.com/user/aerasmusable/live . Description: This lecture will explore how small-scale farmers are...
Smallholder Farmers in Zambia to Benefit from New Program by Mercy Corps and The MasterCard Foundation
Mercy Corps, in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, today launched AgriFin Accelerate in Zambia. The AgriFin Accelerate program is a six-year, USD 25 million program. The program seeks to address the financial inclusion gap for smallholder farmers (SHF) who lack access to affordable, accessible, demand-driven financial products and services that drive higher productivity and income for farm families. In Zambia, more than 70 percent of the population is engaged in, or derives its livelihood, from agriculture-related activities. The lack of access to financial services among farmers is...Youth and Technology: The Missing Link in Agriculture
Photo credits: Young Africa Works This is the title of a blog post by Brian Bosire, founder of UjuziKilimo , an agricultural technology company that brings affordable precision farming to smallholder farmers in Kenya, faces the issue of technology adoption among smallholders in Kenya. Although the vast majority of the population in the country is young (60% of the population is under 30), the average age among farmers is 60. The article points out that at such an old age, farmers are much less likely to adopt new technologies for their farming practices. At the same time, young people are...
GSMA Mobile Economy Africa 2016 Report
Rural mobile connectivity is still poor in Africa, according to the GSMA Mobile Economy Africa 2016 Report. Mobile connectivity can help smallholders get access to relevant market information and financial services, which are essential for their development. Affordability is another key issue, as the report states that in countries such as Chad and Niger, for example, "mobile broadband represents around 200% of the annual income of the bottom 20% of the population." Nevertheless, mobile financial services are hugely important in sub-saharan Africa, with the region representing 63% of active...GFAR Webinar – Agents of Change in Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation: The Value of Facilitators
GFAR is pleased to invite you to the webinar: Agents of Change in Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation: The Value of Facilitators Date: 1 March 2017 Time: 14:00 Rome time Duration: 1.5 hours max As one in a series of GFAR webinars, the...
World Radio Day 2017: Radio is You
Today, the 13th of February is World Radio Day? What is this day all about? World Radio Day is about celebrating radio, a day to remember the unique power of radio to touch lives and bring together people from all over the world. This day was proclaimed by the UNESCO’s 36th General Conference in 2011 and has been celebrated in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 by the UN Member States . World Radio Day: 2017 Celebrations The theme of World Radio Day 2017 is Radio is You , highlighting the importance of listener dialogue and feedback to good radio. UNESCO has issued a statement from its Director-...
A WhatsApp like app for the tech-savvy farmer
KrishiSuchak is a WhatsApp-like app developed by Bangalore-based startup Nubesol Technologies to permit smallholders to message agricultural scientist to ask them for advice on their yields, thus eliminating spatial barriers between extension services. Farmers can send their queries either as text, a photo or a record of their voices to the extension officers. Farmers can now get advice via Krishi Shuchak from agronomists by sending only a picture of the damaged crop. The scientist then responds to the query by identifying the problem and then giving advice on the pests to use in order to...NewsletterIssued on 10.11.2017
e-Agriculture Updates
e-Agriculture 2017 Survey
Dear Members of the e-Agriculture Community of Practice,
The e-Agriculture team kindly invites you to participate in this survey whose goal is to get feedback from users and help improve our community of practice. Your responses will help in the development of e-Agriculture platform and in understanding which activities should be prioritized in 2017.
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