Towards the establishment of an International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture
The need for an inclusive and multi-stakeholder approach to discuss digital technologies in agriculture and food has been reflected in January 2019, during the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) [1], approximately 74 ministers of agriculture from around the world and high-level representatives of international organizations committed to use the potential of digitalization to increase agricultural production and productivity, while improving sustainability, efficient resource use, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, and living conditions, especially in rural areas.
Based on the Ministerial Communiqué 2019 [2], the agriculture ministers called upon FAO to draw up, in consultation with stakeholders including the World Bank, African Development Bank, IFAD, WFP, OECD, WTO, ITU, OIE and CTA a concept for the establishment of an international Digital Council for Food and Agriculture to help everyone harness the opportunities presented by digitalization.
Focal points were identified from each organization to work as part of a taskforce to join efforts to create a concept note for the establishment of an International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture, as a starting point for this initiative. Working collaboratively, such a Council would discuss and develop voluntary guidelines, provide advice to policymakers, and enhance knowledge-sharing on best practices that would contribute to sustainable agriculture and rural development during the digital transformation.
To date, FAO jointly with the international organizations:
- House an open consultation process involving relevant multi-stakeholders to develop the proposal for the establishment of an International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture;
- Work towards delivering a Concept Note based on a participatory consensus-based approach that defines the Terms of Reference (purpose, scope, functions, legality roles and responsibility, and operating model) to establish the International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture, together with a roadmap for implementation; and
- Identify constitution, mechanism and timeline for the establishment and implementation of the International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture.
Given this background, this consultation aims to involve stakeholders, interested parties and individuals in the development and improvement of the proposed Concept Note.
The current draft is in the process of being developed by FAO, with the support of Deloitte and in consultation with the taskforce focal points through a series of consultation meetings. Following this online consultation, FAO, together with the focal points will reconvene to discuss its outcomes and develop the final Concept Note. For this consultation, we will share some key parts of the Concept Note for which we still need inputs and suggestions from each of you.
To better understand the points of view toward the establishment of a Digital Council, we hereby invite you to consider the following questions:
- What are the potential entry points for government to address challenges and foster the development of digital agriculture?
(Please click here to see the relevant section of the Concept Note) - How can the establishment of the Digital Council address the numerous barriers to adoption of these technologies?
(Please click here to see the relevant section of the Concept Note) - Do you think that the roles identified for the Digital Council are suitable for facing the agrifood systems challenges outlined above?
(Please click here to see the relevant section of the Concept Note) - What governance structure should be in place in order for the Council to serve its purpose?
(Please click here to see the relevant section of the Concept Note) - Please add any other comment or relevant content you think should be included in the Concept Note.
We thank you for your valuable contribution to the development of the Concept Note for a Digital Council for Food and Agriculture and for helping the Taskforce prepare a comprehensive document document that considers the view and experiences of all relevant stakeholders.
Best regards,
Samuel Varas, FAO
Meng Zeng, FAO
Topics
- Read 109 contributions
Contribution received through the e-Agriculture platform
Q1
By enhancing E-extension services:- E-extension services can help raise farm profits and provide a cost-effective way to reach a greater number of farmers
The government can also enhance market information through digital technologies:- Under certain conditions, improved access to market information via mobile phone can help increase farmers’ sales and prices, and reduce price dispersions across markets.
Contribution received through the e-Agriculture platform
Q1
The entry points can be summarized asking the A's questions, are digital technologies in rural areas :
- Available, in terms of infrastructure, connectivity and quality of the service but also availablity of content in the language users can understand, replying to their needs
- Accessible - do people have access to the equipment, devices, maintenance.
- Affordable - is the price to pay for smallholder farmers, women, youth to have access affordable.
- Appropriate - adapted: are the devices appropriate in terms of resistance rural conditions exposed to climate changes such a very hot and very cold temperatres, dust, high level of humidity, shocks, can it be read easily ...
- Allowed - are there rules, social barriers that would prevent rural users to use the digital technologies.
- Ability: are users in rural areas prepared to use digital technologies, are there programme to make them trust the technologies, understand the benefits and developing their capacities to use them?
FAO has also highlighted in 7 success factors that should be taken into consideration to reduce the triple divide (digital, rural and gender):
Provide adapted and reliable content from trusted sources.
Develop capacities for three dimensions: the individual’s capacity, organizational capacity, and the enabling environment.
Mainstream gender and diversity.
Increase access and participation.
Engage in partnerships, especially public-private.
Identify the right mix of technologies.
Ensure economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
Contribution received through the e-Agriculture platform
Q1
Life in rural areas is characterised with lack of electricity and bad roads. Yet some of these areas have very high crop yield. The result is low school enrolment and high poverty levels.
Internet connectivity tend to be high where road network is established and there is electricity. People need power to charge smartphones…Fibre optic cable is laid along public roads or follows electricity line….Unfortunately, these services are not avaiable in rural areas where agriculture is the main aconomic activity.
Roads and electricity, these are amenities the government should prioritise. Then private companies such as telecoms will see need to establish infrastructure due to perceived low risk. After that digital agriculture will then pick up.
I have documented this urgument before in a LinkedIn post before; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-enabled-agriculture-chris-ndung…
Q2
Digital needs of players in food and agriculture value chain vary depending on the farm activity and geography. Optimizing agriculture digitalization at last mile level will yeild the most smallholder uplift.
For instance, how can a corn farmer holding smartphone differentiate between a caterpillar and a fall armyworm? And what preventive action can they take immediately? All this is possible digitally.
Q3
Under the "tools for nation and local governments" it would be great to eventually develop a 'global e-agriculture index'. This would entail an annual index showing country improvement and gaps. Examples are World Bank 'ease of doing business' or GSMA 'mobile connectivity' indexes.
This would be a great benchmarking instrument for goverments to reflect on their performance and for digital creators to identify market potential.
_my two cents_
Contribution received through the e-Agriculture platform
Q1
The private sector has been eager to step up and provide innovations when the appropriate conditions are in place. Where governments can be most effective is in supporting a regulatory environment that encourages the sharing of information and the development of digital infrastructure, in particular in rural areas. It is costly to provide the core infrastructure components, such as the telecommunications networks and the central hosting or cloud services and the government could step in, perhaps in partnership with private sector actors, to facilitate and accelerate the building of this infrastructure.
Another area where governments can provide an important imput is in training. From technical colleges to universities, high schools to extension services, it is crucial to build a cadre of digitally skilled advocates to spread the knowledge and the mentality of digital transformation.
Q2
I believe that under the principle of inclusivity, mention should be made of important actors such as financial institutions, information technology companies and experts and international donors. Perhaps it is a given, but it would be better to state it outright as these actors will have important roles to play in rolling out technology solutions that benefit the agricultural sector.
Q4
I agree with this comment and would suggest that alternative governance structures from the fields of Information Technology and computer science be examined for applicability. I think it is also important to seek the involvement and participation of the beneficiaries on the ground in the countries that will be affected. Concrete support should be given to the creation and maintenance of national-level councils that can act as a bridge between this international council and the public and private sector actors within the countries. It is crucial to have local buy-in as early as possible and the proposed structure does not appear to address this requirement.
English translation below
1.Каковы возможные отправные точки для правительства для решения проблем и содействия развитию цифрового сельского хозяйства?
Первоначально нужно определить, а заинтересовано ли само конкретное государство в диджитализации. Здесь нужен дифференцированный подход.
Например, общий земельный банк Украины составляет 45 млн гектаров , при этом в собственности государства находятся 10 млн гектар земли сельскохозяйственного назначения, данные об использовании которой находятся в тени. Только 73% сельскохозяйственных земель внесены в официальный Кадастр.
Комплексное внедрение инструментов диджитализации происходит преимущественно в частных агрохолдингах с земельным банком от 5000 га и более, для фермеров инструменты цифровизации доступны на уровне отдельных виджетов.
В целом государство не имеет никакого отношения к данным процессам и эту ситуацию нужно менять.
2.Как создание Цифрового совета может устранить многочисленные барьеры на пути внедрения этих технологий?
Надеюсь, что ЦС сможет объединить государства, являющиеся крупными экспортерами сельхозпродукции с целью сбора (он-лайн) данных о планируемом и фактическом урожае и обмениваться этими данным друг с другом, чтобы в целом понимать глобальную продовольственную ситуацию, что позволит в будущем рационально распределять продовольственные ресурсы и четко планировать ситуацию с продовольствием в мире.
4.Какую структуру управления следует создать, чтобы Совет мог выполнить свою задачу?
Предложенная организационная структура Цифрового Совета является рациональной, прозрачной и продуктивной благодаря заложенным в основу Рабочим группам. Очень важным полезным является создание Центра Мониторинга.
5.Пожалуйста, добавьте любой другой комментарий или соответствующий контент, который, по вашему мнению, должен быть включен в Концептуальную записку.
Хотелось бы поделиться практическим опытом внедрения диджитализации, проблемами и путями их решения.
Прогноз урожайности для глобального рынка продовольствия.
Достоверность цифровых данных по прогнозированию урожайности, рассчитанная на основе индекса зеленой массы, соответствует действительности только для некоторых культур, таких как подсолнечник, пшеница. Для кукурузы прогнозные и фактические данные расходятся на 30%. Для решения этой проблемы нужно применять решение по фактическому учету урожая, основанное на построении цифровой платформы Internet of Things, а именно датчиков, установленных как на сельхозтехнике, так и на элеваторах, которые передают фактические данные в он-лайн.
Глобальное объединение данных по фактическому урожаю позволит DC четко видеть продовольственную картину мира.
Мелкие фермеры заинтересованы во внедрении цифровых инструментов. Основная проблема для фермеров – непонимание какие инструменты цифровизации существуют на рынке, интерфейс непонятен, навыков самостоятельного внедрения не имеют, времени на изучение и внедрение не имеют.
Инструменты цифровизации – это быстро окупаемая инвестиция, повышающая производительность труда, доступная даже для мелких фермеров.
Одним из результатов деятельности Цифрового Совета хотелось бы видеть создание общего информационного поля, включающего в себя как данные, предоставляемые ДЛЯ сельхозпроизводителей ( спутниковые данные о погоде, влажности почвы, индексы развития растений), так и встречно полученные данные ОТ сельхозпроизводителей (данные о фактическом урожае, внесенных гербицидах). Это позволит видеть глобальную цифровую картину мира продовольствия в количественном и качественном отношениях и быстрее реагировать на решение возникающих продовольственных проблем
1. What are the possible starting points for the government to solve problems and promote the development of digital agriculture?
Initially, it is necessary to determine whether a particular country is interested in digitalization. A differentiated approach is needed here.
For example, the total land bank of Ukraine is 45 million hectares, while the state owns 10 million hectares of agricultural land, however data on the use thereof are in the shade. Only 73% of agricultural land is included in the official Cadastre.
Comprehensive implementation of digitalization tools takes place mainly in private agricultural holdings with a land bank of 5000 ha or more, for farmers digitalization tools are available at the level of individual widgets.
In general, the state has nothing to do with these processes and this situation needs to be changed.
2. How can establishment of a Digital Council remove numerous barriers to introduction of these technologies?
I hope that DCs will be able to unite the states that are major exporters of agricultural products in order to collect (on-line) data on the planned and actual harvest and exchange these data with each other, in order to generally understand the global food situation, which will allow rational distribution of food resources in the future and clearly plan the food situation in the world.
4. What management structure should be established so that the Council can fulfill its task?
The proposed organizational structure of the Digital Council is rational, transparent and productive due to the work of Working Groups which are embedded in the foundation. A very important and useful is the establishment of a Monitoring Center.
5. Please add any other comment or related content that you think should be included in the Concept Note.
I would like to share practical experience in the implementation of digitalization, problems and ways to solve them.
Yield forecast for the global food market.
The reliability of the digital data on yield forecasting, calculated on the basis of the green mass index, in reality is true only for some crops, such as sunflower, wheat. For corn, forecast and actual data differ by 30%. To solve this problem, it is necessary to apply a solution for the actual accounting of the crop, based on the construction of the Internet of Things digital platform, namely sensors installed both on agricultural machinery and on elevators that transmit actual data online.
Global aggregation of actual crop data will allow DCs to clearly see the food picture of the world.
Small farmers are interested in introducing digital tools. The main problem for farmers is a lack of understanding of what digitalization tools exist in the market, the interface is incomprehensible, they do not have self-introduction skills, they do not have time to study and implement.
Digitalization tools are a quick to recoup of investment that increases productivity, even for small farmers.
As one of the results of the Digital Council’s activities I would like to see the establishment of a common information field, which includes both data provided FOR agricultural producers (satellite data on weather, soil moisture, plant development indices), and counter-received data from agricultural producers (data on actual harvest, and applied herbicides). This will allow us to see the global digital picture of the world of food in quantitative and qualitative terms and to respond more quickly to the solution of emerging food problems.
The biggest challenge to DC will be to make the relevant information affordable, easily accessible in user-friendly forms, and made available on a timely manner to millions of smallholder farmers who are so diverse and scattered over large areas. To enhance the use of digital technologies by smallholder farmers, we need to:
Organize the smallholder farmers into producer groups for each commodity where the digital technologies can be tailor-made for each group and disseminated efficiently.
Establish digital technologies service providers who will serve their clients the required digital information and technologies on a cost-recovery basis. If the information and technologies provided are robust enough to make a significant positive difference in farmers' income and livelihood, they will be willingly pay for the services.
Timely information is critical in focused and location-specific weather forecasting, early warning of impending natural disasters, possible invasion of pests and diseases based on local weather, and demand-supply balancing and price fluctuations in markets.
Digital technologies must help demand-supply management. Assessment of regional demand for various commodities and crop planning to meet the assessed demands will help farmers prevent excessive production that will lead to market gluts and declining prices. This is especially important for the perishable produce like the vegetables and fruits.
Cost-benefit analysis of each technology must be made available to farmers so that they can make an informed choice of technologies they wish to use in their farms.
The UN-GGIM, UNSD has endorsed an UN Integrated Geospatial Information Framework in August 2018, which has 9 Strategic Pathways: Governance and Institutions, Policy and Legal, Financial, Data, Innovations, Standards, Partnerships, Capacity and Education, Communication and Engagement.
All 9 Strategic pathways are critical for the work of the International Council for Food and Agriculture. My suggestion is to build up on what has already been developed and negotiated with the UN MS and develop it further on how it can be used for Food and Agriculture sector as well as what the contribution of the Food and Agriculture sector to the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework is.
The International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture can be a knowledge and innovation hub for this sector. The UNSD is working with China to establish a Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Management. FAO could host a Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Management and Innovations for Food and Agriculture.
Mr. OMERANI Abdesslam
English translation below
Quels sont les points d'entrée potentiels qui permettraient aux gouvernements de relever les défis et de favoriser le développement de l'agriculture numérique?
Le transfert de technologies aux pays en développement et le renforcement des capacités locales pour leur adaptation et utilisation constituent des objectifs communs prônés par la plupart des conventions et arrangements internationaux ou régionaux découlant du processus de RIO.
Dans cette optique, l’innovation et le transfert de technologies sont à considérer comme systèmes complexes fondés sur une approche multipolaire considérant les capacités et les facteurs internes aux différents acteurs, d’une part et l’environnement politique, culturel, économique et social, des parties impliquées , d’autre part. En effet, les activités ne concernent pas uniquement le cadre de recherche ou industriel/artisanal permettant le développement des connaissances et l’adaptation des techniques, mais devront appréhender le renforcement des capacités des utilisateurs, la prise en compte du contexte genre, la diffusion des informations, la mise à disposition de locaux adéquats,….
Le développement de l'agriculture numérique devrait donc, à mon sens, être centré sur l’innovation et le transfert de technologie, tant au niveau de l’accès à l’information et aux outils qu’au niveau du développement des compétences numériques.
La création d'un Conseil numérique international pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture revêt une importance particulière et devrait, une fois opérationnalisée, inciter à la constitution de conseils numériques nationaux similaires dans les pays en développement avec l’appui de la FAO.
What are the potential entry points that would enable governments to address the challenges and promote the development of digital agriculture?
Transferring technologies to developing countries and enhancing local capacities for their adaptation and use are common objectives promoted by most international or regional conventions and arrangements resulting from the RIO process.
In this respect, innovation and technology transfer should be considered as complex systems founded on a multipolar approach that takes into account the capacities and internal factors of the various actors, on the one hand, and the political, cultural, economic and social environment of the parties involved, on the other hand. Indeed, these activities do not only concern the research or industrial/artisanal framework enabling the development of knowledge and the adaptation of techniques, but they should also include capacity building for users, the consideration of the gender dimension, the dissemination of information, the provision of suitable premises, etc.
In my opinion, the development of digital agriculture should therefore focus on innovation and technology transfer, both in terms of access to information and tools and of the development of digital skills.
The creation of an International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture is of particular importance and should, once operationalized, stimulate the formation of similar national digital councils in developing countries with FAO's support.
Ms. Omoyemen Lucia Odigie-Emmanuel
1. What are the potential entry points for government to address challenges and foster the development of digital agriculture?
The first entry point is to undertake situation analysis that will enable government determine its own need and peculiarity in ensuring the right to food, food security and implementing the SDG related to food and agriculture and the key role digitization can be used for enhancement. Of course acess to information and date in usable form is imperative. It is necessary for government to prioritize investment in building skill especially digital literacy skill and needed infrastructure.
2. How can the establishment of the Digital Council address the numerous barriers to adoption of these technologies?
Initiatives, modalities and representation of the Council should be integrated reflecting a recognition of the linkages among food, water and energy.
3. Do you think that the roles identified for the Digital Council are suitable for facing the agrifood systems challenges outlined above?
Methods for linking food and agricultural policies and tools with other national, subnational and local policies using a rights based approach that integrates SDG targets and indicators.
4. What governance structure should be in place in order for the Council to serve its purpose?
Governance structure should reflect to local level engagement and allow down to up, up to down information flow.
Do you think that the roles identified for the Digital Council are suitable for facing the food systems challenges outlined above?
Will the Digital Council work in collaboration or in convergence mode with the structures already in place in different countries? Often it would mean working on its own, irrespective of the work whatever little or more being done by the country governments. Also, sometime local structures become defunct when external agencies start doing work in the concerned area. The Proposed information for the concept note presented in tabular form indicates that the council would regulate most of the activities in food systems digital space. Often it may be the case, some countries are already doing some good work, in fact could be some lessons for the council too. Many a time the existing frameworks get disrupted even when doing well due to the external interventions being powerful in terms of money and influence. Hope the digital council will ensure nurturing the good practices and learn the lessons too!
This activity is now closed. Please contact [email protected] for any further information.