Regional Directors of agriculture being exposed to some conservation agricultural practices

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, asserts strategic application of ICT to the agricultural industry offers the opportunity for economic growth and poverty reduction.

As global attention is focused on seeking solutions to reduce poverty, especially in developing countries such as Ghana, Information, Communication Technology (ICTs) has been identified as a powerful tool which could be leveraged to reduce poverty faster.

Over the past thirty years ICTs have been introduced in the agri-food sectors. Important milestones were the introduction of computers (1980s), internet and mobile phones (1990s), and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), wireless communication and social media within the last decade.

Ghana initiated high level discussions on how it could best leverage ICTs in agriculture to modernize the sector and increase its productivity for sustainable development at its 68th Annual New Year School and Conference of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, under the College of Education, of the University of Ghana seeking to provide a common platform for experts and academics to deliberate on various issues of national concern and make recommendations for consideration by policy makers and other relevant actors.

In a keynote address at the opening of the 68^th Annual New Year School Dr. Mohamed AgBendech a Senior Nutrition Officer of the FAO observed that, policy convergence and for the right information based on research is required for evidence based decision making and information should be available and communicated at all levels.

He stressed on the significance of acquiring right information to connect smallholder farmers to markets; inform them on right time for planting, various farm management practices, harvesting and required conditions for storage, handling and reaching required markets on time with competitive price and service.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank, in collaboration with the e-Agriculture community had held a series of online forums on ICT in Agriculture to respond to the growing demand for knowledge on how to use ICT to improve agricultural productivity and raise smallholder incomes.

ICT-enabled Agriculture

The strategic application of ICT to the agricultural industry, the largest economic sector in most African countries, offers the best opportunity for economic growth and poverty alleviation on the continent.

It also creates local demand-driven content, empower farmers to sell products to best buyers,  grant access to time-sensitive information and help gain and disseminate market intelligence while  increasing income as well as farmers knowledge on innovative approaches for business growth, improved nutrition practices and productivity.

ICT has the potential to positively impact our agriculture and food systems for optimal nutrition outcomes and socio-economic development.

The current trends in the changing climate requires effective on-time information and communication to facilitate adaption of the agricultural practices to the erratic environmental conditions and for sustaining our natural resource management.

 Sustainability:

Sustainability and reaching scale may still be a challenge in some contexts. Experience has indicated that usually less than 10% of all ICT projects have become sustainable, and even fewer are reaching scale.  There is the need for enabling environments for public, private and donor supported investment in ICT for agriculture.

Clear policies should be formulated by governments which define the principles and require collaboration between the agricultural and telecommunications sectors, partnership with the private sector ICT industries at all levels; national, regional and community; trustworthiness/reliability of the public sector information/advisory system; and accountability for the quality (correctness and accuracy) of technical information.

Access to information will drive competition, profits and blending of old and new ICTs will be critical to advance our agenda for modernizing agriculture and meeting the food security and nutrition needs of Ghana and Africa.