A country’s e-agriculture strategy is guided by its national agriculture vision or goals, the opportunity offered by ICT development and the potential to leverage the adoption of ICT by other sectors critical for agriculture. The framework of an e-agriculture strategy comprises three parts:

• Part 1: Establishing a national e-agriculture vision
• Part 2: Developing a national e-agriculture action plan
• Part 3: Monitoring and evaluating implementation of the strategy

Putting in place an e-agriculture strategy – opportunities and benefits

Having access to timely and accurate information that is tailored to specific locations and conditions can be critical in helping farmers to make the most of their resources in often changing circumstances. Examples include shifting weather patterns, fluctuating pest and disease epidemics and altered soil conditions. It can also enable them to tap into reliable credit sources and profitable markets, and engage with other important services, such as input supply and linkage to efficient value chains, etc.

Exploring the most effective channels for delivering information is an essential part of the e-agriculture approach. The rapid growth of mobile phone ownership, together with broadband – especially mobile broadband – provides an excellent opportunity for developing e-agriculture.

With potential to help a country meet its agricultural goals more effectively in a wide range of areas, e-agriculture can produce impacts in improved agricultural production, input supply, agricultural research and national agricultural information systems, extension and advisory services, postharvest handling, weather information gathering and dissemination, market access and trade, agricultural disaster management, social safety nets financial inclusion, etc.

But what can e-agriculture do to improve agricultural outcomes in concrete terms, and where is it currently producing results? E-agriculture creates opportunities for ICT-driven solutions to a whole range of agricultural challenges, from sourcing the best seed for a particular soil or climate, enabling planning based on weather information to offering valuable extension advice from a distance or helping farmers to fetch the highest price for their products. Taking the case of an agricultural value chain, e-agriculture can transform the way that actors collect, analyse, store and share information, so as to make the most effective decisions.

Using e-agriculture can lead to greater efficiencies in agricultural extension, disaster risk management and early warning systems, enhanced market access and financial inclusion, as well as capacity development among rural communities, resulting in better market information for producers, lower transaction costs, improved market coordination and more transparent rural markets.