E-commerce for Agriculture and Rural Development session and launching  of the ‘Digital Agriculture Report’, co-organized by FAO, ITU and Zhejiang University will be held on Friday, 7 May 2021, 15:00-16:00 CEST at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2021.

At this event, FAO and Zhejiang University will reinforce the WSIS Forum 2021 theme, ´ICTs for Inclusive, Resilient ad Sustainable Societies and Economies’ by launching the Digital Agriculture Report which details experiences of successful business models and results of technology applications in the field of rural e-commerce in China.

The event will also enhance knowledge and practice exchanges by fostering panel discussion in the field of rural e-commerce with a wide range of experts coming from various organizations, institutions, academics, and the private sector.  The World Bank, ITU, African Development Bank, Alibaba Group, Inter-American Development Bank, and Nampya Farmers Market (winner of the Global AgriInno Challenge 2020) are invited to share their views on this important topic.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum represents the world's largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community. FAO has been facilitating WSIS Action Line C7 E-agriculture annually since 2005.

This session will focus on how e-commerce impacts rural development positively in the new era of digital agriculture. Experienced experts from the e-commerce sector will be invited to WSIS session to explore the impact of e-commerce in addressing the challenges which the agriculture and food sector must face to achieve SDG1 and SDG2. FAO has been actively supporting the building of Digital Agriculture Innovation Hubs through the last years to foster innovation ecosystem and culture that support the development of e-agriculture and promote the development of e-commerce.

FAO's International Platform for Digital Food and Agriculture is another initiative created to bridge the gap between the existing international fora for food and agriculture, enhance awareness on issues specific to the digitalization of the food and agriculture sectors and provide policy recommendations to governments to support decision-making at higher levels. For more information, please contact [email protected].