Agriculture has always been affected by plant pests and diseases, outbreaks can cause huge losses to crops and pastures and threatening the livelihoods of vulnerable smallholder farmers. The following are some of the known pests that have caused in agriculture include, locusts, armyworm, fruit flies, banana diseases, cassava diseases and wheat rusts. Currently, the Fall Armyworm (FAW) has ravaged many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. FAO has already offered a briefing note on FAW which can be read here . The following map shows the countries in Africa affected by the FAW ICTs and pests...
FAO is using drones to fight hunger, improve nutrition and counter the effects of climate change and extreme weather events. A documentary from Asia and the Pacific Office of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization shows collaboration with countries to leverage the used of ICTs using drones. Philippines is a country prone to typhoons, aerial drones are used to map out the risk areas of agricultural land to mitigate the risk. This ensures that once a disaster strikes farmers affected can get assistance quicker. Drones have an advantage of wider coverage and since they are remotely...
Highlights: Why do we need the digital principles? What are these principles? How have they been implemented? The developmental world has seen an investment into platforms and infrastructure to support information and knowledge sharing, and lately hackathons, contest and apps galore have mushroomed. While these efforts are commendable and justifiable, there is an obvious result, systems and platforms are developed in silos. In some cases even duplicating efforts. The situation l just described above explains why the donor agencies and multilateral organisation thought of best practices in the...
Image credit : Panos/SciDev.Net Ethiopian herders have been provided the automated weather stations which are providing them with reliable climate information; armed with this information they can weigh up risks and make preventative decisions – reports SciDev.Net . The Automated weather stations (AWS) are reported to be part of the Market Approaches to Resilience (MAR) project led by the NGO Farm Africa in three Ethiopian regions which are seeing an increase in climate variability. A total of 25 solar –powered AWSs have been installed since 2015.There are other challenges those that the MAR...
In 2015, many countries adopted the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , there by committing to a vision of a low- carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable future for all. The world events leading to and after the signing of the agreement have shown that climate issues are becoming a reality; for instance, 2016 was the hottest year on record with the average global temperature at almost 1 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels. Under the Paris Agreement, countries have developed nationally determined contributions (NDCs), national adaptation plans and mid-...
Image credit: JavaCoin News A recent study on blockchain for Food and Agriculture by GODAN partners TNO and Wageningen UR explored the use of blockchain technology (BCT). The study was conducted amidst the growth of bitcon and other crypto currencies and their acceptance in many other fields. In comparison, blockchain technology is believed by some to have a much wider application also within food and agriculture. For example 'bitcoin-derived applications have improved mobile payments, and credit and supply chain transaction administration, blockchain in agriculture and food is believed to...
UNESCO and ITU have announced the ‘ Mobile Learning Week 2018 ’ which is a flagship ICT in education conference. The event will be held from 26 to 30 March 2018 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.The details of this conference can also be interests to e-Agriculture CoP. The theme of the event is, “Skills for a connected world” will examine the type of skills needed in a connected network and will focus on digital skills and competencies. The meeting will also review strategies and skills in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) The Objectives Mobile Learning Week 2018 has been...
Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Vegetalia , an ICT startup, have joined forces to provide solutions for the Japanese agricultural sector. This is an example where private sector investing in agriculture. The challenge in Japan is that the Japanese farming population is ageing and decreasing. ICT solutions, hence, could be leveraged to help modernize the sector. Therefore, to help solve this Mitsubishi invested in Vegetalia which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) to solve agriculture’s problems. An extract from the press statement states , ‘Vegetalia is a next-...
Do you have a practical case study or a presentation on the cutting-edge applications and innovations in the use of ICT for agriculture and environment? Then you can be a speaker at the 10th ICT4D conference taking place May 8-10 , 2018 in Lusaka, Zambia. To submit your speaker application, follow this link http://www.ict4dconference.org/speaker/call-for-speakers/ . The closing date for the submissions is January 15th 2018 Successful applicants will be notified by February the 9th 2018 . Agriculture and Environment Track CRS, CTA and ICRISAT are sponsoring the Agriculture and Environment...
Do you have an innovative project in ICT4D? Do you think that your project is supporting the SDGs with the ICT4SDGs? Do you want international recognition of your project and also want to share to others what you are working on? Then ITU invites you to submit your entries by the 14th of January 2018. The extension allows for time for interested projects to bid for this prestigious award. You can read the ITU Official Call for Submissions in all UN languages are available here [ AR ] - [ ZH ] - [ EN ] - [ FR ] - [ RU ] - [ ES ] Read the submission rules and guidelines here All nominated...
