African Union publishes a Decision EX . CL/Dec. 986-1007 (XXXII), the Executive Council of the African Union (AU), requests the AU and Member States to harness drones for agriculture as one of three emerging technologies of relevance for African development. The recently held African Union saw its Executive Council of the African Union requesting the AU and Member States to harness drones for agriculture. Drones or the Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been in existence for decades and initially used in the military. Today drones have permeated the development world and has been applied in...
A review of research on how information services based on mobile phone technology can improve the lives of smallholder farmers has found only patchy evidence of success. The study conducted through an exploratory literature review focused on the impact of mobile phone-enabled services on farmers. They looked at 23 studies of such services in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The study was conducted against a commonly held notion that these services hold a promise for developing world farmers and that these mobile services can improve their yields. Mobile phone services for farmers covered...
Does your agricultural ministry still use paper for filing documents and submissions? How can technology help? The e-service support to farmers in Latvia is a good example of how technology can help in these situations. The Electronic Application System (EAS) of the Rural Support Service of the Republic of Latvia was created to electronically submit different types of applications for EU and Latvia’s state support for agriculture, fisheries, forestry, rural areas development, fishermen and rural entrepreneurs. The EAS system held in administration of the ministry and the implementation of...
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...
For commercial agriculture to succeed, an investment into cash crops and investing in traditional agriculture is essential, also using information and communication technology (ICT). Mountain Hazelnuts is a company established with funding from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank , to develop innovative uses of ICT for its commercial agriculture operations. The company has helped farmers integrate ICTs within each step of the Mountain Hazelnuts business model. Furthermore, about 150 staff provide extension support to farmers and also use smart phones and ICTs to communicate with...
The curtain of 2018 came down, and as we begin the year e-Agriculture is hopeful to main the 2017 momentum in facilitating the dialogue, information exchange and sharing ideas related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in agriculture and rural development. We are looking forward, first and foremost, to the launch of a newly improved and redesigned platform under the FAO Domain. This will provide the community with a corporate look at feel and while maintaining the core- services, such as News , Blogs , Forum Discussions and other capacity development activities,...
Nano Ganesh (developed by the engineer Santosh Ostwal) is a device that uses mobile phones to remotely monitor and switch on irrigation pumps for watering crops. Nano Ganesh continues to be internationally getting visibility and mostly due to its life changing potential to farmers. Recently, the story of Nano Ganesh was covered by the Pune Mirror newspaper where they chronicled the history and development of this technology. Started in 2004, the development community still continues to recognise and appreciate Nano Ganesh- for example in 2011 Santosh was honoured as the Tech Award Laureate ,...
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...
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...
If you have worked and lived on the farm you will agree that farm labour is one of the key inputs and cost center in the farming system. In most countries farm labour is controlled, that is their condition of service and earnings. Can technology halve or eliminate labour costs? As l was reading the blog by AgFunder News , which noted that harvesting robotics market is on the rise and to reach US$5.5 bn. The reality is that despite the rising cost of labour amidst unpredictability in farm profitability, farm robotics is still immature. Another factor is that while many farming aspects have...
