But the opportunities offered by information and communication technologies (ICTs) - telephone, radio, video and Internet - are unevenly distributed. Barely 6 percent of the world's population is linked to the Internet, and many people on the planet have never made a telephone call. There is growing disparity between those who have access to information and those who do not. The latter are the majority, and most of them live in rural areas of developing countries.
"We have a rural digital divide, and bridging it is not just about technology and providing more computers, radios and mobile phones," says Francisco Perez Trejo of FAO's World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT). "It is a political matter of making the information more accessible, and this requires political will, education and funds."
That is the reality behind this year's Consultation on Agricultural Information Management (COAIM), taking place 23-25 September at FAO Headquarters in Rome. This second biannual meeting gathers high-ranking officials from agriculture ministries, UN organizations, specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations. They will discuss, among other issues, how to close the digital divide through better information exchange and management.
FAO has many agricultural information-systems, dealing with pest management, animal diseases, food security etc. What is needed is a mechanism for sharing and managing information across borders, sectors and social gaps.
In working to bridge the rural digital divide, FAO collaborates with many strong partners, including the Consultative Group in International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and universities and research centres around the world. FAO has launched an outreach programme that helps groups from villages to the international level adapt and integrate existing tools and methods to their own needs. Many projects involving ICTs and information management are flourishing. Examples include:
- Rural radio: FAO has
worked with rural radio for more than 30 years. For billions of
people in rural areas, where illiteracy rates are high and
electricity, phones and Internet access are lacking, radio is
still the most accessible, economic, and popular means of
communication. FAO helps with establishing radio stations and
training of broadcasters. In addition FAO helps broadcasters
with fact sheets on food security issues and provides
information on weather, post-harvest operations, early warning
systems, food safety and nutrition. The broadcasters can
incorporate this material into radio programmes relevant to
local farmers. FAO is also helping to connect community radio
stations to the Internet and training broadcasters to collect
and adapt information for radio programmes.
- Rural women's
network: The new information technologies offer a
unique opportunity to end the silence and invisibility of rural
women. FAO has been one of the driving forces behind the Dimitra
project, initiated in 1998, which aims to help rural women by
highlighting their contributions to their communities and
countries. The Dimitra project - named after Demeter, the Greek
goddess of agriculture - has set up an online database of
organizations, projects and publications. ICTs are also used for
for surveys and to convene e-forums on relevant issues, such as
"Women and access to land" and
"Gender, ICTs, good governance and democracy".
Participating in the Dimitra project worldwide are more than 850
non-governmental, civil society and research organizations that
work with ruralwomen,Partners share information through both
ICTs and more traditional means of communication, and the
project disseminates information to a mailing list of more than
4000 recipients worldwide.
- Emergency situations:
When a disaster hits, accurate and timely information on a
country's agricultural sector is crucial, and FAO has for
years helped governments deal with emergencies. After Venezuela
was hit by disastrous floods in December 1999, FAO helped assess
the country's food and crop situation and the need for
agricultural rehabilitation and emergency assistance. A key part
of the effort was the creation of an Emergency Intranet Network
- a new tool in relief operations. It provided the Ministry of
Agriculture with immediate access to crucial information, such
as damage to crops, anticipated harvest and price data, and
satellite images of affected areas.
"In FAO we use technology, but our main focus is on the content and how we can make it useful to farmers as well as to decision-makers in our member countries," says Mr Perez Trejo. "Information exchange is essential to all, and more accessible information means more participation and better decision making at all levels."
The main aim of this year's COAIM meeting is to get countries to become more active in bridging the digital divide. It is also important to encourage international agencies to collaborate more on this issue.
Topics to be addressed include improving the flow of information, coordination of capacity-building efforts, and development of guidelines and standards for information management. Several side events will take place on gender and agricultural information management, rural radio and food security, and FAOSTAT, FAO's statistical database.
