Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

English translation below

Las tecnologías de la información contribuyen en la planificación, preparación de terrenos, manejo y monitoreo de cultivos y predicción de cosechas. Son muy útiles en otras para realizar una aplicación muy óptima y racional de insumos agrícolas de acuerdo a las características particulares del suelo dentro de un lote y así mismo la aplicación muy racional de químicos para el control de plagas.

El cuello de botella desde mi punto de vista lo veo en el alto costo de la tecnología, tanto de los equipos como de software necesario para el procesamiento de datos. Es muy difícil o casi imposible que un pequeño agricultor tenga el músculo financiero requerido para adquirir tecnología. Has que no exista una política en el tema de incentivo en el uso de estas tecnologías con beneficios tributarios, arancelario y que sea reconocido un valor adicional por parte del consumidor final en los productos origen de agricultura inteligente, veo complicado que se amplíe el uso y aplicación por pequeños y medianos agricultores. Cómo dice un dicho en el país, “es más barato un Mercedes Benz que un tractor agrícola”. Con esa comparación se resume el cuello de botella del agro.

Information technologies contribute to planning, land preparation, crop management and monitoring, and crop forecasts. They are very helpful in optimising and rationalising the use of agricultural inputs according to the particular features of the soil and the use of chemicals for pest control.

In my opinion the bottleneck lies in the high cost of these technologies, both the equipment and the software required to process the data. For a small farmer, having the necessary financial strength to afford these technologies is very difficult or almost impossible. Until a policy that promotes their use with tax and tariff benefits is adopted and the added value of smart farming products is acknowledged by the final consumer, scaling up their use and implementation by small and medium farmers will be complicated. As the saying goes in this country, “a Mercedes Benz is cheaper than an agricultural tractor”. This comparison summarises the agricultural bottleneck.

Development of small-scale wisdom agriculture for smallholder farmers in West Sumatera Indonesia.

Generally, the ownership of agricultural land in West Sumatera is less than 5000 m2. With limited land, farmers have lesser option on what crop they will produce. Furthermore, similarly to grocery principle, the same farmer will have to put higher investment per M2 compare to larger estate, due to quantity of product they purchase (either fertilizer, herbicides, or farm equipments).

Our work focused on the application of low-cost SMART-precision farming technology to reduce the production cost of these farmers, in particular the needs of seeds, fertilizer or other input components. Although the results may not be as significant as the latest advanced farming technology, it is applicable to small farmers, with some success.

Therefore, in my opinion, "Wisdom Agriculture" is a must for achieving sustainable agriculture. Saving a dollar, the farmer may use their resources for other more beneficial goals, in particular education for their children.  

Small holder farmers can benefit from an online marketplace, that links potential buyers and sellers of agricultural produce.

In Uganda, my home country I have seen some efforts to do this, some of these initiatives are donor funded, others are privately owned. The problem with some of the market places I have seen is that they have been poorly designed both from an archeticture aspect and the underlying technology is poorly designed and barely functional.

Some can argue that small farmers will not embrace technology as they are barely literate. This of course holds little or no water. Farmers are organized and you can easily find 1 member in the different farmer and social groups who has a smart phone and can use technologies such as whatsapp.

At Blue Node Media (an I.T. Consulting firm based in the USA and Uganda), we have developed an online marketplace that can help connect farmers find markets. Farmer groups can register and post items for sale, and buyers can reach them. We have made the platform simple, interactive and accessible using low bandwidth.

The platform is very simple to use and we expect it to grow with time. We don't expect instant success, as we in this for the long haul. Unlike other platforms which varnish when the donor funding ends, we have a robust monetization plan that will come into effect, after we start analyzing user behavior.

Cavin Mugarura

Technical Lead / Founder

Blue Node Media

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.bluenodemedia.com 

Dear all,

The previous contributions are fascinating and heartening. Wisdom Agriculture embracing ICTs is an exciting opportunity for everyone. A theme I would like to see further explored is the potential for rural job creation in supporting farmers in the use and adoption of ICTs. In my company we are building a knowledge & data collection service which focuses on animal health and drug usage. We want to demonstrate the power of learning from farmers about what works best in their area, gathering data on their farm to allow them to benchmark their performance or warn of nearby animal disease outbreaks etc. through a combination of phone calls, smartphone app and analysis platform.  The service is rolled out in local areas using mobile phones as both a means of information exchange, but also a means of social inclusion and outreach, reducing the isolation often felt by farmers, while granting their knowledge & expereince the respect and value they deserve.

English version below

В какой степени информационные технологии в сельском хозяйстве могут способствовать снижению масштабов нищеты и повышению продовольственной безопасности, учитывая их все более широкое распространение? 

Современные информационные технологии или системы, как и в любой другой отрасли экономики и в сельском хозяйстве, несомненно, будут способствовать снижению масштабов нищеты и повышению продовольственной безопасности  в странах АТЭС. Роль ИКТ в сельском хозяйстве на всех уровнях и этапах производства, переработки, транспортировки, хранения и реализации продукции и услуг, в рациональном распределении ресурсов, потенциала, просто, крайне важна. Но, все это довести до Правительств, жителей сельских сообществ, что потребуется немало финансовых, материально -технических, программных средств, организационных и людских ресурсов.

Какие специфические проблемы и сдерживающие факторы стоят на пути полной реализации Wisdom Agriculture в странах-участницах АТЭС? Как создать благоприятные условия для политики?

Специфическим проблемам и сдерживающим факторам на пути полной реализации Wisdom Agriculture стоят прежде всего специфичность самой отрасли –сельского хозяйства: большая зависимость от природно –климатических факторов; технологическая отсталость отрасли; раздробленность сельского хозяйства на мелкие домашние хозяйства (натуральная форма хозяйствования); деградированность основных средств производства-земли, пастбищ; низкий образовательный и культурный уровень жителей сельских сообществ и невосприимчивость к новым знаниям и технологиям, то есть традиционный и сильный стереотип и консерватизм; недостаточность финансовых, организационных и людских ресурсов, целенаправленность и недостаточная почва для имплементации современных ИКТ в сферу сельского хозяйства стран АТЭС и еще многие другие проблемы..

Имеются ли примеры эффективного применения ИКТ в сельскохозяйственном секторе экономики вашей страны за последнее десятилетие, которые оказали положительное влияние на продовольственную безопасность и экономическое положение населения сельских районов? Каков статус использования технологий, таких как «Интернет вещей» и сельскохозяйственные роботы, в вашей стране?

Как таковой, целостной системы современной ИКТ, применение которой  за последние десять лет оказали бы положительное влияние на продовольственную безопасность и экономическое положение населения сельских районов в Кыргызстане, пока, нет. Но, в то же время в сельском хозяйстве Кыргызстана идут разработки и внедрение локальных информационных систем в локальные секторы отрасли. Но, они слабы и не существенны и не могут оказать ощутимое влияние на сдвиги в отрасли. Использование «Интернет вещей» в сельскохозяйственных работах еще слабая, только, на уровне оказания консультационных услуг фермерам, в прогнозе погоды и цен на сельхоз продукции на рынках страны. Можно считать очень позитивным проект правительства Норвегии, который создает информационную базу данных на уровне фермерских хозяйств Кыргызстана. По продовольственной безопасности проектом ФАО создана информационная база данных в Кыргызстане, только, проект закончился и она функционирует или нет, не известно.

Какую пользу могут извлечь мелкие фермерские хозяйства от использования сельскохозяйственных систем отслеживания продукции? 

Просто, нет здесь слов, колоссальные!! Самое главное, фермеры будут иметь всю информацию, например, по ресурсам (где, что есть (семена, горючее, препараты и др.) и цены на них), спрос и цены на сельскохозяйственную продукцию, переработки и увеличение цепочки добавленной стоимости, новые технологии, обучение и оказание консультационных услуг, управление и многое другое. 

With information technologies becoming more common in agriculture, to what extent can they contribute to poverty reduction and increased food security?

Modern information technologies or systems in agriculture, as well as in any other sector of the economy, will undoubtedly contribute to reducing poverty and improving food security in the APEC countries.  The role of ICTs in agriculture at all levels and stages of production, processing, transportation, storage and marketing of products and services, as well as in efficient allocation of resources and capacity-building, is extremely important. But reaching out to the governments and rural people with all of these will require a lot of financial, material and technical, software, organizational and human resources.

What are the specific challenges and bottlenecks for the full realization of Wisdom Agriculture in APEC Economies? How can a conducive policy environment be created?

Specific problems and bottlenecks for the full realisation of Wisdom Agriculture is first of all the specificity of the sector (agriculture): high dependence on natural climatic conditions; technological backwardness of the sector; agricultural sector consists of small households (subsistence agriculture); basic means of production such as land and pastures are degraded; under-education, low cultural level of rural people and resistance to new knowledge and technologies, i.e. traditional and strong stereotype and conservatism; lack of financial, institutional and human resources, lack of focus, no ground for implementation of modern ICTs in the sphere of agriculture in APEC economies, and many other problems…

Are there any examples of effective applications of ICTs in the agriculture of your economy during the last decade that have had a positive impact on food security and rural livelihoods? What is the status of the use of technologies in your economy, such as the internet of things and agricultural robots?

In Kyrgyzstan, an integral modern ICTs system, as such, with effective application for the last decade, that have had a positive impact on food security and rural livelihoods, does not exist. But, at the same time, local ICTs systems are being designed and introduced into local industry sectors of Kyrgyzstan. However, they are weak and insignificant and are unable to materially affect major developments in the sector. The use of internet of things in agricultural work is still weak, it is only used in weather forecasts and forecasts for agricultural prices in the markets of the country. The project of the government of Norway, which is aimed at creating the information database at the smallholders’ level in Kyrgyzstan, can be considered a very positive example. The database on food security in Kyrgyzstan was established by the FAO project. But the project is now completed and it’s not clear whether the database is still functioning.   

How can smallholder farmers benefit from agricultural product traceability systems?

I’m lost for words, colossal opportunities! The most important is that farmers will have all the information, such as in regard to resources (where and what (seeds, fuel, medicines etc.) and what are the prices), demand, and prices on agricultural products and processing, as well as the increase in value chains, new technologies, training and advisory services, management and a lot more.

Information and communication technologies and people making choices

Everyone wants to share in that development dream and, according to recent UNDP reporting, the majority of people worldwide are well on their way of achieving it. In the race to develop, however, previous lifestyles and the systems upon which they were once based are being abandoned. Urbanization of human society across the globe is leading change concerning everything and not simply choice of foods and traditional methods of food production.

On micro-scale, there may be value with the resilience of these earlier systems – for those who fail to develop, fail to investment, remain ill-informed and/or fall outside modern trends of socio-economic development. The next generation – living in that town or city, providing services or manufacturing, earning a salary and exploring those personal responsibilities with freedom from archaic systems – is far too busy looking forward to be concerned about the past.

Technologies in the service of people

To the layman, it must seem as if the society around them has divided into two distinct groups of people; those who have embraced the extent of new IC technologies that have become increasingly available (and affordable) during the past 30 years – as the personal computer has taken centre stage in many lives – and those who largely ignore developments of this kind and continue to remain with out-dated (i.e. non-electronic) systems – for all manner of reasons. You can’t explore all the variations around this kind of statement in a brief introduction but, by default, those of you reading my contribution will probably be part of the former group; and constantly challenged by the routine updating required of modern systems (and the money needed to do so).

Look around you at the agricultural industries that you represent and, perhaps, note the growing division between those who embrace the changes that developments in IC technology provide and those who continue to ignore them. If you service industries/people in the low-income countries you will know of the need to ‘move mountains’ to enable the majority people to participate.

Modern worlds have also become increasingly divided between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’; with Gini coefficients that continue to show the dynamics of the changes involved with minorities becoming richer at the expense of the masses. (Check out South Africa, the Seychelles, Haiti and others, for example).[1]

All of which leads to the use of technologies with which to bridge gaps, improve lives, boost efficiency and more – an approach which is accepted by most people notwithstanding the difficulties with taking part. Not for nothing are we living through a period of technical evolution that will change our working and living patterns; the opportunities eventually provided by ‘artificial intelligence’ will shape the world around us.

Automated technologies will put people alongside software agents, robots and other services that were previously unimaginable; people and machines in partnership will boost productivity and enable people to work more efficiently – a step up from the machine as simply an alternative to muscle power.

The socio-economic changes that these developments will bring with employment, new industries, and new ways of thinking/investing are already visible in the changes around you – but more obvious in the industrial countries. Previously viable economic sectors have declined leaving behind, for example, the infamous ‘rust-belt cities/suburbs’ as one indication of the importance of long-term planning on the part of the national authorities.

Urbanization

So what’s changed during the past 50 years; and more so during the past 20 years? In a couple of words: the ‘Middle classes’ have been discovered everywhere. Once a feature of the industrial countries, this particular group of people can now be found in all kinds of places where they were once least expected; meaning wherever stability has provided people with opportunities for investing their time, intellect and lives. Middle class people invest in their society; and this comes from the opportunities provided by a reasonably capable government and a buoyant economy.

Check out the report from UNDP[2] of March 2013, and their projections of around half the world’s people expected to join the ‘middle classes’ by 2020, and ponder the ramifications of more than one million households worldwide with an income of >US$20,000 annually (60% of which will be in Asia). Sure, this report is now more than three years old, but the trends shown remain valid.

The report lists Laos, Mongolia and Bangladesh in addition to India and China. Elsewhere Turkey, Rwanda, Ghana, Mexico and others are shown – in total >30 countries currently considered within that rather out-dated descriptor ‘developing countries’ will have shifted appreciably up the socio-economic scale.

And then project forward a few more years to 2030 when estimated 80% of the world’s population of middle class people will be expected to be living in those same transition countries. And it doesn’t stop there – for the report suggests these same national governments will, collectively, hold more than twice the financial reserves of the industrial countries; in total close on US$7 trillion. Consider the impact that this will have on social development – healthcare, education, empowerment of women and more; and the juxtaposition that this will bring to global investment, decision-making and more.

Passion fruit production in Burundi

Abstract text is one thing, however, reality quite different. Take the example of passion fruit production in Burundi. Two years back we explored value chains in a handful of crops/enterprises including passion fruit that showed investment promise. What constraints existed, what could be done to overcome them, how to boost production and so on.

Constraints and solutions were tabulated within seven complementary sectors one of which was ‘Technological/product development’. In summary, this described the paucity of technical capabilities on the part of growers, producer organizations and those who advised them; people everywhere within the industry remained ill-informed. Change was needed with investment in hardware, training and management; and the adoption of GAPs & GMPs. People needed access to a portal with which to do so. Burundi passion fruit people were recommended to follow selected field practices in Uganda & Kenya with use of mobile phones.

That is easy to say, but hard to do quickly - given the extent of mobile phone use in Burundi. The country has been slow to embrace the use of mobile phones as a means of boosting infrastructure/facilities/information/services available to people outside the main urban areas. Unlike others in the East African Community (EAC) where there are estimated 50 million phones available representing 40 percent penetration of local markets, uptake in Burundi covers <10 percent of the national population (i.e. around 1 million people). The issues are many – high costs, inadequate power supplies, poverty, few private sector investors, etc. Recent membership of the EAC should eventually ensure that the revolution in e-services (including banking, cash-free purchasing, information exchange and more) enjoyed by people elsewhere will eventually become available to people in Burundi[3].

And, whilst Burundi is not yet a member of the 21 Pacific Rim countries that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries, it is worth pointing out that the current five-year investment plan underway (and due for completion 2017) for passion fruit production in Australia was noted - with emphasis upon public and private sector investment, competition from cheaper fruit producers and the importance of dietary demand and climate change underway.

Timely and high quality information provides the basis for choice; then you need to communicate with people.

Peter Steele

Melbourne

Dear All,

Thank you for this great opportunity.

Please permit to share my research findings with you on the above subject matter. The potential role of ICTs in agriculture cannot be underestimated!  Undoubtedly, ICT is the solution to the current economic meltdown around the globe.

I am a PhD researcher from Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, United Kingdom. I am currently working on the use of ICT (mobile phone) among smallholder farmers and its relevance to sustainable Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Nigeria. The study aims is to investigate how ICT (mobile phone) could be better used to improve adoption of Good Agricultural Practices and increase the productivity of smallholders farmers.

I conducted adapted livelihood survey in two rural communities in Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria. On my second visit to the study area I trained 25 farmers per community (called lead farmers) on 16 Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and asked them to train 3 farmers each. In a nut shell, I trained 200 smallholder farmers using lead farmers extension model and gave them action plan. Moreover, I gave them improved seeds as incentive for participating in the study and also liaise with an NGO who gave farmers fertilizers at a subsidize prices.

In the same vein, I trained 100 smallholder farmers on the effective and efficient use of mobile phone to improve adoption, unlock market prices and increase bargaining skills. Therefore, I have 100 ICT group and 100 non-ICT group. I also presented 14 free mobile phones to farmers without handset to ensure that all ICT group have access to personal mobile phone. In addition, I sent SMS text messages to ICT group every 2 weeks as a reminder to prompt them to follow the action plan.

On 15 October 2016, at the end of the growing season, I went back to the study area to evaluate the impact of the training on adoption and the effectiveness of ICT (mobile phone). To my greatest surprise the GAP intervention made a big difference in the study area. GAP technologies has created rural prosperity and increase the agricultural productivity and incomes of the farmers. Participants recorded 71.6% increase in productivity particular the ICT group. The role of ICT couple with adequate resources cannot be underrated. I also conducted market intelligence in four rural market in the study area to investigate how farmers and traders use ICT (mobile phone) to unlock markets.

I strongly believe that the purpose of any research is to make meaningful contributions to the lives of participants and body of knowledge.

Thank you.

Olayemi Samson Sennuga.

PhD Student, RAU, UK.

Agricultural products traceability system is the embodiment of management thinking. And this kind of thought needs to be realized with information technology. Agricultural products can be traced back to the system, so that the production process of agricultural products is more controllable, we can monitor the food production process, so as to ensure the food quality.

In China, the rural farmers are the household contract responsibility system operation mode. It’s difficult to obtain the scale efficiency. So how can they benefit from agricultural product traceability systems?  I think we should make farmers aware of the importance of food security, as well as what is food security. Then, there should be pioneers to use agricultural product traceability systems. The government should also provide policy and technology support. Found an information base platform, someone may use the platform or technology first. The other people also have the opportunity to enjoy. Through the system, government can monitor the production process. When problems arise, technical personnel can be sent to help farmers solve the problem in time. If the agricultural product in high quality, the government can help farmers sell the product at a good price.

The problems of wisdom agricultural sensor technology

Agricultural sensor technology has many technical bottlenecks which seriously restrict the rapid development of wisdom agriculture. First，kinds of China's current agricultural sensor are less than 10% of the world, the sensor price is relatively expensive at this stage, not suitable for ordinary crops. The sensor applicability and coverage are needed to be improved. Second, part of the domestic sensor performance is not stable enough, and often need regular correction. Equipment exposure in the natural environment long-term, will be short life with high maintenance costs. Third, the current sensors developed of plants, soil and gas devices, mostly single and static based on the determination, and lack of dynamic real-time monitoring equipment about growth information, pesticide residues and farmland ecological environment.

Wisdom agriculture is very lack of stable and reliable, low cost, energy saving, environmental adaptability and intelligent equipment and products.