Forum global sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (Forum FSN)

In my opinion, although China has the world's largest agricultural population and the largest area of agricultural facilities, the standard of the production, processing and circulation of agricultural products is still far from advanced countries. But now we stand at the crossroads. Wisdom agricultural may give us the chance to catch up with advanced countries.

The main problem we faced is how to promote the wisdom agriculture in the country. In our country we don’t lack research results about wisdom agriculture. But how many of the results applied to farmers?

I think we can reduce the technical difficulties at the early stage, and strengthen the construction of infrastructure. The labour efficiency of farmers can be improved.

Now we talk much of information technology in agriculture development, and we have to admit that information technology has taken a revolution to agriculture. First, it helped improved the farmer’s labour efficiency. Second, it helped the agriculture production management. Third, accuracy. Through sensors all over the globe, we know much about climate, soil, diseases, we can control our behaviour, and grow high quality products.

English translation below

Wisdom Agriculture в виде комплексного применения информационных и коммуникационных технологий (ИКТ) в области сельского хозяйства в конечном итоге должно реализоваться в технологиях роботизированного сельского хозяйства. Возможно, для многих стран мира замена фермерского труда роботами будет не всегда положительным явлением, так как скажется в будущем на занятости сельского населения. Однако для России, где плотность населения, особенно в Сибири и на Дальнем Востоке низка, это не является проблемой. Наоборот, автоматизация и роботизация сельского хозяйства будет способствовать решению следующих проблем:

1.     Вовлечение в сельское хозяйство новых территорий и более рациональное использование уже распаханных земель.

2.     Реализация на практике российских технологий ландшафтного земледелия, являющихся шагом вперёд по сравнению с современным точным земледелием.

3.     Стабильное обеспечение продовольствием населения России и нуждающихся в продуктах питания стран мира.

4.     В перспективе – существенное снижение себестоимости продовольствия по сравнению с классическим сельским хозяйством.

Цель роботизированного агросектора можно сформулировать так: «Производство с возможно низкой себестоимостью и оптимальной урожайностью с минимальным влиянием на экологию». Такое производство должно стать производством экологически чистых продуктов.

 Работа по созданию роботизированного растениеводства ведётся в первую очередь в разработке программного обеспечения (софт). Обнародованы достижения по разработке роботизированных полевых агрегатов. В настоящее время ведётся разработка софта второго уровня: логистическое обеспечение всех производственных процессов роботизированной фермы от обработки почвы до уборки урожая и его первичной переработки.

Wisdom Agriculture as an integrated application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the field of agriculture should ultimately be executed as robotization in agriculture. Perhaps, for many countries replacement of farm labor by robots is not always a positive thing, as it will affect rural employment in the future. However, it is not a problem for Russia, where the population density (especially in Siberia and the Far East) is low. On the other hand, automation and robotics in agriculture will help to address the following issues:

1. Engagement of new territories in agriculture and more efficient use of plowed lands.

2. Implementation of the Russian landscape-specific agriculture technologies in practice, which is a step forward as compared with modern precision agriculture.

3. Sustainable food supply for the population of Russia and those countries, that need sustenance.

4. In the long term - a significant reduction in food production costs in comparison with traditional agriculture.

The goal of a robotized agriculture can be defined as follows: "Production with the lowest possible cost and optimum yields with minimal impact on environment." Such a production should become a production of environmentally friendly products.

The work on a robotized crop production primarily consists of software design. Achievements in the design of robotic field machinery were made public. Currently the software of the second level is being developed, i.e.: logistics of all production processes of a robotized farm from soil cultivation to harvesting and primary processing. 

Thanks very much for facilitating an important topic on “information and communication technologies (ICTs)” and their relation to efforts aimed at poverty reduction/eradication and increased food security in our world regions. The APEC region reminds me very much of my student-interactions, knowledge and lessons gained during my two-year study experience at National Chung Hsing University in Chinese Taipei and the contrasts I am daily exposed to, in my home country, Zimbabwe, where food and agricultural development is in a realm of its own, beyond the power of imagination to anyone with a keen interest. 

I cite the late Kenyan Professor and entomologist, Professor Thomas Risley Odhiambo, who is quoted as having written that [paraphrased], “…the poverty problem is not so much one of lack of access to goods and services [including information and communication technologies] but one of a lack of will and the means to realise that will”.  His quote has never been truer than now when the world is in full swing with ICTs whose transformative benefits are evident. On the “technology and people/designer pendulum”, there are times when it is not about the technology but rather the designers/the people of the technologies, their motifs, aspirations, their world view, and their hope for a better and food secure future. We have somewhat tended to focus more on the technology, forgetting the other end as the “technology and people/designer” pendulum swings. 

One of the steps in expanding on the possibilities afforded by ICTs to world citizens should be to revisit our capabilities to spring to action in eliminating “ills” owing to the amplifying nature of ICTs. ICTs present to the human species the limits and extent of our progress, some remarkable and some, on the sidelines.  This is a salient message in a recent article on “data and digital services and securing rural and food futures” focusing mainly on the economic dimension/business in the digital economy. 

We should continue to explore more opportunities for improving the lives of rural folks, far and above, simply getting them connected.  If this is what we have made our noble cause, then our rural folks deserve our honest response on what we can do for them, what we cannot do for them, and (or) what think we might do for them in the near future.   

Thanks for your consideration.

Raymond Erick Zvavanyange   

Dear Moderator,

My contribution to this particular topic will focus on a critical and sensitive challenge.

Indeed, we all embrace the fact that ICT has lots of potential to enhance coordination of agricultural activities at both national and local levels and should be a basic vehicle for generating data to inform policies and development interventions. However, in many African countries, embracing of some ICT options still has a long way to go. Adoption of some ICT options such as UAVs (drones) which are very handy in gathering data over expansive loci in a short time for purposes of agricultural statistics and national planning has met resistance due to security reasons. The challenge is for the promoters to convince governments that while flying UAVs, the focus will only be on agricultural related data and that the resultant imagery will be treated with caution and guarded against landing into unsafe hands. It is, therefore, imperative that deliberate efforts of enhancing the role of ICT in contributing to poverty reduction and enhancing food security should start with the requisite awareness to the political class. This will stimulate adequate government support in terms of provision of an enabling operational environment.

Inspiring from "4 Secrets to ICTforAg Social and Behavior Change Communication", it describes a ICTforAg project. Most ICTforAg projects have specific behavior change goals. For example, the goal may be for farmers to change their practices to improve soil quality. Or for farmers to adopt a new ICT technology to understand weather patterns.

• PLAN International;

• VOTO Mobile;

• Farm Radio International;

• International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

Thanks for the opportunity to share and express our views.

Since the Bali Action Plan arised out of COP-13 in December 2007 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) gained focus and are used in a number of ways to meet the requirements of climate change adaptation and mitigation.

ICT revolution in India serves as a great support especially to the small and marginal farmers with information, input supplies and marketing. It also facilitates socio-economic development in rural India.

The latest telecom policy also ensures improved broadband penetration in India. Some of the ongoing facilities of ITC in India are- e-choupal, e procurements, Kisan Kerala, Project Friends, Aaqua, Rice knowledge management portal, e Mitra, Lokavani,  e-krishi, Mahindra Kisan Mitra, IFFCO Agri-portal, Village knowledge centers (VKCs), village resource Advisories/centres (VRA/Cs)- Indian Space research organisation, etc. 

Digital Inclusion of farmers, farms, their perceptions, concerns and needs, strategic intervention of ICT in farming systems etc has been launched in Indian agriculture as part of Climate SMART Village projects, however it can go a long way in our country to revive and make the agriculture ecosystem more resilient to climate variability and change.

I would suggest that poverty and food security can be reduced by providing right information at the right time and right place. Cold storages are needed in order to save our excessive production and reduce the wastage of excess food. If we save a single grain we save a lot. So the developing countries have enriched nutrients gifted soil and only need to save our food by building cold storages. The next step is to build the industry to use and make available the stored food for generations.

Prior to 1990s, we used the one-way rural radios or interactive HAM radios to communicate with farmers. Then came the TVs to spread the technological messages and commodity prices to farmers. Now, the widely spread smart phones are handy to interact with farmers with all sorts of information: up to the minute price updates for commodities of interest in various markets, weather information, advice to farmers on pests and disease incidences and how to control them, showing pest-damage or diseased crops to researchers and getting timely advice on control measures, showing samples of farm produce to dealers or whole salers in various markets and negotiating the price for such commodities, and so on. The introduction of video chatting in WhatsApp will further enhance the face-to-face interaction between different actors in the commodity value chain. Farmers or farmer groups can be effectively linked in the commodity value chain and empowered to deal with produce collectors and dealers, and to procure all the farm inputs at a competitive price. If properly used, all the actors in the value chain will benefit from the appropriate use of the ICTs in agriculture.

"The production of cereals, the main staple and cash crops for millions of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is severely constrained by parasitic striga weed Striga hermonthica, stemborers and poor soil fertility. A companion cropping system known as ‘push–pull’ overcomes these constraints while providing addi-tional soil fertility and forage grass benefits to smallholder farmers. To ensure the technology’s long-termsustainability in view of the current and further potential aridification as a consequence of climate change,drought-tolerant crops, Brachiaria cv mulato (border crop) and greenleaf desmodium (intercrop), havebeen identified and incorporated into a ‘climate-adapted push–pull’. The aims of the current study wereto evaluate effectiveness of the new system (i) in integrated control of striga and stemborer pests and(ii) in improving maize grain yields, and to evaluate farmers’ perceptions of the technology to assesspotential for further adoption. 395 farmers who had adopted the technology in drier areas of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were randomly selected for the study. Each farmer had a set of two plots, a climate-adapted push–pull and a maize monocrop. Seasonal data were collected in each plot on the number ofemerged striga plants, percentage of maize plants damaged by stemborers, plant height and grain yields.Similarly, farmers’ perceptions of the benefits of the technology were assessed using a semi-structuredquestionnaire. There were highly significant reductions in striga and stemborer damage to maize plantsin the climate-adapted push–pull compared to the maize monocrop plots: striga levels were 18 timeslower and stemborer levels were 6 times lower. Similarly, maize plant height and grain yields weresignificantly higher. Mean yields were 2.5 times higher in companion planting plots. Farmers rated theclimate-adapted push–pull significantly superior in reducing striga infestation and stemborer damagerates, and in improving soil fertility and maize grain yields. These results demonstrate that the tech-nology is effective in controlling both weeds and pests with concomitant yield increases under farmers’conditions. It thus provides an opportunity to improve food security, stimulate economic growth, andalleviate poverty in the region while making agriculture more resilient to climate change."

At present, the majority of fruit production in China relies mainly on human experience to manage, lack of systematic scientific guidance. The development of facility cultivation technology has a far-reaching impact on the process of agricultural modernization. In order to solve the consumption structure of urban and rural residents and increase farmers' income, facilities cultivation has played an important role in promoting the adjustment of agricultural structure. Greenhouse cultivation has played an important role in agricultural production. To achieve a high level of facilities for agricultural production and optimization of facilities for bio-environmental control, access to information is one of the most important key technologies. As a modern information technology based on three (sensor technology, communication technology and computer technology) and the formation of a highly integrated wireless sensor network is a new information acquisition and processing technology. The network consists of a large number of low-energy, low-power smart sensor nodes, which can collaboratively be monitored. The wireless transmission network is transmitted to the base station host and to the user who needs the information. At the same time, the user can send the instruction to the target node through the network to perform the specific task.