FAO.org

The keys to addressing food security as an interconnected global problem: “sharing” and “collaborating.” The digital revolution (or “new green revolution”) is creating new capabilities and networks for solving an old problem. To meet ambitious food productivity targets for nine billion mouths, we need to leverage the digital revolution into agricultural innovation against the threat of climate change and the current deficiencies in the agricultural supply chain.
 
The digital revolution has created access to scientific and market information that was once only available to traders, academics and government officials and that information is increasingly directly available to agricultural producers, even those in remote villages. In fact, food producers are not only beneficiaries but also becoming knowledge creators—using their mobile phones and the latest Internet platforms to swap techniques, share experiences and even mobilize support from global audiences. All of these, in turn, stimulate agricultural innovation by helping spread and adopt best practices.
 

With open-source code the web creates new opportunities for cooperative solutions to sustainable agriculture at lower cost and higher speed. Sequencing the cassava genome, for example, was once a 13-year task. Today, it can be done in 27 hours. When linked with phenotypes and climatic data observed in the fields, breeders in developing countries can use data derived from digital technologies to predict seedling performance and produce higher-quality yields in shorter cycles. 
 
Other examples of emerging digital initiatives that could help address some issues in the troubled global food system for smallholder farmers include:
 
1. Seeds4Needs
Issue addressed: Seed and technology patenting
Objective: Led by Biodiversity International since 2009, Seeds4Needs initiative researches how agricultural biodiversity can help minimize cultivation risks associated with climate change. It seeks to identify crop varieties better suited to existing or projected conditions and to strengthen local seed systems accessible for farmers.
Approach: Being piloted as a crowdsourced approach whereby farmers participate in experimentation with climate-resilient varieties of seeds in their own fields as “citizen scientists.” Seeds4Needs uses GIS to identify promising seeds
and planting materials for field trials by farmers. Farmers then report their observations to researchers through Internet-based technology or mobile telephony, with field weather data collected by iButton sensors.
Progress: Over 6,000 farmers in 11 countries including India, Cambodia, Honduras and Ethiopia, are involved in research on rice, wheat, barley, sweet potato, beans, etc.
 

2. E-Farming
Issue addressed: Seed and technology patenting
Objective: E-Farming is a text-messaging service in Kenya that has provided farmers with agronomic advice on crop management, fertilizer use and choice of maize varieties to plant since 2011.
Approach: Farmers can register via SMS and indicate their crops of interest and whether they want information on agronomy, soils, fertilizer or pesticide application. They can also choose to send a separate SMS requesting specific information regarding ways to boost food production on their individual farms, costing as little as $0.12 per message.
Progress: Farmers are able to purchase the most appropriate seed and fertilizers when they need them. Maize yields have doubled. Information can reach farmers much more quickly than an extension advisor visit, which is particularly important when heavy rains make road travel in rural areas difficult.
 
3. M-Farm
Issue addressed: Unfair trading condition
Objective: Against “asymmetry of information,” M-Farm is a mobile app-based program developed in Kenya to provide smallholder farmers with market pricing information to help them negotiate fairer crop prices with brokers.

Approach: The service supplies wholesale market price information on 42 crops in five markets (including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nakuru) to farmers via a free mobile phone app or SMS . M-Farm offers farmers the chance to sell their crops as a collective of members in order to increase their leverage. Farmers can also create cost efficiency by pursuing group purchases of seeds and fertilizers simply by using their mobile phones or logging on to the M-Farm website.
Impact: About 5,000 farmers are using M-Farm as a virtual middleman. In some regions, farmers selling collectively more than doubled their return for their produce.

 
According to a 2012 World Bank report, access to market information through mobile technology has increased farmers’ incomes by 16.5-36% in Uganda and 10% in Ghana. A recent Vodafone report estimates a potential $48 billion agricultural income boost in African nations by 2020.
 
I was the project leader of "Climate-resilient Agriculture & Food Security" at the Global Solution Networks. My white paper examined how the world can solve old food security problems for smallholder farmers in developing countries with new ICT solutions. A couple of case studies were used to illustrate the huge potential of digital innovations. The white paper is attached to this contribution or downloadable free of charge by clicking this link: http://gsnetworks.org/research_posts/food-security/ 

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: info@bluenodemedia.com

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.

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

[1] Gini Coefficients. At: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html.

[2] UNDP report. There is a useful summary at: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/un-predicts-huge-expansion-of.html.

[3] Burundi mobile phones. Information available at: http://www.gesci.org/the-innovative-use-of-mobile-applications-in-east-africa1.html.

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.