The e-Agriculture community is now above 15,000 users . e-Agriculture is a global community of practice, where people from all over the world exchange information, ideas, and resources related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable agriculture and rural development. Becoming a member of e-Agriculture Community of Practice provides possibilities to: Connect with other community members and share experiences Follow news and blogs published on the e-Agriculture platform Shar e good practices in the use of ICTs in agriculture Learn about new digital trends...
The Technologies and Practices for Small Agricultural Producers (TECA) is an online platform that gathers successful agricultural technologies and practices to facilitate knowledge exchange and help family farmers in the field. Recently TECA has launched the first moderated discussion on the topic of Agricultural Mechanization and is done between FAO AGPM and the Young Professionals in Agriculture and Rural Development (YPARD). The online discussion will be held from the 3rd to the 15th of April 2019 and is addressing the question, “ Can mechanization drive youth into agriculture in Sub-...
In most developing countries due to rural-urban migration, rural communities are losing young people and agriculture is robbed of the needed workforce. The result has been that many smallholder farms have more women and girls remaining on the farms providing bulk of the labour force. Advances in agricultural innovation are important to support rural livelihoods and are poised to support the role of women in our food systems. Furthermore, the digital revolution has changed the way we work and offers opportunities when implemented fairly. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in...
By Günther Feiler , Capacity Development Officer, FAO Rome, and Thomas Muenzel , Investment Support Officer, FAO Bangkok ( The article was originally published by the ICTworks and we reproduce for our community. All rights acknowledged) Experience has shown that substantial public investments in agricultural production, transport and storage infrastructure, combined with private on-farm investment are essential for promoting pro-poor economic growth, bringing people out of poverty and ending food insecurity and malnutrition. The FAO State of Food and Agriculture Report in 2012 found that the...
There is a growing acceptance of blockchain use in food and agriculture. This comes as part of the growth of ICTs in the last decade and technology has promised to open many opportunities to overcome some of the challenges faced in agriculture. For example, technology can allow more inclusion, simplification of process within the agricultural systems, including on-farm and off-farm activities. In light of blockchains in agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) together with its partners have published three documents so far on blockchains. These publications are: Emerging...
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have recently published a title called, ‘ Blockchain for Agriculture, Opportunities and Challenges ’ as part of the E-Agriculture in Action series publications. This is part of the collaboration of working together of the two UN Agencies to work together to promote the use of sustainable information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture. The focus of the publication is on blockchain technology in agriculture. The aim of the book is to demystify the technology,...
2018 has been a remarkable year for the e-Agriculture. We continued to foster the global community of practice through dialogue, information exchange and sharing of ideas related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable agriculture and rural development. We thank all our members, partners and those that collaborated with us to realise the activities in 2018. We began the year on a high note and boosted by the migration of the e-Agriculture website to a new corporate theme website in May of 2018. We would like to thank our users for the patience during...
Perhaps the name sounds negative, but not until you dig deeper. The rate of technology change has affected many people, processes and sectors. With regards to agriculture, our colleagues published an article, ' digital disruption in agriculture ’. They premise that, the pace of digital disruption over the last two decades has been breathtaking, transforming every sector of the global economy, including agriculture. By using diverse technologies – smartphones, GPS, satellite imagery, big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things – farmers can optimize crop growth and farm...
You are invited to participate in the interactive session with youth during the first International Symposium on agricultural innovation for family farmers. The event, organized in collaboration with Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD), is bringing together youth representatives and innovators around the world – both online and in-person – to interact with experts, present the key drivers behind their innovations, share their ideas and contribute their inputs to the outcomes of the symposium. Among the participants are four YPARD members: Nikki Pilania and Alpha Sennon (...
International Innovation Award for Sustainable Food and Agriculture The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Government of Switzerland have announced the call for nominations for the 1st International Innovation Award for the Sustainable Food and Agriculture. The call is targeted at individuals, private companies or institutions to submit a nomination for the following categories before the 28th of February 2019: Award for Digitalization and Innovation for Sustainable Food Systems (USD 40 000) – Innovations that impact more than one level of the supply chain and strengthen the link...
