The subject of technology and gender has intrigued many interested with ICTs in agriculture. GSMA recently published a report entitled, “ Mapping the mobile money gender gap: insight from Cote D’lvoire and Mali ”. One of the key findings of the report is that while there has been significant growth in mobile money transfer in the last ten years, there are still wide gender gaps in mobile money account ownership and usage. The report further notes that there is a need for a better strategy to target and reach more women with mobile money services. The study paints a comprehensive picture of...
The NewTimes Newspaper in Rwanda reports the testing of mobile applications developed under the "Agricultural Services and Digital Inclusion in Rwanda" - which includes the four mobile applications - 'Cure and feed your livestock', 'eNtrifood', 'Weather and crop', and 'AgriMarketplace' developed in support of FAO. The testing was done on Tuesday, 7th of November 2017 in Rulindo District, Northen Province in Rwanda. The purpose of the testing was to get the feedback of the technology based on the field farming practices or challenges they face in the farming process. This feedback will help...
Africa’s economy is based largely agriculture and most of them being smallholder farmers. One of the challenges these family farmers face is access to weather information and forecasting services. Lack of access to relevant weather information is due to lack of access of weather source information, dilapidated weather stations that fail to accurately provide reliable weather data, amongst many other reasons. Kukua is an initiative whose vision is to close Africa’s weather information gap by providing new weather station technology and improved weather forecast accuracy. Kukua seeks to...
In most developping countries, agriculture is the main source of the population’s income. Lack of acces to relevant informations leads to low yields, famers stress and low income. Nowadays Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform agriculture in rural area...
From 16 to 27 October, e-Agriculture Team organized the “introduction to drones in agriculture’ learning activity . This self-learning activity is intended to increase the appreciation of and knowledge on the use of drones in agriculture and rural development to members and followers of the e-Agriculture Community of Practice (CoP). During the second week of the activity participants reviewed academic literature on drones, including the ongoing research from Catheline Pieters on the monitoring of orchards using drones. The participants also had the opportunity to present their work during a...
Drones can have multiple uses in agriculture, from mapping to spraying. Here is a short list of how can drones help in agriculture. Precision agriculture uses information technology to ensure that the crops and soil receive exactly what they need for optimum health and productivity. Drones are an essential tool in precision agriculture, as they allow farmers to constantly monitor crop and livestock conditions by air. Mapping : With new drone models, the user only needs to draw around the area he needs to cover as drones come equipped with flight planning software allowing it to follow an...
The Government of Andhra Pradesh, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dalberg Advisors and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), invites applications for a Pitch Competition to identify technology-based solutions that solve agricultural challenges faced by small and marginal farmers in Andhra Pradesh'' . - read more In this competition there are four themes in which each submission can be made under:- Technology-enabled Rural Advisory Services (RAS) v2.0. Technology-enabled market linkages. Digital Financial Services for agriculture. Data mining for agriculture Who...
The Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) was launched in 2007 as a dialogue platform that cuts across borders and disciplines in support of a world free of food insecurity and malnutrition. On the 10th of October 2017, at the FAO headquarters, the FSN Forum team held a luncheon to celebrate the 10 year of existence. Today the FSN Forum stands as one of the most inclusive, multilingual platform that hosts discussions related to food security and nutrition issues. The FSN approach to online discussions have attracted a wider range of stakeholders and members from the civic...
Farmerline is a social software company with the mission to transform millions of farmers into successful entrepreneurs. Farmerline connects farmers to markets, finance, weather forecast, new farming tips, inputs dealers and equipment services. Farmerline has an information service that sends SMS and voice messages on weather forecasts, market prices, new farming techniques, agrochemical applications, and finance directly to the mobile phones of farmers in local languages. Through their mobile phones, farmers can also connect to global markets and buy farm inpunts and services. Farmers using...
A team under the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) has developed a mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to accurately diagnose crop diseases in the field. The team has won a $US100,000 award to help expand their project to help millions of small-scale farmers across Africa. The app provides advice on all major diseases and pests of root, tuber and banana crops, sends SMS alerts to farmers about potential diseases for their crops and pinpoints the location of the nearest agricultural extension support for farmers. “Smartphones are becoming more and more common...
In most developping countries, agriculture is the main source of the population’s income. Lack of acces to relevant informations leads to low yields, famers stress and low income. Nowadays Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to transform agriculture in rural area...0 comments