The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has recently published the issue Number 186 of Spore magazine , which focuses on Big data and climate insurance: Redusing risks and maximizing revenues. Spore Magazine aims to give the reader a global perspective on agribusiness and agricultural development. The topics covered in this issue include the role of ICTs in enhancing agricultural productivity, creating jobs and increasing incomes for young farmers, and the role of ICTs in climate smart agriculture and early warning systems. The following articles are of interest:...
Esoko, the platform that sends market prices and agricultural tips to farmers will soon retire its brand. After having begun with professional tips sent to farmers through SMS, the Esoko team started to explore innovations on mobile finance for smallholder farmers. In November 2016, Esoko developed a mobile commerce platform that allows farmers to save and borrow toward the purchase of inputs and to sell their crops. Two very different products were now developed, and the team started to face the first challenges. "Our limited management resources were being stretched thin and neither...
The US Embassy in Nepal organized a ‘Farm to Table’ event on August 29th to identify opportunities to maximize the market potential of Nepal’s agricultural sector. The conference brought together agro-entrepreneurs, buyers, suppliers, financial service providers, and farmers from Nepal and the United States. The main discussion of this round-table was based on finding innovative ways to improve efficiency and maximize productivity in Nepali agriculture. One of the main recommendations was to improve value chains by investing in ICTs connecting farmers to knowledge, market information and...
mFish is a set of mobile applications for fishing and aquaculture that educates fishers and connects them to market prices. The app is innovative in the way that it gathers information directly from the fishermen. Many small scale fishers lack the access to vital data such weather data, fish prices at port, fish handling and safety best practices. mFish aims to aggregate and distribute useful content to fishers around the world helping them to be more sustainable in their methods and as a small enterprise. mFish is available on Google Play, Facebook’s Free Basics, and even as a browser based...
Farm Fresh is a Gambian social entreprise that helps market smallholder farmers’ local products through an e-commerce platform. It was established in 2014 and is the first online food store and delivery service in Gambia. The platform markets and sells online fresh and locally grown vegetables, fruits and processed food items in partnership with farmers across the country. By doing so, Farm Fresh ensures a regular source of income generation for farmers. Currently, Farm Fresh has more than 200 local products on the website, also allowing Gambians from the Diaspora to order fresh and healthy...
Abalobi, which is Xhosa name for fishermen, is as a mobile application for the small-scale fishermen to let them produce their own knowledge on fishing and build resilient communities in the face of climate change. There are currently 30,000 artisanal fishers along South Africa's coastline making their living from the sea and living on a thin line between commercial and subsistence fishing. The innovation of Abalobi is the fact that small-scale fishermen can record what they caught, when, where, using what method and how much they sold the fish for. All that information is stored in the app...
The GSMA mAgri Programme forges partnerships between mobile operators, technology providers and agricultural organisations. Although it has enourmous potential, Mexico seems to have been left out by ICT for agriculture initiatives. This article presents seven reasons for which Mexican agriculture should invest in ICT related projects to lift farmers out of poverty and into the 21st century. 1. The needs of Mexican farmers are huge 3.9 million farmers out of 5.3 million in Mexico earn of less than USD 1,000 per year. 61 per cent of Mexican farmers live in poverty. The reasons for this...
The USAID’s Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP) signed a partnership agreement with the Ghana Fisheries Commission and Tigo Ghana called "Tigo Fishers Network Initiative." which aims to provide fisher folk with tailored mobile solutions using Tigo platform. In Ghana, 10 per cent of the population work directly or indirectly in the fishing sector, which generates over one billion dollars in revenue annually and accounts for at least 4.5 per cent of Ghana's GDP. Photo Credits: stopillegalfishing.com Tigo Fisheries Network will provide fisher folk information access on best...
The G20 Agriculture Ministers’ Declaration 2017 "Towards food and water security: Fostering sustainability, advancing innovation" published after the meeting held on January 22nd 2017 in Berlin, acknowledges the importance of ICTs for agricultural development, following the discussion on ICT in agriculture initiated at the G20 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting in Xi’an in 2016. The Agriculture Ministers acknowledged the potential of ICTs for improved food chain efficiency, productivity and sustainability of agriculture, improved animal husbandry practices and for adaptation and mitigation...
In Summary ICTs are very useful in agricultural extension and advisory services and in facilitating reaching out to family farmers Extension and Advisory services play a crucial role in promoting agricultural productivity, increasing food security, improving rural livelihoods How have ICTs been applied in extension services M ost of the family farmers in developing countries live rural areas and are in most cases divorced from technology and vital agricultural support services needed to carry out farming activities. Extension and advisory services are relevant to smallholder farmers, who...
