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...
mrittikā is a soil nutrient analysis and recommendation software. It works thanks the collaboration of agricultural entrepreneurs and farmers: the entrepreneurs offer soil testing services to the farmers, then analyse the results and finally recommend the best possible fertilizers to the farmers. Farmers in developing countries do not have enough knowledge on the quality and quantity fertilizers for their land. This lack of knowledge also applies to the nutrient levels in their soil. Because of this, farmers end up applying inadequate proportions of fertilizers which eventually leads to poor...
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...
Mitra, which stands for Mobile Interventions and Technologies for Rural Areas, is an app providing advice on fertilizer needs and doses for farmers. The app is designed both for farmers and extension workers to advocate site-specific recommendations to farmers on fertilizer dose. Mitra is available both in English and Tamil, so that farmers themselves can access the information on macro and micro nutrient deficiency and remedial measures. The content is based on the latest research by the Department of Agriculture of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, in...
e-Agricu lture team interviewed Cesar Santos Alvarez, Senior Information Technology Officer at FAO after his attendance to the WSIS 2017 and he shares his experiences and also sheds light on the on the Agricultural Services and Digital inclusion project in Africa. A proj ect that is piloting 4 new apps. "...mobile apps alone as a tool don’t mean much, but coupled with essential information they can be a good innovation.." an Interview with Mr. Cezar Alvarez Santos Tell us briefly about your recent work in ICTs for agriculture What I call ICTs for agriculture are agricultural digital services...
A workshop called “Developing Apps: Building and Sharing Knowledge” will be held from July 31th to August 4th 2017 in FAO HQ in Rome, Italy, as part of the development of four new agricultural service apps delivered by FAO in the framework of the “Agricultural Services and Digital Inclusion in Africa” project, funded by FMM. The workshop will bring together young developers from Rwanda, Senegal and from FAO HQ to share knowledge and build capacity. The objective, at the end of the 5 day-workshop, is that the participants will have exchanged each other’s vision and contributed with their own...
mFarmer is an app developed by EcoHub that aims to provide free information such as access to market information, training and education to improve their productivity and yields and mobile money in order to enable farmers to be part of the formal financial system. mFarmer provides farmers with information such as weather data, optimal uses of fertilizers and inputs, sustainability best practices, and other content improves their profitability and their livelihoods. Watch the mFarmer pilot video: Credits: mFarmer The great majority of the world’s farmers have limited access to broadband data...
AMAN (Avian-Diseases Monitoring and Awareness Network) mobile app and web platform has been developed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a communication tool for early warning, reporting, monitoring and awareness services for small poultry farmers in Egypt (a country with 2.5 million small poultry farms). Through the AMAN app, a rapid, real time, efficient and highly open and confidential communication channel is guaranteed, allowing for an effective and immediate action during the occurrence of a poultry disease outbreak from detection, reporting and response...
The FAO in Emergencies app allows you to follow the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations top news and recent highlights covering response to disasters, emergencies and food security crises all over the world. This new tool will allow you to keep up with FAO’s continued efforts to increase the resilience of people and their livelihoods to threats and crises. The app is divided in six categories: the " Crises " section allows the user to learn more on the current crises in the world, the " Open projects " section showcase ongoing FAO's or partner's projects to tackle those...
Pitch AgriHack West Africa 2017 is a competition for start-ups and entrepreneurs in the e-agriculture sector. The objective is to help develop these business and at the same time contribute to accelerate the adoption of technology services in the agricultural sector. This edition of the prize is open for start-ups from West African countries and owners must not be older than 35 years. Candidates must be owners of a mobile application or an ICT service in the agricultural sector. Winning start-ups will receive from CTA up to Euros 15,000 to advance their services, apart from investment and...
