The Indian Economic Times reports that Indian agriculture is set to benefit from adopting Israeli technology. In India, agriculture is facing various challenges such as lower productivity, erratic weather patterns amongst the many ills. The most critical issue is the critical shortage of fresh water, yet the agricultural sector accounts for nearly 84-85 percent of water drawn from fresh water sources. The news reports that the ‘India – Israel Agriculture Project”, Centre of Excellences were established to help Indian farmers to adopt the latest technologies which includes micro irrigation...
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 India in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Dalberg Advisors launched the #SmartFarming4AP – a Pitch Competition for AgTech companies around the globe to come up with innovative technology solutions to solve some of the most pressing agricultural challenges faced by small and marginal farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Finalists will gain the attendance to the Smart Farming, Sampanna Rythu Summit to be held in Visakhapatnam, India on November 16-17, 2017. The summit will se the participation of investorsa and government officials such as...
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 Kenya, in the region of Turkana County, a severe drought is threatening people's livelihoods and livestock. Agricultural production is close to none as the rainy season going from March to June remained a vain hope. The nearest borehole is sometimes walking days away and not all of the population is fit enough to make it, so many were forced to relocate. However, Turkana County happens to have a large source of ground water. The problem is that if a well breaks, the reparation time is too long. Repairs used to come after a notification through mobile phone, but the majority of villagers...
In this blog post, Ajit Maru describes all the requirements an ICT product has to have to be usable for the farmer: the hardware, the software, connectivity, skills, content, security and safety in use, privacy and a profitable and productive environment. But, he points out, some problems can rise up: for example, in many countries women are frowned upon or even prohibited to have a smartphone. Another problem is the cost: for a smallholder farmer in India earning about INR 60.000 per year, a smartphone costs no less than INR 5.000, and connectivity costs around INR 100 per month. According...
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...
Wikifarmer is the greatest user generated online farming library. Its mission is to help all farmers across the globe to find valuable information regarding their existing or potential crops and livestock. Through the information it provides, Wikifarmer aims to give practical solutions to farmers. Contributions can be provided from professional or amateur farmers, beekepers, gardeners and professors sharing their knowledge and best practices. Users can submit a new article, edit an existing article, add pictures or videos, request a new article, ask a question about a related issue, or just...
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...
