Connected Agriculture Developing Smart, Connected Rural Communities Some 2.5 billion people in the developing world depend upon agriculture for their livelihood. More than 1.5 billion of these are smallholder farmers,1 defined by the United Nations as working on family farms of less than two hectares, or 4.9 acres. These smallholder farmers are at the bottom of the pyramid in terms of income, literacy, and access to information and services—yet they represent, on average, more than a third of economic activity for the world's least developed countries.2 To escape poverty, smallholder farmers need to enhance their skills and knowledge, and the entire smallholder-dominant value chain needs to become more competitive. The combined effect of these two factors can improve agricultural productivity and raise the incomes of rural dwellers. The Internet can play a pivotal role by providing a cost-effective way to deliver information services to a large, dispersed population. Internet technology can deliver knowledge to farmers and planning tools to agribusinesses, and connects the various players in the value chain so they can conduct commerce more efficiently. Despite the challenges of providing and adopting information and communications technology (ICT), use of the Internet for rural development is about to reach an inflection point. Nations that lead in the deployment and use of Internet technology for agriculture will gain an economic and social advantage. Successful nations will execute on a roadmap that covers the broadband infrastructure, a rural service delivery infrastructure, and the platform of services that enables rural, agriculture-based transformation. Each of these elements depends on the following critical success factors: • A shared computing architecture to reduce the cost and complexity of technology • New business models that attract private investment for deliberately targeting those who live on less than $2 a day • Active collaboration among a complex global ecosystem of stakeholders to turn vision into reality The Paper http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/docs/pov/Connected_Agriculture_POV…
