17 October. Rome . As a part of FAO’s work in transforming National Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services System (EAS), FAO’s Research and Extension Unit wishes to start a webinar series to raise awareness on various challenges and opportunities related to strengthening and reforming EAS. EAS are undergoing a deep transformation due to the changing environment and context in which they operate. The previous top-down approach where EAS would simply transfer the technology to producers, can no longer address modern challenges. It appears to be clear that EAS will - effectively support...
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasizes the importance of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls ( SDG 5 ). There is a need to leverage information and communication technologies (ICTs) to empower women and also for the achievement of all SDG Goals. The linkages between Gender and ICTs, and how FAO seeks to mainstream gender in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for agriculture and rural development were explored in a recent publication. However, the role of digital transformation and gender equality deserves further discussion within the...
The INNOVATION Quartely Update (2019 #3) has been released! The update provides an overview of highlights from the innovation activities of UN organisations affiliated with the UN innovation Network.There are very exciting news from the UN Community, below we review a few selection of the innovations The UN Innovation Network (UNIN) is an informal, collaborative community of UN innovators interested in sharing their expertise and experience with others to promote and advance innovation within the UN System. The UNIN is open to innovators from all UN Agencies as well as external partners and...
Geospatial technology is an important topic for all FAO staff across all technical areas because it now plays a fundamental role in supporting sustainable and climate resilient agricultural practices to ensure food security. This two part workshop was organised under the Digital Innovation Dialogues an initiative by FAO CIO Division to increase FAO staff knowledge and capacity and support them in fulfilling their mandates. The workshop (s) was held on the 17th of September 2019, in FAO HQ in Rome, Italy. In her opening address, Ms. Meng Zeng, FAOs Information Technology Officer, noted that...
The joint ITU-FAO session will will take place on 11 September 2019 at 11.00h. This session will be held within the framework of the ITU Regional Initiative for Europe on ICT-centric innovation ecosystems that aims at establishing a sustainable culture of innovation through concrete strategic...
The African Green Revolution Forum is underway in Accra, Ghana and the FAO E-Agriculture team is participating and facilitated a parallel session on Establishing the International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture, on the 3rd of September and the FAO CIO director also spoke on the Panel Discussion on Evidence-Based Leadership and Data Systems on Tuesday, 3 September from 14:30 – 16:30 On the 4th of September, FAO team is invited to attend and participate to the Digital Agriculture Knowledge Sharing side event, which will see practitioners such as CTA, Dalberg, GSMA, MaMo Panel and...
The joint ITU-FAO session will will take place on 11 September 2019 at 11.00h. This session will be held within the framework of the ITU Regional Initiative for Europe on ICT-centric innovation ecosystems that aims at establishing a sustainable culture of innovation through concrete strategic actions using information and communication technology (ICT) as an enabler.The main objective of this session is to bring together high-level stakeholders such as Ministries and Regulators from ICT sector as well as Agriculture’ Ministries to share best practices and case studies, highlight gaps and...
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN is participating in the on-going African Green Revolution Forum and is sponsoring a session entitled, “ Establishing the International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture ” which will be held on the 3rd of September 2019. The session will discuss the establishment of the International Digital Council and selected AGRF participants have been invited. The Background Today, there are more than 7 billion people on the planet, a figure that is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. Overall food production needs to double in a relatively short...
All roads this week lead to Accra, Ghana which hosts the African Green Revolution Forum 2019 under the theme, “ Grow digital: Leveraging digital transformation to drive sustainable food systems in Africa ” The Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) is a platform for global and African leaders to develop actionable plans that will move African agriculture forward. Initially established as an annual “African Green Revolution Conference” by Yara International ASA in Norway in 2006, the conference moved to the African continent in 2010 with the championing of the late Kofi Annan to take an African...
A recent paper reports on a study where three complementary ICT-based extension methods – interactive radio, mobile SMS messages and village-based video screenings where used to enhance farmer’s knowledge and management of Fall Armyworm (FAW) in western Uganda. The findings show how complementary ICT-based extension campaigns hold a great potential to improve farmers knowledge and management of invasive species such as FAW. Citation: Tambo JA, Aliamo C, Davis T, Mugambi I, Romney D, Onyango DO, et al. (2019) T he impact of ICT-enabled extension campaign on farmers’ knowledge and management of...
The joint ITU-FAO session will will take place on 11 September 2019 at 11.00h. This session will be held within the framework of the ITU Regional Initiative for Europe on ICT-centric innovation ecosystems that aims at establishing a sustainable culture of innovation through concrete strategic...
