FAO introduced a new and updated FAOSTAT website , making the world's most comprehensive statistical database on food, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, natural resource management and nutrition even more accessible. The updated web tool - in its fourth edition - incorporates multiple technology improvements as well as various easy-to-use innovations, full mobile device compatibility and new download options, which will significantly enhance the overall user experience. New FAO STAT Website FAOSTAT offers free, open and simple access to time series and cross-sectional data from 245 countries...
SoilMapp is an app for iPad that lets users find out soil information such as how much water the soil holds, its clay content and acidity, among other attributes related to agricultural productivity and land management. The app enables users to view maps, photographs, satellite images, tables and graphs of data about nearby soils and learn about the soil’s physical and chemical characteristics (acidity, soil carbon, available water storage, salinity and erodibility). View this SoilMapp introductory video: Credits: CSIRO SoilMapp is designed for Australian farmers, consultants, planners,...
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 Yield is an Internet of Things (IoT) Australian product company that aims to use technology to improve yields in agriculture and aquaculture. The Yield combines wireless sensor networks and localised data to inform farmers and growers on the best decisions to make regarding their yelds. The Yield uses Sensing+, a microclimate sensing system for agriculture which measures data from different points around the farm and provides hyper local predictions based on the farm's growing conditions by using data analytics and artificial intelligence. Watch The Yield's presentation video: Credits:...
AQUASTAT is FAO's global information system on water and agriculture. It collects, analyses and disseminates data and information by country and by region. Its aim is to provide users interested in global, regional and national analyses with comprehensive information related to water resources and agricultural water management across the world, with emphasis on countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. AQUASTAT offers the user standardized data and tools to generate its own analysis. Ultimately, it aims to improve the user's understanding and monitoring of water resources,...
In a recent article on Harvard Business Review, Ndubuisi Ekekwe explores how digital technology is poised at providing a solution to increase farm productivity in Africa. In this article he reviews the food challenges affecting Africa such as weather changes, rural-urban migration that deprives farming communities of young people and deforestation amongst many challenges. While African governments have employed many policy instruments to improve farm productivity, yields are still marginally improving. The article notes that African entrepreneurs are interested in how farmers work and how...
The first beta release of the FAO Water Productivity through Open access of Remotely sensed derived data (WaPOR) portal is available as of 14 April 2017. The FAO portal monitors and reports on agriculture water productivity over Africa and the Near East. The portal provides open access to the water productivity database and allows for direct data queries, time series analyses, area statistics and data download of key variables associated to water and land productivity. The portal provides information on variables such as water productivity, land productivity, above ground biomass production,...
Agricultural work in mountainous areas such as grass cutting is done manually. Because of the many slopes it is difficult to introduce a robot. At the same time, there is a huge labour shortage in japanese agriculture as the rural population is aging and the young are not attracted by the agricultural sector. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will work on the development of an unmanned mowing robot. The new unmanned vehicle is based on a passenger type mowing machine, but obviously much smaller. It has been miniaturized essentially by changing the power from engine...
Global Forest Watch (GFW) is an interactive online forest monitoring and alert system designed for users to access the information they need to better manage and conserve forest landscapes. The mission of the Global Forest Watch is to provide the most precise information about the status of forest landscapes worldwide. GFW works in collaboration with NASA , Google and the University of Maryland to collect data on forest change which is displayed on an interactive map. Watch this introductory video by the Global Forest Watch: GFW is free and enables users to work with a wide variety of tools,...
Since September 2016, Tanzania's government deploys drones for land mapping in rural areas in order to stop frequent clashes between farmers and cattle herders over land and scarce water resources. "The use of drones helps us to define the boundaries of plots of land on the ground with great accuracy," said Samuel Msaki, a senior land mapping official at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), capture high-resolution images that can be used to conduct precise aerial surveys so that national planners can identify and digitize actual...
