The latest edition of SPORE magazine focuses on COP23 , however it has an article focusing on precision agriculture entitled, ‘Precision agriculture: A smart farming approach to agriculture’. The ability to use smart technologies could make today’s farmers manage their farming practices remotely. For this to happen these technology need access to data usually collected by satellites and drones. The ability of implementing sensors in the field, on animals and in the soil which transmit real time data allows for cost-effective and accurate means to predict and protect the growth of agricultural...
The regional forum on e-agriculture for Central and South-East Europe began on the 13th of November 2017. The forum is themed, “ Precise and integrated response for sustainable farming and inclusive food systems ” is being held in Novi Sad, Serbia. The agenda of the event is available here , and is comprised of an opening ceremony, high-level roundtable discussions and parallel sessions. Some of the themes to be discussed, Sustainable intensification of agricultural production ICTs assisted Food Systems ICT assisted Climate Smart Agriculture Empowerment of smallholders and family farmers...
The CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas team won US$100,000 grant to refine a mobile application that uses artificial intelligence to diagnose crop diseases . This new app will attempt to solve the problem of pests and diseases that be face farmers with small holder farmers hardly hit. Its estimated that every year pests and diseases costs billions of dollars to potential agricultural economy as they damage agricultural outputs such as crops, livestock and fish harvests. Technology plays a big role in warning the communities of possible outbreaks and also as a monitoring tool...
Join us for our next e-Agriculture webinar on cross-sector partnerships in ICT4Ag with Mercy Corps presenting the ZFU Ecofarmer Combo. When: Wednesday 6 December 2017 at 2 PM UTC 3 PM Central European Time 4 PM Zimbabwe Where: Live webinar on Adobe Connect: register here to receive instructions The ZFU Ecofarmer Combo is a bundle of services developed by Econet, the largest Mobile Network Provider in Zimbabwe, and the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, with the support of Mercy Corps. It was one of the best promising practices submitted for the e-Agriculture “call for good and promising practices”...
CGIAR scientists have presented a report with 10 innovations for climate action in agriculture. The publication aims to support developing countries to develop locally tailored adaptation strategies that will contribute to the achievement of SDGs. This report comes as the world leaders meet for the UNFCCC Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, where it was launched. Watch the video : 10 innovations for climate action in agriculture Video credit: CGIAR Brief overview of the innovations Agriculture needs to produce 60% more food by 2050 to feed the growing world population yet agriculture...
Africa’s economy is based largely agriculture and most of them being smallholder farmers. One of the challenges these family farmers face is access to weather information and forecasting services. Lack of access to relevant weather information is due to lack of access of weather source information, dilapidated weather stations that fail to accurately provide reliable weather data, amongst many other reasons. Kukua is an initiative whose vision is to close Africa’s weather information gap by providing new weather station technology and improved weather forecast accuracy. Kukua seeks to...
On the 24th of November GFAR (Global Forum on Agricultural Research) has convened a syposium on farmers' rights and access to data in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event is co-funded by GODAN and CTA and organized by ITOCA . In order to learn more about the event or to register for the event, click here . During the symposium different angels of data access and data ownership will be adressed, specifically focussing on smallholder farmers. The fulll programme of the day is not yet available, but the announcement of the symposium gives us already a previeuw of some of the keynote speakers:...
" ICT-centric economic growth, innovation and job creation ", is the title of a book written by leading scholars and experts. The book's objective is to address the challenges and opportunities offered by ICTs in the areas of innovation, governance, education, job creation and economic growth. The book is written against the background of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the book recognizes that ICTs are permeating all aspects of the global economy and society. This book was launched at the Ministerial Roundtable on ICT4SDG organized to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the ITU...
From 16 to 27 October, e-Agriculture Team organized the “introduction to drones in agriculture’ learning activity . This self-learning activity is intended to increase the appreciation of and knowledge on the use of drones in agriculture and rural development to members and followers of the e-Agriculture Community of Practice (CoP). During the second week of the activity participants reviewed academic literature on drones, including the ongoing research from Catheline Pieters on the monitoring of orchards using drones. The participants also had the opportunity to present their work during a...
The role of the mobile phone in accelerating Africa’s social and economic development was reflectedby the UCT Vice-Chancellor’s Inaugural Lecture , titled “ ICTs for development: the good intentions of the mobile phone ”. This lecture was delivered by Professor Rivett is the first woman to be appointed as a full professor at her department. While this address was academic, it provides an insight into the history and uptake of technology within the development and in the African context, in various fields. Some key excepts from the lecture :- “ One of the things the mobile phone allowed for...
