e-Agricu lture team interviewed Cesar Santos Alvarez, Senior Information Technology Officer at FAO after his attendance to the WSIS 2017 and he shares his experiences and also sheds light on the on the Agricultural Services and Digital inclusion project in Africa. A proj ect that is piloting 4 new apps. "...mobile apps alone as a tool don’t mean much, but coupled with essential information they can be a good innovation.." an Interview with Mr. Cezar Alvarez Santos Tell us briefly about your recent work in ICTs for agriculture What I call ICTs for agriculture are agricultural digital services...
The third week of the e-forum discussion on ICTs and Open Data in Agriculture and Nutrition continued with participants sharing tips on different investments that are needed to reap open data benefits. The question for week 3 was: What investments are needed to reap open data benefits and what precautions are needed to prevent damage to vulnerable farmers from opening data for agriculture and nutrition? Summary of contributions In this section a number of interesting contributions were made to the forum. Dr Muchiri opened the address with a powerful contribution that steered much debate from...
Making Sustainable Agriculture a Future for Youth in Africa was the joint African Union and European Union Agriculture Ministers Conference held in Rome, at the Food and Agriculture Organization premises. The AU-EU Agriculture Ministerial Conference aimed to build up political engagement ahead of the Africa-EU Summit in November 2017 whose objective is a common vision on how to generate sustainable, inclusive jobs for African youth in the agri-food sector and rural economy. Making Sustainable Agriculture a Future for Youth in Africa Plenary Opening The opening plenary was addressed by Mr José...
Webinar: Plant Protection & Benefit of Smart Agriculture Metrology Date June 27, 2017 | TIME: 15:00 (GMT) Description Smart agriculture metrology can play a major role in the control of plant diseases. Hence, better management of environmental and plant parameters is a key contributor to plants’ protection and most efficient use of chemicals. At this engaging 30 minutes webinar the farming economist Peter Raatjes will talk about the general issues with plant diseases, show several strategies of plant protection and offer practical in-the-field tips with a focus on smart agriculture...
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:...
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...
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,...
The text below is from the United Nations website The purpose of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. 17 May marks the anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union. World Telecommunication Day World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated annually on 17 May...
The European Commission presented on Thursay, May 4th, "Digital4Development", a strategy to mainstream digital technologies into European Union development policy, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The EU lacks an appropriate framework for mainstreaming and ensuring an effective delivery of digital technologies and services. Digital technologies can be very useful in key areas for development, such as agriculture, job creation, access to micro-finance, education and health. The Digital4Development project is intended to be part of overall development...
ICTs are pivotal for the future of agriculture. As they are finding an ever important space in most sectors of everyday life, agriculture should't be an exeption. ICTs can help in many ways producers and particularly smallholders in their livelihoods and development. In particular, ICTs can be an essential tool for young people aspiring to create their own agricultural business. As most of them have grown with these tools, they are more eager to use them in their worklife as well. This handbook published by the CTA is a guide designed for aspiring ICT entrepreneurs to instruct them with the...
