Michael Riggs
| Organization | FAO |
|---|---|
| Organization type | International Organization |
| Organization role |
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| Country | Italy |
| Area of Expertise |
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An enthusiastic member of the e-Agriculture Community since its founding, and a former Team Leader (lead facilitator). Active in the field of information and communication technologies for development. Currently a programme officer at the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (unapcict.org), supporting ICTD capacity development intiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. A member of the ICTD Collective and of Orbicom.
This member participated in the following Forums
Forum Forum: "Using ICT to enable Agricultural Innovation Systems for smallholders" September, 2012
Question 1 (opens 17 Sept.)
Ritu, thank you for the detailed information about Digital Green. Could you also tell us:
- How long as Digital Green been in operation?
- What are the types of funding that keep Digital Green going?
Thank you!
Thanks for this input about Sustaination. I read that it is active in the UK. Is it active in any developing country? Or if not, how could it be?
Forum First Topic: ICT Tools for Land Use Planning and Management
Question 2
(quick and dirty translation, but it is good enough to get the points for those who don't read Spanish)
Farmers apply pesticides in excessively or at the wrong time, mainly as a result of not having the data to make decisions: 1) crop growth stage, 2) number of pests or diseases and 3) meteorological data. All these factors influence the impact a pest or disease can have on a crop and defines the timing of application (Integrated Pest Management).
Trace Foundation in Argentina has developed the system FruTIC, that through ICT favors the application of "Integrated Pest Management" by the farmers. The FruTIC system captures phenological data of different crops, the presence of pests and diseases (territorially distributed sampling sites) and data from automatic weather stations. With these data models are run on the impact of pests and diseases, and recommendations delivered to farmers.
For now it is only available for citrus crops (orange, tangerine, lemon, etc..). We are adapting to new cultivars.
[note from the facilitator: for more on FruTIC (in Spanish) see http://www.frutic.org.ar/]
Thanks for sharing Ben. If you could break out some specific examples of solutions that are climate-friendly, that would be greatly appreciated.
Also next Monday the second topic will open looking at ICT applications in risk management, insurance, weather data, etc. I'm sure there will be ICT solutions in the agri value chain map that relate directly to this topic!
Topic 1: ICT Tools for Land Use Planning and Management
Hello and welcome all to this forum. Our colleagues at the World Bank have prepared some introductory information in the "Forum Concept" thread and in this "Topic 1" thread. Read these and then share your thoughts about questions 1, 2 and 3.
If you have any questions about this forum, please let me know here or write to us at [email protected]
cheers, Michael
Forum Forum concept: Overall introduction to forum concept
Overall introduction of the forum topic
Hello and welcome all to this forum. Our colleagues at the World Bank have prepared some introductory information in this "Forum Concept" thread and in the "Topic 1" thread. Read these and then share your thoughts about questions 1, 2 and 3 in their respective discussion threads.
If you have any questions about this forum, please let me know here or write to us at [email protected]
cheers, Michael
Forum Forum: "Strengthening Agricultural Marketing with ICT" December, 2011
Question 8: Inputs - information needs
mPedigree in Ghana works to prevent the use of counterfeit medication through the use of ICT. I wonder if anyone has considered applying the concepts they have to agricultural inputs? Of course the costs and distributions are quite different, but at least the concepts if not the technology could be relevant.
Question 9: Inputs - impact of ICT
Using ICT to reduce transaction costs in agriculture through better communication: A case-study from Sri Lanka
This work by LIRNEasia has shown that ICT can reduce “information search costs” related to agricultural inputs (and other components of the value chain). For example, the cost of finding appropriate fertilizer by telephone is less expensive than traveling to fertilizer distributor(s) to find the same information. The study finds that information search costs across the value chain amount to more than 69 percent of total transaction costs in their study.
Greater detail is presented in the report, which can be found at http://www.lirneasia.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/transactioncosts.pdf
Question 4: Market information - data on impact
Hello Kelly, and thank you for identifying these studies!
Question 3: Market information - sustainability
In an earlier forum, the question was asked:
Is there a business case for serving poor smallholders?
Inputs from indivduals in many sectors provide some great insight on how such a service might be sustainable. This included:
- Meeting other information needs in addition to agricultural info.
- Creating true value added services, not loss leaders.
- Reducing technology-related costs (through R&D).
Read more here: http://www.e-agriculture.org/forumtopics/question-3-there-business-case-serving-poor-rural-smallholders