Sri Lanka and Bhutan are the first two countries in Asia-Pacific where FAO and ITU, working together with the respective ministries and national partners, have developed their national e-agriculture strategies. Fiji, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea are in the advanced stages of developing their e-agriculture strategy.

Technical interventions are divided into two phases, Phase I – where technical assistance on developing national e-agriculture strategy is provided. The strategy would consist of three sections; a vision, an action plan and a monitoring and evaluation criteria. One of the main outputs of the strategy is a list of identified key solutions/ services, in the form of an action plan, which would assist in achieving the country’s national agricultural goals/vision.  Under Phase II, partners would assist the country in designing (updating, if exists), developing (or customizing) and implementing and sustaining two or three key services identified under Phase I.

Setting in place a national e-agriculture strategy is an important step for any country planning on using ICTs for agriculture (ICT4Ag) to help reduce poverty, increase food security and further its agricultural goals and priorities.

Building such a strategy is likely to prove invaluable for countries just setting out on the e-agriculture path. But equally, developing a national e-agriculture strategy will prove useful to countries that have already invested significantly in ICT4Ag and are seeking to scale up and scale out.

Why develop a national e-agriculture strategy?

Setting up a national e-agriculture strategy is a critical stage in developing or revitalizing a country’s approach to the use of ICTs to further its agricultural goals and priorities. A cross-cutting approach will be crucial in drawing up any national e-agriculture strategy, ensuring it sits well with other government plans and that single, uncoordinated e-agriculture projects and services do not lead to dispersion and duplication.

A strategic approach to e-agriculture involves identification of agricultural goals, priorities and challenges over a longer time horizon and across all subdivisions of the sector. It would thus identify the feasibility of meeting short term and long term challenges of the sector, which would assist in planning the scope and scale of ICT solutions. For example, an information system to analyze various data is of limited use in absence of updated databases. Another example is the need for creating agriculture disaster alerts that requires close coordination with national disaster management authorities, agriculture sector and the ICT sector.

The strategic approach also helps countries prioritize solutions by answering the following questions:

• Which solutions can have greater impact on meeting the agriculture goals and should thus be a priority?
• What are the challenges that each solution will help meet, partially or fully?
• What is the feasibility of each solution?
• How can existing solutions be utilized to scale up?
• What are the dependencies of the envisaged solution on other enabling environment, non ICT solutions, or other e-agriculture solutions?

Taking a national approach to e-agriculture will help to target areas where capacity development is required, while at the same time identifying the need for awareness-raising, effective engagement of key stakeholders and action to resolve issues of ICT access, especially in rural areas. Once the picture becomes clearer, specific policy measures and an enabling regulatory environment can be put in place, so that agricultural stakeholders can benefit from the potential of e-agriculture at an affordable price.