What is e-Agriculture Strategy?
An e-Agriculture strategy is using innovative digital technology solutions like precision agriculture, drones, big data, predictive analytics, and blockchain to improve social and economic outcomes for smallholder farmers.
e-Agriculture programs aim to increase food security by helping smallholder farmers improve modern ICT4Ag farming methods and access to markets. Agricultural ICT4D strategies encompass the full agricultural value chain and includes adjacent technologies like digital financial services and geographic information systems.
Communication in Agriculture
Smallholder farmers have limited knowledge, services, and technologies available to them. They typically need support to adopt modern farming methodologies.
Agriculture technology solutions focus on extension services for farmers to adopt new technologies and innovation. ICTs can amplify the efforts of the extension agents to help farmers plan what crops to grow, source inputs for crop cultivation, and selling their produce in local market.
Chatbots offer an exciting opportunity for governments to engage farmers on the social media platforms where farmers already congregate. For example:
- Facebook chatbots are a popular way to answer basic questions or help farmers apply for government support services.
- SMS text message chatbots can also help private sector companies develop new business leads and educate extension agents on their services.
ICT communication tools can play a crucial role in supporting farmers to access new inputs, credit, and markets with personalized and customized services.
Examples of e-Agriculture Programs
The potential to achieve high impact at the farm-level requires appropriate technology and adoption methodologies. International development organizations can use e-Agriculture communication programs like those below to support ICTforAg value chain ecosystems in developing countries.
How FAO RuralInvest Software Improves Agriculture Investments
Experience has shown that substantial public investments in agricultural production, transport and storage infrastructure, combined with private on-farm investment...
New USAID Insights: Digital Profiles of Smallholder Farmer Data Management
More than 500 million smallholder farms worldwide play a significant role in food production and the genetic diversity of the food supply. Until now, it has been...
Apply Now: $1 Million Grant Funding for Agricultural Disease Surveillance Data
Farmers in low-income countries struggle to protect their crops from pests and disease like the Fall Armyworm. They are unprepared and ill-equipped to respond effectively...
10 Insights After 40 Years of Digital Development Progress
I’m going to retire in 2019 after 40 years of working in the IT industry, from 1978 to 2018, and after 35 years of dedication to Food and Agriculture Organization...
Supporting Healthy Digital Platform Competition in the Georgian Agriculture Market
When working in international markets, there is one golden rule to ensure sustainability: make sure your interventions do not distort markets. In small markets,...
Maps, Land, Technology and Decisions – Lessons from ICTforAg
How do you approach challenges such as those found in Indonesia, a country composed of 17,000 islands made up of wetlands, rugged terrain, rural villages, and dense...
Apply Now! $500,000 for Big Data Solutions for Agriculture
Do you want to show the power of big data analytics in agriculture? Can you analyze big data to reveal new ways to reduce hunger and poverty? Are you working on...
The Reality of Farmer Data Privacy and Security in a Hyper-Digital Age
It was the last straw in a tense discussion. She stood up and reached to unbutton her pants.In shock, the others around the table asked what she was doing.
“You’ve...
Can Nepal and Cambodia Really Have Common Agricultural Data Standards?
What does data-driven agricultural development in Nepal and Cambodia have in common?
Yes, rice is a staple in both national cuisines (and experimental data shows...
Digital Solution Trends from Fall Armyworm Tech Prize Finalists
It’s hard to believe that a small worm could destroy millions – millions of tons of crop yields, millions of dollars in farm income, and millions of tons...
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