ICTworks

Please register now for ICTforAg 2016 on June 10th, at FHI 360 in Washington, DC.

This 1-day conference will build on ICTforAg 2015 and bring together +275 thought leaders and decision makers in agriculture and technology from the international development community and the private sector to examine how new innovations can empower smallholder farmers, and the entire value chains that support them, through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT).

We’ll take a particular interest in new ICT solutions that can boost the productivity of both smallholder farmers and agriculture value chains, but we’ll be sure to keep the discussion inclusive of all possible ICTs, including traditional media platforms, agribusiness IT systems, and extension agent support technologies.

Please register now to examine these trends with an exciting mix of educational keynotes, lightning talks, and group breakouts, including interactive learning lunch tables and an evening reception to foster needed networking across sectors.

The Problem

Smallholder farms are struggling across the developing world – half of those who are food insecure are smallholder farmers and their families. Smallholders face numerous challenges to increase their incomes or even feed themselves, like small farm sizes (less than two hectares), limited credit, increasingly erratic climate, continually degrading soils, difficult enabling environments, and volatile markets.

However, farmers have a market opportunity to meet increased urban demand if they are better linked with local markets, have the knowledge and access to adopt new practices, and incentives are better aligned along the value chain in support of farmers and agriculture stakeholders.

Our Focus

We will take a question-based approach at ICTforAg 2016, and seek to find answers to the real challenges that smallholder farmers and agriculture value chain stakeholders face on a daily basis in five focus areas:

• Farmer Behavior Change and Innovation Adoption
• Small Business Entrepreneurship
• Smarter Value Chain Improvements
• Data Collection, Analysis, and Evidence-Based Decision Making
• Comprehensive Digital Financial Services

Like with last year’s conference, ICTforAg 2016 will be a community-driven event. Please submit your ideas for presentations and session topics in one of these five areas, building off our list of preliminary questions. Our aim is to create a day of intense exploration of the already possible and soon-to-be potential that will move us from talk to ICTforAg action.

Presenters and session leads will play a central role in developing the event and have their ticket costs refunded. Session ideas that also include voices from the field and these cross-cutting themes will be at an advantage:

• Gender equity
• Youth engagement
• Private sector engagement
• Climate change resilience
• Fragile and conflict environments
• Monitoring, evaluation, research and learning

Register Now

Please register now for ICTforAg to examine these trends with an exciting mix of educational keynotes, lightning talks, and group breakouts, including interactive learning lunch tables and an evening reception to foster needed networking across sectors.

We are charging a modest fee to better allocate seats this year after 450 people tried to RSVP for ICTforAg last year. We still expect to sell out quickly, so buy your tickets or demo tables now. Event proceeds will be used to cover event costs and to offer travel stipends for select participants implementing ICTforAg activities in developing countries.

ICTforAg is supported by Abt Associates, DAI, FHI 360, and TechChange.