Blending agriculture and mobile phones

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and Rwanda’s ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources organized the ICT4Ag international conference in Kigali. Attracting over 500 delegates, the conference sought ways of harmonizing ICTs in agriculture among African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states. It was agreed that carefully-considered application of mobile technology in agriculture can effectively support the delivery of timely and relevant agricultural information and advisory services to farmers.

These platforms bring together location-specific resources such as weather forecasts, market prices and soil types to support smallholder farmers in optimizing production and managing risks.

The World Bank estimates that agriculture employs 65 per cent of the workforce in ACP states and the sector generates an average 32 per cent of GDP.

Generally, smallholder farmers in these states are scattered geographically with small farm sizes, which makes provision of adequate and quality extension support complex and expensive.

To read more, click  on the link: Blending agriculture and mobile phones