Many ICT in agriculture or e-agriculture interventions have been developed and tested around the world to help agriculturists improve their livelihoods through increased agricultural productivity and income, or by reducting risks. Some useful resources for learning about e-agriculture in practice are the World Bank’s e-sourcebook ICT in agriculture – connecting smallholder farmers to knowledge, networks and institutions (2011), ICT uses for inclusive value chains (2013), ICT uses for inclusive value chains (2013) and Success stories on information and communication technologies for agriculture and rural development have documented many cases of use of ICT in agriculture.
Wireless technologies
Wireless technologies have numerous applications in agriculture. One major usage is the simplification of closed-circuit television camera systems; the use of wireless communications eliminates the need for the installation of coaxial cables.
Global Positioning System (GPS)
GPS Receivers
In agriculture, the use of the Global Positioning System provides benefits in geo-fencing, map-making and surveying.
GPS receivers dropped in price over the years, making it more popular
for civilian use. With the use of GPS, civilians can produce simple yet
highly accurate digitized map without the help of a professional cartographer.
In Kenya,
for example, the solution to prevent an elephant bull from wandering
into farms and destroying precious crops was to tag the elephant with a
device that sends a text message when it crosses a geo-fence. Using the
technology of SMS and GPS, the elephant can roam freely and the authorities are alerted whenever it is near the farm.
Geographic information systems
Geographic information systems, or GiS, are extensively used in agriculture, especially in precision farming.
Land is mapped digitally, and pertinent geodetic data such as
topography and contours are combined with other statistical data for
easier analysis of the soil. GIS is used in decision making such as what
to plant and where to plant using historical data and sampling.
Computer-controlled devices (automated systems)
DeLaval milking station
Automatic milking
systems are computer controlled stand alone systems that milk the dairy
cattle without human labor. The complete automation of the milking
process is controlled by an agricultural robot,
a complex herd management software, and specialized computers.
Automatic milking eliminates the farmer from the actual milking process,
allowing for more time for supervision of the farm and the herd.
Farmers can also improve herd management by using the data gathered by
the computer. By analyzing the effect of various animal feeds
on milk yield, farmers may adjust accordingly to obtain optimal milk
yields. Since the data is available down to individual level, each cow
may be tracked and examined, and the farmer may be alerted when there
are unusual changes that could mean sickness or injuries.
Smartphone mobile apps in agriculture
The
use of mobile technologies as a tool of intervention in agriculture is
becoming increasingly popular. Smartphone penetration enhances the
multi-dimensional positive impact on sustainable poverty reduction and
identify accessibility as the main challenge in harnessing the full
potential (Silarszky et al., 2008) in agricultural space. The reach of
smartphone even in rural areas extended the ICT services beyond simple
voice or text messages. Several smartphone apps are available for
agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and farm machinery.
RFID
Swiss cow ear with eartag and RFID
The Veterinary Department of Malaysia's Ministry of Agriculture
introduced a livestock-tracking program in 2009 to track the estimated
80,000 cattle all across the country. Each cattle is tagged with the use
of RFID technology
for easier identification, providing access to relevant data such as:
bearer's location, name of breeder, origin of livestock, sex, and dates
of movement. This program is the first of its kind in Asia, and is
expected to increase the competitiveness of Malaysian livestock industry
in international markets by satisfying the regulatory requirements of
importing countries like United States, Europe and Middle East. Tracking
by RFID will also help producers meet the dietary standards by the halal market. The program will also provide improvements in controlling disease outbreaks in livestock.
E-commerce
Online purchasing order of agri-inputs and agri-equipments is a subset of E-commerce.
FAO E-agriculture Strategy Guide
The FAO-ITU E-agriculture Strategy Guide
provides a framework to holistically address the ICT opportunities and
challenges for the agricultural sector in a more efficient manner while
generating new revenue streams and improve the livelihoods of the rural
community as well as ensure the goals of the national agriculture master
plan are achieved. The e-agriculture strategy, and its alignment with
other government plans, was intended to prevent e-agriculture projects
and services from being implemented in isolation. It was developed by
the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with support from partners including the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) as a framework for countries in developing their national e-agriculture strategy/masterplan.
Some of the countries who are using the FAO-ITU E-agriculture
Strategy Guide to develop their national e-agriculture strategy are Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Fiji and Vanuatu. The guide provides a framework to engage a broader stakeholders in the development of national e-agriculture strategy.
Recognition and application
E-agriculture is one of the action lines identified in the declaration and plan of action of the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS). The "Tunis Agenda for the Information Society," published on 18
November 2005 and emphasizes the leading facilitating roles that UN
agencies need to play in the implementation of the Geneva Plan of
Action. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
has been assigned the responsibility of organizing activities related
to the action line under C.7 ICT Applications on E-Agriculture.
Many ICT interventions have been developed and tested around the
world, with varied degrees of success, to help agriculturists improve
their livelihoods through increased agricultural productivity and
incomes, and reduction in risks. Some useful resources for learning
about e-agriculture in practice are the World Bank’s e-sourcebook ICT in
agriculture – connecting smallholder farmers to knowledge, networks and
institutions (2011), ICT uses for inclusive value chains (2013), ICT uses for inclusive value chains (2013) and Success stories on information and communication technologies for agriculture and rural development have documented many cases of use of ICT in agriculture.
The FAO-ITU E-agriculture Strategy Guide was developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with support from partners including the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) as a framework for countries in developing their national e-agriculture strategy/masterplan.
Some of the countries who are using the FAO-ITU E-agriculture
Strategy Guide to develop their national e-agriculture strategy are Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Fiji and Vanuatu. The guide provides a framework to engage broader stakeholders in the development of national e-agriculture strategy.
History
In 2008, the United Nations referred to e-agriculture as "an emerging field", with the expectation that its scope would change and evolve as our understanding of the area grows.
ICT in support of rural poverty elimination and food security
In August 2003, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
joined together in a collaborative research project to look at bringing
together livelihoods thinking with concepts from information and
communication for development, in order to improve understanding of the
role and importance of information and communication in support of rural
livelihoods.
The policy recommendations included:
- Building on existing systems, while encouraging integration of different technologies and information sharing
- Determining who should pay, through consensus and based on a thorough analysis of the costs
- Ensuring equitable access to marginalised groups and those in the agricultural sector
- Promoting localised content, with decentralised and locally owned processes
- Building capacity, through provision of training packages and maintaining a choice of information sources
- Using realistic technologies, that are suitable within the existing infrastructure
- Building knowledge partnerships to ensure that knowledge gaps are filled and a two-way flow of information allows knowledge to originate from all levels of the network and community.
The importance of ICT is also recognized in the 8th Millennium
Development Goal, with the target to "...make available the benefits of
new technologies, especially information and communications technologies
(ICTs)" to the fight against poverty.
WSIS process
E-agriculture is one of the action lines identified in the declaration and plan of action (2003) of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The "Tunis Agenda for the Information Society", published on 18
November 2005, emphasizes the leading facilitating roles that UN
agencies need to play in the implementation of the Geneva Plan of
Action.
FAO hosted the first e-agriculture workshop in June 2006,
bringing together representatives of leading development organizations
involved in agriculture. The meeting served to initiate development of
an effective process to engage as wide a range of stakeholders involved
in e-agriculture, and resulted in the formation of the e-Agriculture
Community, a community of practice. The e-Agriculture Community's Founding Partners include: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR); Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CTA); FAO; Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID); Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR); Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP); Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (now called Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit,
GIZ); International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists
(IAALD); Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture
(IICA); International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); International Centre for Communication for Development (IICD); United States National Agricultural Library (NAL); United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA); the World Bank.
