Food & Business Knowledge PlatformTechnological innovations - Food & Business Knowledge Platform

Nutrition in a digital world

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 13:50:08 +0000

This publication (PDF) by the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) examines the complexity of the digital world for improved nutrition from a range of food-system perspectives: from food production, transformation and distribution to digital food marketing and retail; from behavioural change and capacity-building, to the generation, processing and use of data; and from the protection of vulnerable groups to issues of inequality and human rights. Digital technology cannot fix the world’s food and nutrition problems. However, digital technologies are important tools. The potential of digital technologies to improve nutrition is considerable, but so are the risks that these technologies might entail. The digitalization risks include increased inequality due to unequal access to digital technologies and digital literacy, cybersecurity breaches and ethical and human rights concerns about data privacy and ownership. Another hurdle is infrastructure, both physical and in policy, which disproportiantely effects middle-income countries. In addition, current methods and tools are not foolproof. Limitations of tools need to be considered as technologies improve. Concerning nutrition, knowledge gaps and varying degrees of digital literacy deepen the digital divide. Political, regulatory and budgetary support are often lacking. Digital channels are increasingly used to disseminate nutrition messages to bring about behavioural change. These channels facilitate greater, faster and cheaper audience reach, but widely shared misinformation and disinformation on food and nutrition is a major concern. Furthermore, the fact that digital technology does not replace human interaction and impact of automation on employment have become major development challenges. Therefore, the potential of digital technologies to improve nutrition must be analysed. In conclusion, potential benefits and adverse impacts of innovative digital technologies in helping to achieve sustainable healthy diets and progressively realize the right to adequate food.

Exploring the effectiveness of agricultural technologies training among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan African communities

F&BKP Office — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 08:39:39 +0000

This study (PDF) in the European Journal of Training and Development Studies was carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of agricultural technologies training among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan African communities. Knowledge and capacity development on improved farm technologies and techniques are essential for agricultural growth. Despite the extension effort to facilitate adoption and diffusion of innovation through farmers visit and training, there is the need to evaluate the effectiveness of farmers’ engagement in technologies development. This study was carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of agricultural technologies training among 200 smallholder farmers in Nigeria. The results of the study revealed that agricultural technologies training were very effective among the smallholder farmers. A great proportion (70.5%) of the farmers indicated that the training was very effective. There was a rapid increase (85%) in the level of adoption of agricultural technologies after the participatory training among the respondents compared to pre-training (49.5%). The findings also revealed that 13 Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies were fully adopted by the majority of the smallholder farmers. In addition, our results also showed that there was a strong positive correlation between agricultural technologies training sessions and adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). The results reported that the use of participatory agricultural technologies training and trust in the lead farmers influenced farmers’ decisions to adopt and implement the recommended good agricultural practices technologies. The use of information and participatory technologies training offered to the smallholders was largely an educational process which they converted into useable knowledge. The study recommends a policy agenda of governments that will favor improvement of agricultural extension and training for rural development to promote agricultural productivity, improving standard of living of smallholder farmers and national food security. Furthermore, there is need for stable political environment that will generate a forwardlooking policy in the agricultural sector.

Innovations in irrigation systems in Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 May 2020 13:10:23 +0000

This special issue of the Irrigation and Drainage journal aims to compile a series of insights related to innovation in irrigated agriculture. Irrigation is essential to improve harvest security and to realize production in arid areas. Anticipating an increasing occurrence of climate extremes with prolonged dry spells and more severe droughts and heatwaves, there is an even greater need for irrigated agriculture in Africa. However, irrigation in Africa is not fully exploiting its potential, especially for smallholder farming. In many areas where smallholder farmers are practising irrigation, the yields obtained are still often comparatively low and farmers face a plethora of obstacles to substantially improving crop water productivity. Overall, there is a need to make better use of the existing infrastructure. Therefore there is a need to improve irrigation in Africa through innovation. Past efforts have, however, demonstrated that changing irrigation practice in smallholder farming systems faces numerous challenges. It is essential to start from the actual farmers’ needs, ideas and possibilities for innovation. However, innovating smallholder irrigated farming is not a straightforward task. Smallholder farmers are locked within a complex network of interdependencies that affects power relations and access to finance, information and markets. Many obstacles preventing innovation in irrigation are often outside the farmers’ sphere of influence and thus requiring a transformation of the environment. It became apparent that efforts to advance innovation for smallholder irrigated farming must remain a priority. Further emphasis should also be given to learning how to innovate the enabling environment itself. The key challenge will be to involve policy and decision makers, who are not afraid to put farmers in a stronger position of power, and who actually want to advance an inclusive green growth within their country.

Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda

F&BKP Office — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:16:54 +0000

This study (PDF) in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics evaluates the effectiveness of an information and communication technology (ICT)‐mediated approach to deliver agricultural information in a field experiment conducted among small‐scale maize farmers in eastern Uganda. Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers by agricultural extension agents who visit farmers to provide information. This approach is not always effective and has proved hard to scale sustainably, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems. ICTs have been advanced as a promising way to overcome many of the problems associated with conventional agricultural extension. Three complementary technologies designed to address both informational and behavioral constraints to technical change are considered: audiovisual messages (video), video with interactive voice response (IVR), and time-sensitive SMS messages. Households that were shown a short video on how to become better maize farmers were performing significantly better on a knowledge test, more likely to apply recommended practices, and more likely to use fertilizer than households that did not view the video. These same households also reported maize yields about 10.5% higher than those that did not view the video. Little evidence was found of an incremental effect of the IVR service or SMS reminders. However, the researchers do not think that extension approaches relying on IVR or SMS should be dismissed solely on the basis of this study. Rather, they encourage continued empirical study of the role that ICTs can play in increasing the effectiveness and decreasing the costs of information delivery to small‐scale farmers, the effects that alternative design features have on behavioral dimensions of technical change, and the relevance of ICT‐enabled approaches to agricultural extension systems and rural advisory services. Most importantly, replication of similar studies is encouraged – alongside variations in the choice of ICTs and the experimental designs in which they are introduced to farmers – across multiple agroecological, social, and economic contexts.

A retrospective analysis of responsible innovation for low-technology innovation in the Global South

F&BKP Office — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:21:37 +0000

This article (PDF) published in the Journal of Responsible Innovation states that the role of low-technology innovation in addressing global challenges is undervalued. Responsible innovation (RI) has the potential to direct low-technology innovation towards global challenges in the Global South, yet this possibility remains largely unexplored. Through a retrospective analysis, this article explores how researchers grapple with dimensions of an RI framework in a research project and highlights key areas for researchers to consider when involved with low-technology innovation in a development context. The analysis demonstrates that RI can structure discussion and create space for anticipation, reflection and engagement with stakeholders. However, even when researchers are committed to the idea of RI, it is difficult to enact in practice. Although RI places significant emphasis on inclusive and meaningful engagement as imagined by co-development and inclusive models of innovation, the deficit model of public engagement presents a formidable barrier. Surprisingly, low-technology innovators are likely to face the same struggles as high technology innovators. There exists a pervasive ‘technology developers know best’ approach which relies on a knowledge-deficit understanding of the public or end-users. In other words, the public or end-users simply need to be told about the benefits of the technology because it is better. This top-down approach fails to understand the complex range of social, political and economic factors that shape cookstove choices. Although RI is unlikely to be a panacea for the challenges of conducting innovation research in development settings, it offers a practical framework that could help project teams identify important socio-technical elements of innovation early on in the project planning stage and as such, help project teams to work with end-users and other publics to steer research toward social needs and global challenges.

Digitising Agrifood: Pathways and challenges

F&BKP Office — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 14:12:23 +0000

This report (PDF) by CEPS looks at the many ways in which digital solutions can be implemented on the ground to help the agrifood chain transform itself to achieve more sustainability. The report states that one of the most substantial contributions to future sustainability must come from a radical transformation of the agriculture and food (agrifood) value chain. The diffusion of digital technologies in the agrifood chain promises to increase yields, reduce waste, and trigger changes in consumption patterns, thereby substantially contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on the analysis, the report have identified ten key action areas – a decalogue – to consider for policymakers: 1) Ensuring adequate connectivity; 2) Deploying the full technology stack; 3) Promoting entrepreneurship, building capacity and facilitating technology transfer; 4) Generating and sharing data for distributed, sustainable governance; 5) Rebalancing the bargaining power of farmers, distributors and data managers; 6) Attributing responsibility for negative externalities throughout the value chain; 7) Providing incentives to shorten the supply chain; 8) Public policies to enable reallocation of excesses; 9) An ethical and policy framework for artificial intelligence and data management in business-to-consumer; 10) Raising the skills and awareness of farmers and consumers. The EU is the only large bloc that has sufficient ability, resources and credibility to lead the great transformation in the
agrifood sector that is needed to achieve sustainable development. Failure
to recognise and publicly promote the role of AI and its related technologies for a more sustainable future society would represent an enormous missed opportunity for Europe and the world.

The age of foodtech: Optimizing the agri-food chain with digital technologies

F&BKP Office — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 14:31:37 +0000

This article published in the book Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Through Sustainable Food Systems reviewed emerging applications of technologies like the Internet of Things, distributed ledger technologies and Artificial Intelligence at various phases of the agri-food chain, focusing in particular on smart and precision farming, value chain integrity, personalized nutrition and the reduction and prevention of food waste. Foodtech, intended as the use of disruptive digital technologies along the agri-food chain, features an outstanding potential to contribute to the SDGs, and in particular to help combat and eradicate hunger without a massive increase in food production. The paper shows that it is important that the focus is not limited to one single technology, but to the whole “technology stack”, including sensing, big data analytics, 5G, blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. Moreover, weaker players such as small farmers and consumers are often unable to make the most of these technological developments, and this requires dedicated action in terms of training and education. Furthermore, blockchain and Artificial Intelligence can massively contribute to improving the agri-food chain: however, they feature important governance challenges, which can lead to undesirable re-intermediation effects (in the case of blockchain); and loss of user self-determination and agency, as well as privacy and integrity (in the case of Artificial Intelligence). Finally, any solution that relies on digital technologies will need to be inclusive, otherwise the risk will be to widen the digital divide: more generally, FoodTech needs to develop in way that is compatible with all SDGs, not only those related to the agri-food sector.

Digital technologies, hyper-transparency and smallholder farmer inclusion in global value chains

F&BKP Office — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 14:20:38 +0000

This article (PDF) published in the Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability states that globalization of food value chains has increased the demand for greater transparency over where food is produced, how, by whom and with what effect on society and the environment. A range of new digital technologies are available to facilitate transparency, with the promise of leading the global food system to an era of ‘hyper-transparency’. Its impact on smallholder farmer inclusion, however, remains questionable. The potential benefits of hyper-transparency for smallholders are improved access to services and markets. Thus far, important challenges remain. These are limited access to these technologies for smallholders and new power relations that emerge around access, use and control of data. Consequently, strategies and policies are needed to 1) ensure that farmers’ data rights are protected and that there is a fair sharing of the benefits of the collection and analysis of data; 2) guide learning and knowledge development of how to use and interpret information available in a way that it becomes a tool for empowerment of smallholder farmers rather than a surveillance quest. Hyper-transparency means that smallholders and other value chain players should not only be seen as economic actors in value chains, but also as data subjects and users. Digital technologies can generate and analyse vast amounts of data about farmers, their activities, and their environment, but the important question is who can access, control, and use this data. Here lies an important task for governments and international organizations: they should focus on improving data regulation, and informational and digital literacy at all levels of society, especially the smallholder farmer, to enhance market inclusion and increase productivity through technological advancements. Only then can the ‘invisible hand’ work in the advantage of smallholders.

Money matters: The role of yields and profits in agricultural technology adoption

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 14:24:07 +0000

This article (PDF) published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics states that despite the growing attention to technology adoption in the economics literature, knowledge gaps remain regarding why some valuable technologies are rapidly adopted, while others are not. This paper contributes to the understanding of agricultural technology adoption by showing that a focus on yield gains may, in some contexts, be misguided. The authors study a technology in Ethiopia that has no impact on yields, but that has nonetheless been widely adopted. The research results show that farmers’ comparative advantage does not play a significant role in their adoption decisions and which could be due to the overall high economic returns to adoption, despite the limited yield impacts of the technology. The results suggest economic measures of returns may be more relevant than increases in yields in explaining technology adoption decisions. This suggests that focusing policy solely on the yield aspect of genetic gains may be misguided. Examining traits other than yields, and improving households’ ability to realize higher yields (perhaps through complementary investments that improve value chains and market access) should accompany yield-increasing breeding programs. The context of the study is an extreme example of the extent to which money matter. Despite improved chickpea providing no statistically significant gains in yields, adoption of the technology has been extremely high. This adoption success has been the result of markets for the improved varieties in which farmers can sell their surpluses and reap economic benefits unavailable from growing and marketing less desirable traditional varieties. Policy and future research should reorient in a direction that considers both the physical and economic returns as factors that influence the adoption of agricultural technologies.

Transforming Africa’s food system with digital technologies

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 12:58:51 +0000

This seminar by IFPRI and Malabo Montpellier Panel explored how African countries can develop a “digitalization ecosystem” to help foster growth and competitiveness in the continent’s value chains. Also discussed are the institutional and policy innovations that have already been implemented by African governments as well as efforts by the private sector and ag-tech startups to increase the development and use of digital tools and services in agriculture. African countries have made considerable progress in increasing agricultural productivity and reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. But continued population growth, urbanization, changing diets, and climate change are putting pressure on food systems not only to provide more food but also to make more diverse and nutritious foods available and accessible. New digital technologies and services are already making an impact on how food is being produced, processed, marketed, traded, and consumed across the continent. How African countries position themselves to harness and deploy digital technologies will determine the future competitiveness of African agriculture and its contribution to African economies. Speakers included: Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa, IFPRI ; Debisi Araba, Regional Director for Africa, CIAT ; Katrin Glatzel, Program Head, IFPRI ; Farbod Youssefi, Program Manager, World Bank Group. The video, and podcast version, our now available, as well as the presentation slides.

Mechanization in African agriculture: A continental overview on patterns and dynamics

F&BKP Office — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:59:13 +0000

This study (PDF) by Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, provides an overview on the patterns and dynamics of mechanization in African agriculture from 2005 to 2014 along the entire value chain. The findings highlight great diversity across Africa, which indicates scope for cross-country learning from experiences. Some countries have simultaneously experienced a higher growth rate in agricultural machinery and agricultural output. While a large number of Africn countries combine a pattern of low growth in machinery with low agricultural output growth, including some large agricultural economies with potentials for growth. It might be instructive for policy makers and planners from these countries, to gain insights from African countries that managed to achieve higher agricultural growth, be it in combination with high machinery growth, or even with lower growth in machinery. Obviously, mechanization investments depend on a host of factors. A strong positive correlation between agricultural machinery growth and agricultural output growth was found, and vice versa (not depicting causality). Accelerating investments in mechanization in African agriculture and related value chains requires fresh policy considerations: 1)Analyses of the determinants of mechanization, costs and benefits, and the related institutions, seem worthwhile in order to define most suitable use of machine capital accessible to small holder. 2) Such analyses might best be done at country and local levels rather than in the context of the broad identification of patterns and dynamics that were the aim of this review paper. 3) Policy, however, also needs a country level strategic perspective, especially regarding machinery imports and services contracts, and for the build-up of African agricultural machinery industries.

The digitalisation of African agriculture report

F&BKP Office — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 15:17:07 +0000

This report (PDF) by CTA explores the gains digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) has made in Africa toward reaching its potential. D4Ag can support and accelerate agricultural transformation across the continent, sustainably and inclusively. A large number of players comprise this young sector, developing viable businesses with attractive financial models. Overal use by registered farmers and pastoralists remains low, however results suggest that D4Ag solutions could achieve transformative results. Several of the barriers (limited access to technology and connectivity) will begin to overcome. The reach of digital solutions will continue to grow and may include as much as 80% of the smallholder farmer population. A challenge of D4Ag developings is that the sophistication of D4Ag solutions has begun to outpace the readiness of entrepreneurs, users and government actors. Thereby, most companies are still working to develop a viable business model and the lacking infrastructure reduces the effectiveness of D4Ag. Lastly, the high degree of country-level and regional variation in investment expose uneven D4Ag growth. To further mainstream D4Ag, there are a number of recommendations: 1) Develop human capital at every level of the D4Ag ecosystem. 2) Drive greater business model sustainability. 3) Create greater impact by making D4Ag solutions more inclusive of women, other marginalised groups, and smallholders in geographies with relatively less D4Ag investment. 4) Invest in missing middleware infrastructure. Successful D4Ag solutions require access to a wide range of data in order to deliver high-quality services to farmers. 5) Invest in good data stewardship and design for the risks and limitations of digital system. 6) Invest in the D4Ag knowledge agenda. 7) Create an alliance of key D4Ag stakeholders to promote greater investment, knowledge sharing and partnership building.

A video with key findings of the report can be found here.

Household-specific targeting of agricultural advice via mobile phones: Feasibility of a minimum data approach for smallholder context

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 07:59:07 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Computers and Electronics in Agriculture journal explores the feasibility of an automated advisory service that collects household data from farmers, for example through the keypads of conventional mobile phones, and uses this data to prioritize agricultural advisory messages accordingly. In recent years, agricultural extension services in developing countries have increasingly introduced modern ICT to deliver advice. But to realize efficiency gains, digital applications may need to address heterogeneous information needs by targeting agricultural advisory contents in a household-specific way. Based on socio-economic variables, models were created to predict household-specific rankings of information options based on 2-4 variables, requiring the farmer to answer questions through an ICT interface. These predicted rankings informed household-specific prioritizations of advisory messages in a digital agro-advisory application. Household-specific “top 3” options suggested by the models were better-fit to farmers’ preferences than a random selection of 3 options by 48-68%, on average. The analysis shows that relatively limited data inputs from farmers, in a simple format, can be used to increase the client-orientation of ICT-mediated agricultural extension. This suggests that household-specific prioritization of agricultural advisory messages through digital two-way communication is feasible. In the future, research may produce more generalizable insights about which data-sparse indicators can serve as predictors of farmers’ information needs. Small standard sets of questions that efficiently capture the factors behind farmers’ information needs will likely be useful for a wide range of digital applications in agricultural advisory. For digital agricultural advisory applications, collecting little data from farmers at each interaction may feed learning algorithms that continuously improve the targeting of advice.

Opportunities of blockchain for agriculture

F&BKP Office — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 14:38:50 +0000

This Brussels briefing (PDF) by CTA provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges in adopting the blockchain technology in agriculture and the agrifood industry across several sectors and looks at best practices and successful applications of the blockchain technology of interest to the African, Carribean and Pacific countries. Business transactions in agriculture have been transformed by the digitisation of the value chain. Blockchain can bring together different parties that have not directly established trusted relationships with one another through the transparency it provides and its tamper-evident nature. While blockchain solutions in production are still relatively limited globally, it’s clear that there’s greater interest in—and a better understanding of—blockchain and its benefits. Multiple proofs of concepts are completed already or are in progress, and some solutions are already in or close to production release. However, there are still some challenges and limitations to a wide adoption of blockchain : 1) A lack of common understanding among policy makers, technical experts and value chain actors on the use of blockchain technology; 2) Insufficient investment in research and innovation, as well as in education and training by the government; 3) Mass adoption requires interoperability and a certain level of standardization; 4) Blockchain platform has to partially or fully replace existing legacy systems which requires time and resources; 5) Regulatory and legal frameworks are needed to guide the use of blockchain technology in food supply chains and possible security risks, even if blockchain offers advanced security. There is evidently still a long way to go in terms of building the human and infrastructural capacities to harness the full potential of blockchain technology in the food system, but the industry has already begun to embrace the possibilities and invest in developing agricultural solutions using the technology.

E-agriculture in action: Blockchain for agriculture – Opportunities and challenges

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 May 2019 15:03:25 +0000

This publication (PDF) by FAO and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) aims to demystify the blockchain technology, provide some thoughts on the opportunities and challenges in implementing blockchain-based systems as well as document some case studies on the use of blockchain for agriculture. In the agriculture domain, self-executing smart contracts together with automated payments would be the game changer. Blockchain comes with a number of implementing challenges, these can be mitigated by an assessment framework looking at the critical elements from the perspective of several layers and standardizing the requirements. This would enable greater adoption and ecosystem development to mainstream blockchain. An applications of the blockchain technology that is already in practice for agriculture is FARMS: financial and agricultural risk management for smallholders, that offers an easy entry to formal financial risk management while increasing farmers financial literacy. The concept is enabled by a blockchain-based virtual currency platform integrated with remote sensing (satellite) data and mobile money solutions, which ensures transparent secure transactions and “earmarking” of funds, automated payment and information dashboards. AgriDigital is a blockchain for agricultural supply chains that has a cloud-based commodity management solution in marketing for the global grains industry. It connects grain farmers, buyers, site operators and financiers through a single platform, allowing them to contract, deliver and make payments securely and in real time. Building Blocks is using blockchain to make cash-based transfers more efficient, secure and transparent. It allows any two parties to transact directly and removes the need for third party intermediaries such as banks or other institutions. This can speed up transactions while lowering the chance of fraud or data mismanagement. AgUnity is providing a pathway to financial inclsuion for the world’s poorest farmers. Lastly, the AgUnity App is a simple mobile service that helps small farmers plan, trade and track everyday transactions. This is a way for farmers to cooperate, store value, save money and easily buy products and services.

Spatial targeting of ICT-based weather and agro-advisory services for climate risk management in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 May 2019 15:41:43 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Climatic Change journal presents a scientific and integrated approach to identify areas of high agriculture vulnerability to climate change and availability of ICT services for dissemination of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) information in the vulnerable areas. The increasing frequency of climatic risks is causing significant loss of farm productivity and income in agriculturally dependent communities. Addressing climate change impacts on agriculture is a special challenge that needs efficient channeling of resources and information to strengthen farmers adaptive capacity to climate change and variability. This study presents a methodology to highlight/target broad geographical regions for designing and implementing ICT-based climate information and agro-advisory services. The study presents four regions: i) high agriculture vulnerability and low ICT services, ii) high agriculture vulnerability and high ICT services, iii) low agriculture vulnerability and low ICT services, and iv) low agriculture vulnerability and high ICT services. This simple methodology uses available data, is easy to apply, can be useful to prioritize locations for climate-smart interventions, mode of CSA information dissemination using ICT services, and increase coverage of agro-ICT services through development of ICT services in the locations where climate change impact is high and ICT services are very low. This study also showed that there is a need to improve the quality of existing climate information and agro-advisory services in the climate risk-prone areas. Similarly, use of particular types of ICT services and coverage can play a crucial role while prioritizing dissemination of climate information and agro-advisory services in the targeted locations and population. This analysis needs to be followed by further examination of the socio-economic characteristics of agriculture dependent communities to design suitable climate information and agro-advisory services and ICT for disseminating them.

The agricultural mechanization in Africa: Micro-level analysis of state drivers and effects

F&BKP Office — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 13:05:55 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn (ZEF) and PARI examines the state, drivers and, consequently, the impacts of agricutural mechanization in eleven countries in Africa. Using household survey data and robust analytical approaches, findings show light hand-held tools and equipment remain the main type of machinery in most countries – about 48% of the sampled households have access to light machinery compared to 35% that have access to animal-powered machinery, and only about 18% that use tractor-powered machinery. There are three possible ways of acquiring machinery; ownership by a single household (or farm), joint ownership with other households (or farms), and leasing from for own use or for joint use with other households. Findings show that light machinery and animal-powered machinery are mainly owned by individual households. Significant drivers of agricultural mechanization include the size of the household, gender of the household head, participation in off-farm economic activities, distance to the input and output markets, farm size, land tenure, type of farming system, access to extension services, and use of fertilizer and pesticides. This study finds that after controlling for socio-economic, demographic, and regional determinants, agricultural mechanization, significantly increases the amount of cropland cultivated (extensification) and is also accompanied by input intensification especially in countries where land expansion is limited. We further find significant but mixed impact of agricultural mechanization on use of household and hired labor. Finally, agricultural mechanization significantly raises the productivity of maize and rice in all cases. These findings point to the importance of developing favorable arrangements that would avail mechanization to small and medium scale farmers. This would involve providing incentives for private sector to scale agricultural mechanization initiatives and targeting and engaging women farmers and the youth by investing in supportive infrastructure and training.

Innovative irrigation system could future-proof India’s major cereals

F&BKP Office — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 14:38:10 +0000

This blog by the Thomason Reuters Foundation describes a study that demonstrated how rice and wheat can be grown using 40 percent less water through an innovative combination of existing irrigation and cropping techniques. Rice-wheat farming systems dominate India’s agriculture, providing 75 percent of national food grain production. Traditional management of these two crops is no longer sustainable. Conventional flood irrigation consumes vast quantities of water and energy, is labor-intensive, and can deteriorate soil health. Overuse of nitrogen-based fertilizers can pollute waterways and emit harmful greenhouse gases that cause climate change. There has been little understanding of the best way to design an irrigation network that can work for both rice and wheat crops with no modifications between rotations. Researchers tested eight combinations of promising techniques over a two-year period to understand which methods could help farmers save water and money. Rice and wheat grown using a sub-surface drip fertigation system, combined with conservation agriculture approaches — zero till, retaining residues on soil surface and dry seeding — used at least 40 percent less water than flood irrigation for the same amount of yields, and is still cost-effective for farmers. Further, both rice and wheat needed 20 percent less nitrogen-based fertilizer under the system to obtain grain yields similar to that under flood-irrigated crops, which could improve ecosystem health and cut greenhouse gas emissions. To make sure the system gets adopted, government subsidies are important drivers for agricultural technology adoption. More efforts are also needed to promote conservation agriculture even though India’s rice-wheat farmers have made great strides in implementing these practices over the past two decades.

The study that this blog is based on can be purchased here.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 10:36:54 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by IFPRI evaluates the effectiveness of an information and communication technology (ICT) mediated approach to deliver agricultural information in a field experiment conducted among small-scale maize farmers in eastern Uganda. Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers in which agricultural extension agents visit farmers individually or in groups to provide information and advice. This approach is not always effective and has often proved hard to bring to scale, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems. ICTs have been advanced as a promising way to overcome these problems associated with information delivery. The ICT-mediated approach consists of three complementary technologies: 1) effectiveness of video as a means of delivering information; 2) quantify the additional impact of augmenting video with interactive voice response (IVR) technology; 3) estimate the additional effect of time-sensitive short message services (SMSs) that remind farmers about key agronomic practices and technologies. Results showed that video is effective in delivering information, with households that were shown short videos on how to become a better maize farmer performing significantly better on a knowledge test, applying more of the recommended practices, and using inputs more effectively than households that did not see this video. These same households also reported maize yields about 10 percent higher than those that did not see the video. However, the incremental effects of IVR and SMS technologies were found to be limited. One area that needs further attention is related to spillovers, since experimental studies of information treatments are especially prone to non-interference violations. The question then becomes which ICT-mediated extension approach maximizes spillover effects, for instance through ease of sharing of content.

Delivering climate risk information to farmers at scale: the Intelligent agricultural Systems Advisory Tool (ISAT)

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 09:24:58 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by CCAFS-CGAIR describes the newly developed tool ‘Intelligent agricultural Systems Advisory Tool’ (ISAT) that generates and disseminates data drive location specific advisories that assist farmers in anticipating and responding to emerging conditions through the season. One of the strategies for helping smallholder farmers cope with climate variability and change is the provision of climate services that better decision making around the planning and management of agricultural systems. However, providing such services with location specific timely and actionable information to millions of farmers operating across diverse conditions requires innovative solutions. Using a decision tree approach, a structured and systematic approach to decision making was devised that considers the insights obtained from the analysis of historical climatic conditions, climate and weather forecasts and prevailing environmental conditions. Microsoft India developed a platform to access real time data from various ‘public’ sources, perform the data analytics, implement the decision tree and generate and disseminate messages to farmers and associated actors. The ISAT generated advisories are designed to support both pre-season planning and in-season management. The messaging system worked well in picking appropriate location specific message and delivering to the mobiles of the registered farmers. Mid and end season surveys revealed that more than 80% of the farmers from all villages were satisfied with the frequency, relevance and understandability of the messages delivered. About 58% of the farmers rated the messages are reliable by being correct more than 75% of the times and helped them in managing their farms better by conducting farm operations timely with reduced risk. This study has demonstrated the opportunities available to harness the untapped power of digital technologies to provide actionable advisories timely to smallholder farmers using appropriate data analytics and information dissemination systems.

Mechanized: Transforming Africa’s agriculture value chains

F&BKP Office — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 15:45:42 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Malabo Montpellier Panel summarizes findings of a systematic analysis of what countries at the forefront of progress in mechanization have done right. Africa currently has the highest rates of growth in population, urbanization, and middle-class consumers, which combined are fuelling a sharp increase in food demand. More needs to be done to meet future food demands and accelerate agricultural growth and transformation. Technological strategies and innovations along the food value chain could help to meet the demands. Yet the use of mechanization and new technologies along the agriculture value chain still remains low. This report shows thata number of African countries have shown how to successfully improve the uptake of mechanization along the entire agriculture value chain. As a result, they have achieved high machinery growth coupled with high agricultural growth rates and generating new off-farm employment opportunities. In many other African countries, however, progress remains limited in particular with respect to mechanizing downstream value chain segments. Targeted efforts and interventions are needed to promote mechanization in each segment of the value chain and at scale. This leverages the potential of agriculture to drive growth and employment, particularly in rural economies. The Panel comes with a number of recommendations: 1) Elevate national agricultural mechanization investment strategies to a priority within countries’ national agricultural investment plan; 2) Design mechanization pathways in a way that they are socially sustainable; 3) Prioritize mechanization in every segment of the agriculture value chain; 4) Increase investment in the development of supportive infrastructure and vocational training; 5) Incentivize the private sector to take mechanization to scale by creating a conducive business and services environment; 6) Develop an African agricultural mechanization industry through strong public-private partnerships ; 7) Empower smallholder farmers and women by involving them in the development of locally adapted machines and technologies.

An infographic of the report can be found here.

CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing for crop improvement: Current applications and future prospects

F&BKP Office — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 10:23:55 +0000

This review in Plant Biotechnology Reports summarizes the current techniques used for site-directed genome editing in plants, focusing on the CRISPR/Cas system, and discuss their current and future applications for crop biology. Conventional breeding techniques for crop improvement are based on hybridization and selection. However, due to the long breeding cycles of crops and the potentially unpredictable effects of traditional breeding, these techniques are not sufficient to meet market demands for crops with a variety of traits or to address the emerging food crisis we could face in the near future. In the past decade, advanced technologies such as next-generation sequencing have been used to rapidly produce massive amounts of genome sequence information in many crop species. These techniques, together with targeted genome editing tools such as Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFNs) and Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs), Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Sequences (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) have increased the possibilities for crop improvement via targeted genome editing. The use of these technologies in crop biology has opened up a new era of genome editing-mediated crop breeding.

Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s agriculture

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 13:58:49 +0000

This report (PDF) by the African Union and NEPAD provides a contextualized review of drones as a vital precision agriculture-enabling technology and its range of relevant uses for providing detailed and on-demand data in order to enhance decision-making by farmers and hence facilitate much needed support. Drones for precision agriculture is a farming management concept which is based upon measuring and responding to inter- and intra-feld variability in crop and animal production. It is not just the application of new technologies, but rather it is an information revolution that can result in a more precise and effective farm management system. In agriculture, there are several major applications of drones, for example crop scouting/monitoring, crop volume and vigour assessments, crop inventory. Drones equipped with adequate sensors have the capability to generate remote-sensing data in near real time in the field. In comparison to satellites, drones can capture very high-resolution imagery under cloud cover and at desired time intervals. It is this increased ease and speed of acquiring the imagery from drones that has the biggest potential. The deployment of drone technology in Africa has four classified challenge categories: technological, economic, social, and legal and regulatory. The report considers drone technology for precision agriculture as a potential game-changer for the African continent. It is recommended that the adoption, deployment and upscaling of drones in the context of precision agriculture is considered as a priority. Key areas to be considered in upscaling the technology and realising its potential include capacity-building, enabling or supporting infrastructure, regulatory strengthening, research and development and stakeholder engagement. A recommendation on continental level is to develop a continental regulatory framework for the use of drones in Africa and harmonize policies across countries and regions. Moreover, South-South and regional collaborations, partnerships, networks and knowledge-exchanges to facilitate the upscaling and use of drone technology should be enhanced.

Money matters: The role of yields and profits in agricultural technology adoption

F&BKP Office — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 11:21:57 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the American Journal of Agricultural Economics contributes to the understanding of agricultural technology adoption by showing that a focus on yield gains may, in some contexts, be misguided. Despite the growing attention to technology adoption in the economics literature, knowledge gaps remain regarding why some valuable technologies are rapidly adopted, while others are not. Here a technology is studied in Ethiopia to improve chickpea production, where a chickpea improvement program bred new varieties and established seed grower associations for production and distribution. This technology does not have an impact on yield, but has nonetheless been widely adopted. The study shows that adoption of the technology results in reduction of total farm production costs and a significant increase in profits. Adopters are able to sell more of their chickpea crop, gain more income from the increased sales, and reallocate cropland to specialize in improved chickpea production. The results imply that the divergent adoption rates across contexts may be explained by the quality of the markets for the output. Without complementary economic gains, which require markets for surpluses, increased physical gains will likely be unattractive to potential adopters. So the results suggest that economic measures of returns may be more relevant than increases in yields in explaining technology adoption decisions. This suggests that focusing policy solely on the yield aspect of genetic gains may be misguided. Policy and future research should reorient in a direction that considers both the physical and economic returns as factors that influence the adoption of agricultural technologies.

Sustainable agricultural mechanization: A framework for Africa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 14:08:19 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO, presents priority elements for national strategies for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). Agriculture is crucial to Africa’s development but the sector is performing below its potential. The framework presented has ten key elements required for SAMA. There is a need to focus on a small number of priority commodities; the focus of sustainable agricultural mechanization (SAM) and the choice of crop to mechanize should be based on the level of total factor productivity to be achieved. Mechanization needs to be linked to market-oriented enterprises. Farm profitability should be seen as a condition that makes mechanization feasible, rather than as an outcome of mechanization. Policy environments that support the establishment and operation of viable and sustainabel businesses need to be prioritized by countries. Country-level SAM strategies should cover the entire agrifood value chain. Institutual issues that accomodate the interests of small-scale farmers, women and youth should be given priority. Human resources development at the artisan, technician and professional levels, and building of the capacity of farmers in commercial agricultural production are critical to the success of SAMA. Region-wide exchange of information and technologies should be created. Long-term commitment to SAM by key stakeholders in policy, strategy formulation, implementation and financing is critical to its success. Development of mechanisms to increase the flow of financial resources for agricultural mechanization investments from local financial institutions is essential. The institutional infrastructure that supports the development of agricultural mechanization at the national, subregional and regional levels should be strengthened. Regional cooperation is required for the attainment of economices of scale and scope and to create sustainable organiztion and institutions. Efforts to accelerate mechanization require substantial political and financial commitment. Governments and leader must remain streadfast in the process.

Unlocking the potential of blockchain for agriculture

F&BKP Office — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 08:21:34 +0000

This ICT Update magazine (PDF) by CTA focuses on the potential of blockchain for agriculture. Business transaction in agriculture have been transformed by the digitisation of the value chain. Despite this progress, there are still many challenges relating to the traceability of products and transparency in supply chain management. Database systems managing transaction records were managed in isolation, not open to all the other stakeholders in the chain; they were open to fraud, and transactions were difficult to secure. The blockchain technology has the potential to provide answers to a number of issues in agriculture. The articles in this magazine begin by providing a history and defining the blockchain. The blockchain is often a background addition to existing processes in the value chain and lends itself to recording transactions, thus ensuring issues of provenance and allowing certification. Applications use a mixture of public and private blockchains. Nearly everyone in the magazine agrees that some knowledge is needed before moving to select a solution. A number of questions should be answered to assess whether the system will need to be a public or private blockchain, and which function the system should be optimised for. If the main issue is traceability, this will lead to a different approach than for value transfers. The magazine shows projects being implemented around the world, about applications in Africa particularly covering electronic payments, how is benefits and challenges smallholder farmers and the limits and fallacies of blockchain. Recommendations of a workshop by CTA on blockchain are: 1) Promote agricultural value chain engagement and use of digital technologies in the agricultural sector; 2) Educate key stakeholders so they can seize its benefits; 3) Work closely with leading country-level outgrower and agricultural finance schemes to test blockchain solutions; 4) Support developers and startups to engage in the blockchain space; 5) Develop ecosystems promoting blockchain in agriculture.

Beyond the blockchain

F&BKP Office — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 12:51:45 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by Agriterra examines the opportunities of blockchain in agriculture for smallholder farmers. Technological development like blockchains are increasingly helpful to involve small-scale farmers in agricultural value chains. However, scaling up solutions are hindered by costs and the access to connectivity and digital literacy skills is limited. According to the magazine, the answer lies in involving the whole value chain in a common production plan and involving farmers themselves. The magazine offers concrete examples were value can be added; involving farmers in the development of internet applications, and train and advise farmers on connectivity, digital literacy skills, privacy and data ownership. Further, the magazine explores how farmers can be involved in the development of application for the Internet of Things (IoT). One article in the magazine is on Agri-wallet, a mobile wallet with a virtual currency based on blockchain technology. Agri-wallet gives farmers direct access to finance and allows them to save tokens (vouchers) that can only be spent on farm outputs. These investments, in combination with better knowledge, irrigation systems and pesticides, can help farmers increase their yield by up to 600%. Farmers also have easier access to financing via a worldwide network of investors. Data collected by the technology can help farmers optimise their production, for example to better understand the best price-quality ratio for seeds or the perfect harvest time. The article on the IoT for food and farming industries has an ambitious goal: make precision farming reality and move towards a sustainable food value chain. In this process, farmers need to be heard, to maintain control over their own data. This gives farmers the opportunity to start a counter-movement against the “bit agribusiness player”. Therefore, it is important to involve farmers in the development of IoT applications, advise and train them and help them make choices.

Digital and data-driven agriculture: Harnessing the power of data for smallholders

F&BKP Office — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 13:19:50 +0000

This paper (PDF), by GFAR, GODAN and CTA, discusses the huge opportunities and the main challenges of data-driven agriculture for smallholder farmers, illustrates some data and agri-food system drivers that can help make data-driven agriculture more smallholder-friendly and proposes a few institutional and policy approaches to develop a data ecosystem that can enable farmers to fully harness the power of data. Investing in data-driven agriculture is expected to increase agricultural production and productivity, help adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change, bring more economic and efficient use of natural resources, reduce risk and improve resilience farming and make agri-food market chains much more efficient. Data-driven agriculture uses big data to supplement on-farm precision agriculture. The two main challenges for smallholders are to gain access to relevant data and to make sure that data sharing does not weaken their positions. There are four different data streams that farmers use, with different opportunities, challenges and risks for farmers. The provides, enables and handlers of data-driven services for and with farmers are critical actors in agri-food data systems. Data standardization is one of the biggest challenges for these actors. Smallholders are tough to reach but have much to gain from data. However, for smallholders to benefit from data-drive agriculture, tools and applications need to be designed for their situations and capacities. Making data-driven agriculture smallholder-friendly should be guided by agri-food system drivers that determine the effectiveness of data-driven improvements, and data system drivers that need to be factored into investments. There are three priority actions to help develop a data ecosystem to support smallholders: 1) Farmers data should be aggregated through joint action that empowers and givers voice to farmers; 2) Platforms that enable open data sharing should be established at different levels; 3) International agreements to facilitate data access, ownership and flows should be developed.

Biotechnology for sustainable agriculture: Emerging approaches and strategies

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:40:34 +0000

This book by Elsevier is a collection of current research that integrates basic and advanced concepts of agricultural biotechnology with future development prospects. Using biotechnology with sustainable agriculture effectively contributes to gains in agricultural productivity, enhanced food security, reduced poverty and malnutrition, and more ecologically sustainable means of food production. Written by a panel of experts, this book is unique in its coverage of the broad area of biotechnology for sustainable agriculture. It includes intriguing topics and discussions of areas such as recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering. Different chapters of the book focus, for example, on plant biotechnology and crop improvement, transgenic animal production, nanotechnology for sustainable agriculture, and impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security.

Application of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology for the improvement of crops cultivated in the tropical climates: Recent progress, prospects and challenges

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:58:59 +0000

This review (PDF), in Frontiers in Plant Science, examines the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in improvement of tropical crops, how it can be applied to improve crops and product quality, and address challenges pertaining to tropical crops. CRISPR/Cas9 can be used to precisely modify genome sequence of any organism to achieve the desired trait. Compared to other genome editing tools, it is faster, cheaper, precise and highly efficient in editing genomes even at the multipex level. Further, it has shown great promise for quickly addressing emerging challenges in agriculture and application is emerging rapidly. CRIPSR/Cas9 is becoming a user-friendly tool to counteract effect of climate change and ensure food security. Many success stories on application of CRISPR/Cas9 in genome editing of tropical crops and crops cultivated in tropical regions have not been reported yet as compared to temperate crops. To have a greater impact on agriculture in tropical areas, further efforts are needed to optimize the CRISPR/Cas9 protocols for making it more user-friendly and freely accessible for research and practical applications. Development of an efficient transformation system for major tropical crops and crops such as Indica rice in tropical climates would facilitate the development of crops resilient to emerging pests and abiotic stresses. International collaboration through open data sharing and practice of open science are needed to rapidly tackle any emerging challenges in agriculture such as recent emergence of wheat blast disease in tropical areas of Asia. CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome edited (deleted or disruption of undesirable genes/sequences) crop plants should be considered as non-GMO for rapid application and acceptance of this technology at the field level. The authors foresee the application of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in various crops revolutionize agriculture in a second green revolution to ensure food and nutritional security of the ever-increasing population of tropical countries.

Eyes in the sky: How drones and satellites can transform African agriculture

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 07:43:46 +0000

This blog by Business Fights Poverty is on precision agriculture, in which micro-level data on e.g. stress, moisture and the presence of pests, is gathered by drones or satellites and used to enhance decision making on the farm. Precision agriculture with drones or satellites could help farmers to exactly know what each of the plants needs, from the amount of water to the amount of fertilizer, at any given moment. This could improve yields, reduce costs and increase profits.The primary obstacle for this is the absence of a sustainable funding model for smallholder farmers. However, when farmers are organized in a contract farming arrangement with a well-funded agribusiness, there is a private-sector actor that could finance the investment. A pilot project was conducted to demonstrate the business case for providing drone services to African farmers. This pilot project was with a company that works with smallholders in Uganda, to address its major constraints: while demand for quality seeds is rising rapidly in Uganda, the company’s difficulty in monitoring production by smallholders has limited output. Accurate data could increase efficiency and expand operations of the firm, and improve yields and reduce costs for the farmers. Results demonstrated the potential real-world impact of the the precision farming model. Drone-monitored farms were estimated to generate 100% more seed. Furthermore, while drone-generated data increased monitoring costs and fertilizer application, spending on pesticide was projected to decline by 60%, because its use could be more precisely calibrated. Moreover, it was projected that on individual farms, the annual returns would expand. More research needs to be done, since the use of drones can also greatly reduce the costs of designing agricultural water reservoirs and planning urban areas in East Africa. The use of drones for these services would also make it more affordable for agribusinesses to employ drones, because it would spread the cost of the machines across industries.

The case study on the drone initiative is available here.

Factors influencing the adoption of new technologies in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: A review of the literature

F&BKP Office — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 09:28:47 +0000

This review article (PDF – in French) in the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics is on factors that influence the adoption of new technologies in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has not benefited sufficiently from the great revolutions in the agricultural world that have made it possible to increase productivity. Despite the existence of new technologies, levels of agricultural productivity remain low, and lower than those of other developing regions. A number of factors, including constraints on the adoption of new technologies, could explain this low productivity. Indeed, the adoption of new technologies in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by several factors, including the socio-economic characteristics of households, the mode of operation and management of production, market practices, processing characteristics, and the degree of awareness and social networks. It is essential to consider these factors if new programmes and projects for introducing and disseminating new technologies are to be successful. This would help increase productivity, and thereby reduce poverty and food insecurity across the continent.

Weather data for agriculture

F&BKP Office — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 14:36:01 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by CTA portrays how various stakeholders in the data value chain are working with and creating agriculture services from weather data while showcasing some of the best practices and the most common challenges in this field. Agricultural stakeholders have an interest in accurate localised and reliable meteorological data. These raw weather data can be translated into accessible weather information, crucial for farmers to make well-informed farm management decisions and for effective mitigation. One article in the magazine emphasizes the importance of weather data for smallholder farmers and the fact that the support to farmers should go beyond being familiar and being able to work with data. It requires are broader view on standards, entrepreneurship, partnerships and ways to combine all kinds of data. The open weather data value chain should be demand-driven and as short as possible to reduce costs and make services cheaper. The key for sustainability of open weather data value chain are sustainable business models, which requires collaboration with many stakeholders. Another article aims to answer the question whether open data is ‘fit-for-purpose’; does it match the needs of being reliable, relevant, timely and accessible? The article suggests that the still scarce sources might suggest that open weather data are less fit-for-purpose, which might currently result in opting for paid, non-open services. Nevertheless, it can be expected that more open weather data will become available in the future, hopefully, better suited for the purpose of agricultural services for smallholders.

Agriculture on the blockchain: Sustainable solutions for food, farmers, and financing

F&BKP Office — Thu, 10 May 2018 08:16:21 +0000

This research (PDF) in SSRN explores applications of blockchain across the agricultural sector, beyond the typical finance use cases. In considering agriculture itself as a chain, a network that reaches from farm to fork, blockchain efforts are analysed to improve safety, efficiency, and accountability at every stage of the process. Traceability across the global food supply chain ensures food safety and is thus far the most adopted application of blockchain for agriculture. Smart contract and chain of custody records can mitigate instances of food fraud and identify untrustworthy middlemen and business practices that exploit both independent farmers and cooperatives. Sustainable agriculture and “local economy” cooperatives can generate economic activity and retain more value locally. Instantaneous transactions and accountable origin and route tracking of goods can transform a sprawling, complicated and decentralized food market into a local one with high trust and quality. Agriculture finance innovations, include transparent and efficient futures contract payment platforms, smart contract insurance against crop catastrophes and microfinancing opportunities for under-served communities that can grow from subsistence-level loans into investments in new businesses. One recommendation for decision-makers is to experiment with, and add blockchain capability to an organization’s food safety programmes. Further, partner with champions and key personnel of the organization’s value chain systems; such partnerships lead to coupling between blockchain and value chain systems. Participation in global standards initiatives is needed to ensure that the blockchain maps to the standards and bridges with other blockchains. Lastly, organizations should contribute time and money to a third party or consortium blockchain initiative to mitigate the risk of going at it alone.

From open weather data to accessible weather information services for smallholder farmers

F&BKP Office — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:27:37 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by CTA outlines the importance and benefits that can be derived from weather data in agriculture and nutrition, the challenges in the weather data value chain and recommendations to address these challenges. Weather data is used by providers of ICT services, extensionists, and farm advisors to generate added value through combining this data with soil data, crop data, agronomic knowledge and bringing this knowledge to farmers through a variety of services. Providing weather data-based support to farmers goes beyond being familiar and being able to work with weather data. It requires a broader view on standards, capacity development, entrepreneurship, partnerships and impact measurement. Policy recommendations are, firstly, that capacity building should be tailor-made for all stakeholders in the value chain, ranging from the provider level to the intermediary’s level and the level of end users. Secondly, increased technical support for data collection and exchange is needed. Thirdly, viable business models should be developed that provide incentives for various entities to collect and share weather data. Fourth, partnerships and collaboration between stakeholders is required for co-creating the open weather data value chain, bundling services and packaging different data sources. Finally, impact should be measured since it is critical to ensure weather data services are made sustainable in the long term.

Webinar series: Farmers’ access to data

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 09:26:53 +0000

This webinar series by GFAR, co-convened with GODAN and CTA, on farmers’ access to data is a follow-up of the face-to-face course. The first webinar ‘Data-driven agriculture overview‘ provides a foundation for understanding the use of data for farming and across the agricultural value chain. It gives an overview of digital agriculture, the trends impacting it, and its advantages and challenges for smallholder farmers. The use of farm management information systems for decision support has shown great promise for improving farm yields and profitability. However, growers are often unsure of the value of the data that they are providing and/or receiving. The second webinar ‘Key data for farmers‘ explains the different key data streams, flow and sources that are vital to agricultural value chains. It identifies specific data needed by farmers, as well as potential sources. For data driven agriculture to happen the data streams in the food chain from pre-planting to consumption have to be distinguished. However, farmers may not be in a position to realize those streams and possibly what data and information is required to answer the food chain questions. These questions can be answered if the factual data or information is used or made available to the farmers. The third webinar ‘Crossing the Donga: Accelerating market adoptation and use of data by smallholders‘ examines some of the key challenges that are blocking adoption of digital architecture by smallholder farmers. This webinar will provide smallholder farmers, and those who support them, specific methods for ensuring farmer-centric solutions.

Technology and entrepreneurship

F&BKP Office — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 09:35:41 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by Sight and Life navigates various approaches in which technology and entrepreneurship can improve the nutrition landscape around the world. Technology plays an increasingly important role in enabling the implementation of high-quality public health nutrition interventions. Similarly, innovative entrepreneurial solutions are required to improve access to proven nutrition solutions and ensure sustainability. The article “New allies accelerate the fight against malnutrition” introduces five innovative products to dramatically improved field-based measurements of nutritional status, outlines their use and impact and highlights the continued need to champion the partnerships and investment that make breakthrough health innovation possible. “Using mobile technology for nutrition programs” offers a conceptual framework that nutrition practitioners can use to harness the potential of mobile health (mHealth) interventions. As malnutrition continues to overburden many health systems, mHealth offers huge potential for strengthening and improving existing initiatives and outcomes, so long as they can be implemented successfully. In “Nutrition entrepreneurs” a study to identify sustainable social enterprises that can integrate nutrition interventions at scale and benefit large numbers of underserved communities is described. Five promising business models: microfinancing, social franchising, network orchestration, freemium, and enterprise development can help guide practitioners, policy-makers and influencers in the nutrition sector in designing, replicating and implementing scalable nutrition programs.

Use of CRISPR systems in plant genome editing: Toward new opportunities in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 08:31:39 +0000

The present study (PDF) in Emerging Topics in Life Sciences reviews agricultural applications related to the use of CRISPR systems in plants from 52 peer-reviewed articles published since 2014. Considerable progress has been made in plant genome editing thanks to CRISPR/Cas systems. CRISPR/Cas allows straightforward, cost-effective and efficient gene editing compared with previous technologies. However, the method is still develloping and scientific efforts must continue to be made in order to obtain a mature technology and to realize the full potential of the technology. The heritability and transgene-free character of the generated plants by CRISP/Cas has been demonstrated, confirming that this should no longer be a concern for agricultural applications. This opens up many opportunities for different industrial applications of CRISPR systems. The review shows that the application of CRISPR/Cas systems is mainly achieved directly in crops. The most important group of target applications relates to yield traits followed by the achievement of biotic or abiotic stress tolerance. The most studies crop is rice, followed by maize, tomato, potato, barly and wheat. The emergence of biofortification in the list of applications can be related to that of metabolic engineering. An extensive knowledge of plant biology and gene functionalities is required before using CRISPR/Cas systems in a specific species for a particular application. The application of Cas gene editing requires the precise definition of the target DNA sequence and the availability of good genome sequence data of the studied species in order to allow design of single-guide RNAs.

Can agricultural aspirations influence preferences for new technologies

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 09:02:34 +0000

This paper (PDF) by IFPRI describes a choice experiment framed around the hypothetical subsidized purchase of a drip irrigation system in Pakistan. Specifically, it examined how participants with different levels of drip experience value various aspects of a hypothetical subsidy for drip irrigation. There is a critical need to improved water-use efficiency. Drip irrigation is a high-efficiency irrigation technology that can improve water-use efficiency. Adaptation of this is low in Pakistan. This study identified a clear increase in the valuation of the drip system by farmers after a few years of drip experience, suggesting that farmers may be unaware of the opportunities for drip irrigation or the benefits that may accrue from its use. Additionally, farmer’s aspirations for cropping systems under drip were better predicators of the valuation of drip systems than current cropping patterns, implying that a different agricultural landscape might reasonably emerge under improved adoptation of drip. Aspirations differed across different agroecological zones and water regimes. Aspirations to substitute wheat crops for fruits and vegetables were associated with a higher appreciation of the subsidy level, whereas aspirations to expand wheat were associated with higher appreciation of the area covered by the drip initiative. These findings imply a degree of control over the extent of wheat production in the landscape via careful design of the drip subsidy program. So, the linkage from aspirations to valuation of drip subsidy programs suggests that the expansion of drip use may have a transformative effect on the agricultural landscape and enhance adoption of these systems.

The financial feasibility of producing fish and vegetables through aquaponics

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 10:00:58 +0000

This article in the journal Aquacultural Engineering uses a cost-benefit analysis to assess the financial feasibility of an investment in a small-scale aquaponics system in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. Using this case study, in addition to refereed papers and grey literature, generic recommendations for up- and out-scaling of aquaponics are presented. Aquaponics, producing fish and vegetables in a closed-loop water system, reduces fertilizer use and water discharge, and is therefore promoted as a sustainable venture. A recent global study found that the majority of 257 surveyed aquaponics farms made losses, but the reasons have been poorly analyzed. This paper aims to assess the factors contributing to an appropriate level of returns. In the Philippines, vegetables are relatively well-priced, but if catfish were produced, a venture producing 1250 kg fish, 6000 kg lettuce, and 300 kg tomato per year would have a Net-Benefit-Cost Ratio of below 1.3 after 20 years. Depending on the species of both fish and vegetables, the quantity of nutrients coming from the former component imposes a fish volume: vegetable area ratio ranging from 1:30 to 1:100, thus the quantity of marketable fresh vegetables determines the size of an aquaponics enterprise. As a consequence, the investments in the fish component are relatively high and weigh heavily on the financial balance. For producers to successfully adopt aquaponics, they need to consider starting first with catfish, and then, as they get to master the system’s management, they can shift to a high-value fish species for niche markets.

Leveraging ICT innovations to support farmers and farmers’ organisations

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:04:29 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) of CTA discusses policy actions needed to empower smallholder farmers to leverage information and communications technology (ICT) innovations for greater productivity and efficiency. The data revolution is helping us make better decisions in all areas of our lives, and farmers are no exception. However, the smallholder farmer is being left behind as more data applications are developed for commercial farming. What appears as a lack of interest in farming development may purely be a lack of resources, even where knowledge exists. The policy action needed include: 1) promote enabling environments and uptake of ICT solutions that respond to the needs of smallholder farmers; 2) strengthen the capacity of small-scale farmers to use ICTs; 3) improve the training and ICT proficiency of national extension agents; and 4) use ICTs to deliver data-driven products and services and develop associated business models that drive improved productivity, profitability and resilience of farmers. In the absence of functioning farmer organisations, ICT will not be able to generate the expected sustainable impact, and any benefits will entirely depend on external support to farmers with limited input from them and no value added through their efforts. Agricultural development, especially in Africa, needs to focus on the basics of organizing farmers as business entities and positioning them to take advantage if the ICT revolution.

Internet of things for agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 11:29:31 +0000

This webinar series, by the World Bank Group in collaboration with USAID and Feed the Future, highlights the innovation, business models, and demonstration of results on the ground for applying Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture. IoT – networks of objects that communicate with other objects through Internet – holds potential to transform today’s agriculture by enabling more precise resources management through low-cost sensors and generating large amount of data for effective decision-making. While the IoT for agriculture has so far been visible mostly in developed countries, it holds prospects of benefiting the farmers in developing regions due to the combination of three contributing factors: rapid decline in sensor costs, increasing penetration of smart phones, and expansion of global mobile broadband coverage. Once the appropriate enabling conditions are in place, IoT solutions can be realized through various technology applications such as satellite-based remote sensing, on-ground wireless sensors network, and unmanned aerial vehicles like drones. This webinar presents the application of precision agriculture by IoT technologies to tackle the horticultural challenges in Vietnam. Another webinar discusses the SmartMoo IoT Platform which can synthesize data across the agricultural dairy supply chains. Also an autonomous irrigation system using tensiometer sensors placed in the ground near the plants, which saves water and fertilizer and increases crop yields, is discussed in this webinar. All webinars of this series can be found here.

From farm to phone to table: A case study series explores the impact of digital tools on agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 14:36:15 +0000

This blog by NextBillion discusses a case study series by USAID, which highlights different approaches to digital tool adoption and how these tools impact organizational culture, operations and programming. A key focus of the series is on understanding the collective impact of digital tools while trying to assess the status quo without them. Each case study examines the specific digital landscape in which the activity is operating and how this affects the choice of tools and options for dissemination. No two digital integration experiences are the same, and the case studies reveal the adoption of a diverse set of digital tools ranging in complexity, customization and focus. In Senegal, for instance, Naatal Mbay is using basic tools like Microsoft Excel and Dropbox to demonstrate to producer-serving organizations the power of data for more effective programming. In contrast, One Acre Fund built a custom tablet app to enroll clients faster and with fewer mistakes. The new app replaces a paper-based process for field officers and prompts them to nudge clients about new and tailored products available for purchase. Musoni, a completely cashless micro-finance institution, designed a loan product specifically for smallholder farmers, with flexible terms and a customizable grace period based on a farmer’s seasonal cash flow. More case studies will be published here.

Urban agriculture and vertical farming

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 09:48:27 +0000

This article in the Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences introduces the novel agricultural practice of vertical farming /urban agriculture. This practice can help deliver safe and nutritious food for a growing world population, in environmentally and socially sustainable ways – improving global food security and citizen health and wellbeing. An effect of this new agricultural revolution is a notable increase in crop yields and quality. World agriculture is undergoing a transition to new technological paradigms driven by innovations in sustainability and resource use efficiency. The development of this new paradigm is enabled by the ongoing “precision,” “info,” and “smart” revolutions, and new demands of the markets. This related article in the journal Global Food Security argues that vertical indoor farming should be taken seriously. Vertical indoor production of vegetables may contribute to better nutrition. Additionally, vegetable production in controlled environments reduces climate change risks and vertical indoor farming would help reducing water usage in agriculture. However, the author states that there is an urgent need for economic assessments of vertical indoor farming.

Farmer-led innovations and rural household welfare: Evidence from Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 12:21:02 +0000

This article in the Journal of Rural Studies analyzes the effect of farmer-led innovations on rural household welfare, measured by income, consumption expenditure, and food security. It is well recognized that agricultural innovations could emerge from many sources, including rural farmers. Yet the numerous micro-level studies on impacts of agricultural innovations have largely focused on externally promoted technologies, and a rigorous assessment of impacts of farmer-led innovations is lacking. Therefore, this study was done using household survey data from northern Ghana. Results show that farmer-led innovations significantly increase household income and consumption expenditure per adult equivalent. The innovations also contribute significantly to the reduction of household food insecurity by increasing food consumption expenditure, by decreasing the duration of food shortages, and by reducing the severity of hunger. Furthermore, it is found that these effects are more pronounced for farm households whose innovative activities are minor modifications of existing techniques. Overall, the results show positive welfare effects of farmer-led innovations, and thus support increasing arguments on the need to promote these innovations (which have been largely undervalued) as a complement to externally promoted technologies in food security and rural poverty reduction efforts.

Beyond the hype: Mobile phones and the web to improve agricultural value chains

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 15:03:11 +0000

This technical brief (PDF) by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) summarizes the lessons learned from seven ICT4Ag projects, offering key recommendations for future projects. The brief highlights the importance of understanding users’ needs by interacting with potential clients before designing an app and then pilot-testing it to fine tune the services provided. Another key recommendation is that a text-based service is cheaper and easier than developing and maintaining a graphical interface, and works better with the low availability of smartphones. Next, face-to-face promotion and training familiarize users with the app and help build a large client base. In the medium term, however, user fees are unlikely to sustain such services; they will still depend on other sources of income, especially donor funds. Last, it is found that partnerships are vital, both as a source of data to analyze and disseminate, and for support in promoting the app among clients. Details of the final outputs of the seven ICT4Ag projects are provided in separate briefs. One of these briefs (PDF) explains the progress in scaling up satellite-based information services in South Sudan to provide farmers with targeted extension services. Another brief (PDF) describes efforts to scale-out mapping services using geospatial technology to smallholder farmers across Ghana. Also the work of collecting cashew market prices from across Ivory Coast and sending the information to cashew growers via text is discussed (PDF).

Innovations improve farming yield and earnings

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:59:52 +0000

This news item in The East African discusses several new, technological innovation by Feed the Future that help farmers in East Africa. From technological innovations, like iProcure Ltd, smallholder farmers are able to get quality inputs for better productivity. iProcure is a digital platform through which farmers can order for inputs and have them delivered through co-operatives to ensure that they get genuine and affordable inputs. Its objective is to get tools closest to the farmers with timely delivery, even in remote areas. The innovations by Feed The Future are cushioning farmers against agriculture shocks such as droughts and diseases. An example of this is an implement called Tutrack which has been helping tomato farmers specifically to get information on how to get rid of pests. Tutrack is a pheromone-based mass-trapping system for Tuta absoluta consisting of a lure and a trap. Another innovation is EasyMa 6.0 milk weighing systems, which is a technology that is assisting farmers to get real time digital weighing scale connected to dairy enterprise. Before, it would often be rounded off to one liter, but now the technology makes sure the weight is captured to two decimal places and they get paid to the last drop. The innovations have also enabled farmers’ access to extension services, livestock insurance and financial products.

From agribusiness to subsistence: High-tech tools now available to all

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 09:52:19 +0000

This news item in The Guardian discusses the potential of precision agriculture to increase the yields of smallholder farmers. Precision agriculture is closely associated with technology, like GPS tractors, and its application to large-scale farms in developed countries. But there’s a growing body of research now to support the idea that small-scale farmers can benefit from precision agriculture. The technology which has driven precision agriculture in the global north is becoming more widely accessible. For example, a new handheld device known as the GreenSeeker can be used to measure the health and nitrogen status of plants, enabling farmers to make more precise assessments of fertilizer requirements. Some technologies are becoming more affordable though still expensive for many small-scale farmers. It is suggested that enterprising farmers may find ways round this once they see the potential benefits. Authors from the Accenture Innovation Awards discusse in this news item that innovation is needed to drive down production costs of the technologies and to allow for widespread adoption of precision agriculture. High investment costs and lack of technological knowledge are among the key barriers of implementation of precision farming in many developing countries. Last year’s Awards winner, developed a portable device that lets farmers measure the quality of their soil, thereby allowing them to optimize their crop yield and prevent the wastage of food and resources.

Blockchain: The evolutionary next step for ICT E-Agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 14:36:16 +0000

This article (PDF) by the Environments journal, reviews blockchain-based concepts associated with ICT-based technology. Moreover, it proposes a model ICT e-agriculture system with a blockchain infrastructure. An evaluation tool is presented to determine context specific technical and social requirements of blockchain technology for ICT e-agriculture systems. The proposed system and tool can be evaluated and applied to further developments of e-agriculture systems. According to this article, ICT e-agricultural with a blockchain infrastructure is the next step in the evolution of ICT e-agriculture. Blockchain distributed networks do not require pubic trust in a centralized authority. E-agricultural can increase economic efficiencies, food safety, and reduce uncertainty risk while achieving sustainable agricultural development. When ICT e-agricultural systems with blockchain infrastructures are immutable and decentralized record management systems, baseline agricultural environmental data is safeguarded. The model of an ICT e-agricultural system with blockchain infrastructure compiles water quality data from irrigation water monitoring data collected by remote sensors throughout Taiwan. Further development and incorporation of agricultural data is required. Though centralized databases may be suitable for agriculture environmental data management programmes within ICT e-agriculture systems, technical and social needs can change. The evaluation tool can dual-assess the technical and social requirements. Blockchain technology, while still challenged with key limitations, will become ubiquitous as the fast pace of technological advancement proceeds. Future work on the implementation of blockchain technology in real-world e-agriculture case studies or current agricultural environmental monitoring systems, such as our prototype, may further elucidate the feasibility of applying this technology in environmental data and agricultural monitoring initiatives and national ICT e-agriculture in general.

Digitisation: Game changer for rural Africa?

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:00:16 +0000

This issue of the Rural 21 Journal presents technologies and initiatives with practical relevance, that bear a potential for up-scaling, are locally adapted and can above all benefit small-scale farmers and the young generation. The first article (PDF) discusses how smallholder farmers can benefit from digital technologies. The author takes a look at various agricultural services in the mobile-phone branch, from weather and price information through credit schemes to supply chain management. It shows which systems have the biggest prospects of success and why others are doomed to failure. Additionally, the issue demonstrates which areas could still make significant progress on reaching inclusive rural digitization. One solution to make digitization more inclusive is an innovative approach to bypass the constraint of ICT illiteracy among farmers in developing countries by channeling information through children of the households (PDF). Another article (PDF) discusses the need for young innovators and entrepreneurs to develop ICT applications for agriculture to address the crucial employment issues faced by the younger generation and unlock the potential of agribusiness. This article focuses on promoting entrepreneurship as one of the numerous formats for engaging youth leveraging on digital technologies developed by CTA. Digital technologies hold a great potential to trigger changes in African agriculture. But the issue of who actually benefits from new developments and whether they are not increasing pressure on those who are already marginalized instead of supporting fair participation should not be overlooked (PDF).

Country-driven innovations and agrifood value chains for poverty and hunger reduction

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 14:48:37 +0000

This blog at the Food Security Portal discusses a book chapter by IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan. In this chapter, Fan suggests that more innovative, better focused, and more cost-effective measures are needed to more effectively address hunger. These innovations must be driven by developing countries themselves. Increasing agricultural investments to spur growth in this sector is essential. However, how these investments should be prioritized will depend on each country’s specific needs, capacities, and resources. Developing countries themselves need to take a leading role in determining their priorities, earmarking investments, and driving innovation in the agricultural sector. Government policies that strengthen the position of smallholders need to support their integration into the agri-food value chains. Policymakers need to allow impartial monitoring of value chain activities and adjust their policies based upon the interventions that are most successful for smallholders. Additionally there should be a focus on reducing food losses. To achieve this, several developing technologies should be monitored to determine their effectiveness. Crop diversification, the development of more stress-resistant crops and improved planting and growing practices could help reduce losses before harvest. However, the best channel through which to avoid losses at all levels in developing countries is investment in rural infrastructure, transportation, and food and packaging industries. In conclusion, more and continued country-driven efforts that include global, national, and local actors are needed to reduce hunger and poverty at the global level.

An assessment of mobile phone-based dissemination of weather and market information in the Upper West Region of Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 18 May 2017 08:48:12 +0000

This article (PDF) in Agriculture & Food Security Journal assesses the usefulness, constraints, and factors likely to influence farmers’ decisions to patronize mobile phone-based weather and market information. The rapid growth of mobile phones in Ghana has opened up the possibility of delivering timely and useful weather and market information to farmers at costs lower than traditional agricultural extension services. The study uses primary data from 310 farmers in the Upper West Region. Results show that contact with agricultural extension agents and farmer-to-farmer extension services significantly influences farmers’ decision to patronize mobile phone-based weather and market information. Regardless of sex, income status, and age group, farmers generally rate mobile phone-based weather and market information as very useful. The constraints to the utilization of mobile phone-based weather and market information include inexact information, complex text messages, information that are too costly to implement, and poor infrastructure. In order to improve the utilization of mobile phone-based weather and market information, disseminators of mobile phone-based information such as Esoko should constantly update and provide client-specific information. Improvements in mobile phone networks and related services will enhance the utilization of mobile phone-based weather and market information. Furthermore, agricultural extension projects should consider introducing toll-free calling and messaging services. Alternatively, agricultural projects could provide free mobile phone services for a lead-farmer who would then serve as a nucleus source of information for a host of farmers since farmer-to-farmer extension seems to be effective.

Agricultural innovators in Ethiopia: Lessons from the food security and Rural Entrepreneurship Innovation Fund

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 02 May 2017 15:13:03 +0000

This publication (PDF) by AgriProFocus, ICCO Cooperation, The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Fair & Sustainable (F&S) Ethiopia, and The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) introduces the Food Security and Rural Entrepreneurship (FSRE) Innovation Fund and explains how it contributes to rural innovation in Ethiopia. The fund supports ideas that have the potential to become scalable innovations that improve food security and strengthen rural entrepreneurship. The FSRE Fund takes into account the following factors when deciding whether an innovation has the potential to be upscaled: technical feasibility; farm economics; access to markets; organizational set-up; food security; rural entrepreneurship; and gender, environment and social-cultural aspects. Some innovators worked with improved seeds, amongst other for wheat, potato, chickpeas, tumeric and ginger. One company experimented with harvesting chickpea with a wheat combine harvester, which was the first time chickpea was harvested mechanically in Ethiopia. Another example of an innovation are plastic liners installed, which can be welded to any shape, to cover the inside of a grain store to reduce grain losses. Another example is the Hundee’s innovation project to test promising upgrades for the dairy sector. Cooled milk collection centres were installed for two cooperatives. In addition, youth groups were organized around specific business opportunities, such as fodder production, veterinary services and bull services.

Open data benefits for agriculture and nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 11:31:46 +0000

This issue of ICT Update (PDF) by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN) portrays how GODAN and other stakeholders are creating a global open data movement in agriculture and nutrition from the perspectives of its users by showcasing some of the best practices and the most common challenges in this field. The article ‘The impact of open data on smallholder farmers‘ discusses the degree to which more freely available data could be of use to smallholder households and the current impact of existing open data initiatives. There is a lot potential, but a lack of reliable and contextualised data is currently working against smallholder farmers. Potential benefits for smallholder farmers are identified as increased participation and self-empowerment, improved or new products such as logistical, extension, financial, input and trade services, more efficient value chains with better access to markets, higher and less perishable yields, greater availability of inputs and better pest control. However, in general, the impact of open agricultural data in developing countries is low. Often, this is because the data needed to have local impact does not exist, or is not openly available. Meteorological data is an area where open data is starting to make a contribution to smallholders. The article refers to the working paper ‘Open data and smallholder food and nutritional security‘ (PDF) by CTA and Alterra. This working paper highlights corporate data sharing as the most effective channel for producing finely tuned information about the smallholder sector and providing better services to assist its development.

Satellite-based assessment of yield variation and its determinants in smallholder African systems

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 08:52:38 +0000

This article (PDF) in PNAS Journal, demonstrates the potential to track smallholder maize yield variation in western Kenya, using a combination of 1-m imagery and intensive field sampling on thousands of fields over 2 years. The emergence of satellite sensors that can routinely observe millions of individual smallholder farms raises possibilities for monitoring and understanding agricultural productivity in many regions of the world. Results show that satellite-based measures are able to detect positive yield responses to fertilizer and hybrid seed inputs and that the inferred responses are statistically indistinguishable from estimates based on survey-based yields. These results suggest that high-resolution satellite imagery can be used to make predictions of smallholder agricultural productivity that are roughly as accurate as the survey-based measures traditionally used in research and policy applications. Results also indicate a substantial near-term potential to quickly generate useful datasets on productivity in smallholder systems, even with minimal or no field training data. Such datasets could rapidly accelerate learning about which interventions in smallholder systems have the most positive impact, thus enabling more rapid transformation of rural livelihoods. The authors stress that the results suggest a range of potential capabilities, including inexpensive estimates of yields, which could enable better targeting of agricultural interventions and better evaluation of their impact, the broader characterization of the source and magnitude of yield gaps, and the development of financial products aimed at African smallholders.

The impact of the use of new technologies on farmers’ wheat yield in Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 10:07:16 +0000

This conference paper (PDF) by IFPRI examines the impact of the Wheat Initiative technology package promoted by the research and extension systems in Ethiopia on wheat yield. The package includes certified wheat seed, a lower seeding density, row planting, fertilizer recommendations, and marketing assistance. A sample of 490 wheat growers was randomly assigned to one of three groups: the full-package intervention group, a marketing-assistance-only group, and a control group. The results suggest that the full-package farmers had around 14% higher yields. Implementation of the Wheat Initiative was successful in terms of making certified seed and fertilizer accessible and increasing uptake, though only 61 percent of the intervention group adopted row planting and few farmers received marketing assistance. So whereas changing material input rates when they are made available is not that difficult, changing farmer behavior takes more time. From a design perspective, the drawback of using a “package” is that we do not know which components of the package contributed most to the yield increase, and which components could have been either minimized or dropped altogether because they did not contribute to the goal. Additive designs can help shed light on how important different pieces of such packages are to attaining goals. Another important consideration when planning package interventions is the change needed in labor allocations when adopting a new technology or technique. From a policy perspective, the results show that intensification through the promotion of such packages is quite possible, but expectations about increases in productivity that would be observed will necessarily lag substantially behind those of yield trials.

Monitoring rice agriculture across Myanmar using satellite data

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 15:53:23 +0000

This article in the Remote Sensing Journal highlights new opportunities for monitoring agriculture. Assessment and monitoring of rice agriculture over large areas has been limited by cloud cover, optical sensor spatial and temporal resolutions, and lack of systematic or open access radar. The use of dense time series of open access Sentinel-1 C-band data at moderate spatial resolution offers innovative opportunities for assessment and monitoring of agriculture. This is especially pertinent in South and Southeast Asia where rice is critical to food security and mostly grown during the rainy seasons when high cloud cover is present. In this research application, time series Sentinel-1A Interferometric Wide images (632) were utilized to map rice extent, crop calendar, inundation, and cropping intensity across Myanmar. An updated (2015) land use land cover map fusing Sentinel-1, Landsat-8 OLI, and PALSAR-2 were integrated and classified using a randomforest algorithm. Time series phenological analyses of the dense Sentinel-1 data were then executed to assess rice information across all of Myanmar. The broad land use land cover map identified 186,701 km2 of cropland across Myanmar with mean out-of-sample kappa of over 90%. A phenological time series analysis refined the cropland class to create a rice mask by extrapolating unique indicators tied to the rice life cycle (dynamic range, inundation, growth stages) from the dense time series Sentinel-1 to map rice paddy characteristics in an automated approach. Analyses show that the harvested rice area was 6,652,111 ha with general (R2 = 0.78) agreement with government census statistics. The outcomes show strong ability to assess and monitor rice production at moderate scales over a large cloud-prone region. In countries such as Myanmar with large populations and governments dependent upon rice production, more robust and transparent monitoring and assessment tools can help support better decision making. These results indicate that systematic and open access Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can help scale information required by food security initiatives and Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification programs.

Geodata and ICT solutions for inclusive finance and food security

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 14:57:19 +0000

This study ‘Geodata and ICT Solutions for Inclusive Finance and Food Security’ (PDF) commissioned by NpM, Platform for Inclusive Finance, presents an overview of the possibilities and challenges of using geo-data and ICTs to improve agricultural production and access to finance for smallholder farmers. In light of a growing demand for food, smallholder farmers are crucial in supplying the world with sufficient food. Besides access to finance, smallholder farmers need more and better information for their farming decisions. This could improve agricultural production and market access, ultimately increasing their incomes and food security. Geo-data and information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as geographic information systems, drones, and cloud computing are now being used to boost smallholder’s production and their income. The publication is based on an analysis of 250 projects, you can access the ICT map with all 250 cases here. The authors identified several areas that are relevant for speeding up developments that benefit smallholder farmers and the financial institutions that serve them: 1) a good policy and regulatory environment; 2) appropriate information packages for farmers; 3) guidance and support to (rural) financial institutions; 4) high risk and long term capital investments. From this paper, it becomes clear that innovative partnerships are required. This is especially shown in the Geo for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) programme. New players entering the field and organizations that develop new services outside their traditional area of work also bring about innovations, such as telecom companies providing input loans. The authors argue that in order to catalyse the development of technologies that focus on improving agriculture and finance, even more collaboration, knowledge sharing and testing is needed.

Chinese agriculture in Africa: Perspectives of Chinese agronomists on agricultural aid

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 09:19:41 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) presents the reflections of more than 160 Chinese agronomists who have spent time implementing Chinese agricultural technologies in Africa. Chinese actors are increasingly engaging in African agriculture. Despite China’s innovative approaches to aid and assertions of comparative advantage in agriculture technologies, experience shows that technologies that have worked well in China may not offer the same benefits when transferred to Africa. The local contexts in African countries provide a continuous challenge to even simple technology-transfer models; often, the effectiveness of aid depends on the resourcefulness of aid experts and staff on the ground. Although Chinese agricultural aid in Africa dates back to the 1950s, there has never been an attempt to systematically gather the perspectives of practitioners implementing these projects on the ground. This research, conducted by the newly constituted research division of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Centre (FECC) of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, can be seen as a first step to gain insight into their experiences. Out of the research comes a need for innovation and adaptation of Chinese technologies is reflected strongly in the research, and there are examples of achieving this in the field; but assessing adaptation potential is not yet integrated systematically into project design.

Innovative farming and forestry across the emerging world: the role of genetically modified crops and trees

F&BKP Office — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 13:35:56 +0000

This book published by the International Industrial Biotechnology Network (IIBN), highlights the importance of biotechnological innovations for sustainable development of agriculture and industry, illustrated by means of case studies from growth economies and developing countries. The book focuses on (near) commercial applications of transgenic technologies in agriculture and forestry and provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of commercial farming using transgenic breeding across the emerging/developing world. It seeks to support the factual debate on biosciences and technology for developing and emerging economies. The book argues that careful applications of biosciences and technology to clearly identified development challenges can result in positive outcomes of communities, farmers and enterprises, environment and society at large. The book provides a compilation of selected case studies from different emerging and developing countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, that illustrate either the potential or demonstrated value of a particular biotechnology application for sustainable agricultural innovation and/or industrial development. Special emphasis is given to approaches adapted to meet heterogeneous local needs and help support more inclusive growth in low and middle-income countries. The authors highlight the way forward as improved and constructive dialog on technology, enabling policies that stimulate the flow of needed technology and investment and the international cooperation in technology development and deployment.

Understanding agricultural drivers of deforestation through remote sensing: opportunities and limitations in sub-Saharan Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 10:27:10 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) highlights opportunities and limitations for understanding agricultural drivers of deforestation through remote sensing. Effective monitoring of deforestation and cropland expansion in Africa requires reliable estimates of land cover area. However, continental scale land cover datasets generated solely or partially through remote sensing technologies show large differences in the extent and spatial distribution of forest and cropland. In this working paper, 14 of the most commonly used land cover data products are identified, with summarised spatial data, temporal and thematic properties, and estimates of forest and cropland area are compared. The limitations to land cover data that result from their divergent predictions are described and the implications for using this data to assess the agricultural drivers of deforestation in Africa are discussed. TA key finding found was that disagreement between data products is apparent at continental, national and regional scales, being particularly elevated at the smallest spatial scales. Forest area estimates agree most strongly in areas of dense forest and where forest is clearly not present (eg deserts). Agreement between estimates of forest area is poor in areas of woodland and savannah. Crop area estimates show greater disagreement than for forest area, and may be particularly uncertain where agriculture is small scale and spatially scattered as is dominant in much of Africa. Data products agree better on locations where agriculture is limited rather than widespread.

Building agricultural networks of farmers and scientists via mobile phones: case study of banana disease surveillance in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 10:00:54 +0000

This article in the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology highlights an important challenge that is threatening agriculture in Africa: the difficulty in collecting timely data on disease spread and effectiveness of on-farm control methods. This study served as a case study for assessing the viability of a participatory GIS (Geographic Information System) to enable a plant diagnostics network with fieldworkers. The use of mobile phone applications and a centralized database were integrated to provide a blueprint for how a range of agriculture-focused field organizations can collect data, explain events, predict outcomes and adapt and refine strategies with more accurate, cost-efficient and timely information. Over the course of 2 months, 38 Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) using mobile phones, MTN Mobile Internet and GPS devices collected 3018 surveys documenting the presence/absence of three banana diseases: Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), Fusarium Wilt (FW) and Banana Bunchy Top disease (BBTD) in Bushenyi and Mbale districts in Uganda. Costs were saved by only mobilizing CKWs who then trained the communities on methods of banana disease detection, preventative measures and disease control procedures; only when doubts over identification or control occurred did the IITA and NARO technical team then prioritize visits. Although the CKWs provided an efficient and cost-effective information channel that can be leveraged to integrate the efforts of scientists with the needs of rural communities, there were significant gaps in prior farmer knowledge on the three targeted diseases, including how to identify or control them, despite extensive awareness campaigns preceding this initiative. Factsheets used for reference following training greatly improved CKW prior knowledge of disease recognition and control methods; hence, 90% of the surveys conducted during the second month met the data quality standards based on survey completeness, GPS accuracy and quality of symptomatic plant photos. There was significant and consistent demand by farmers for CKW services throughout the pilot period. In-depth training and continuous support of CKWs is thus essential. The technology infrastructure is scalable, and further integration of technology components promises a customizable web-based tool for data collection, GIS analysis, information dissemination and management of agriculture extension operations.

Strengthening agricultural water efficiency and productivity on the African and global Level

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 09:33:29 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO targets agricultural water extension agents and technical experts, providing them with clear indications on how to improve water harvesting capacity for agricultural production as well as how to select feasible and suited water harvesting techniques for different geographical areas. The assessment outlined in this report forms part of the ‘Strengthening Agricultural Water Efficiency and Productivity on the African and Global Level’ project, which aims at reducing hunger and poverty in three African countries (Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda) by focusing on the improvement of agriculture water management and mainstreaming it in national frameworks and processes. This report summaries the assessment of 42 water harvesting best practices across the three case study countries using Multi-Criteria Analysis. Water harvesting holds a great potential in increasing yields and improving food security in rain-fed farming areas such as those found in Morocco, Burkina Faso and Uganda. One important way in which water harvesting contributes to more productive and climate resilient rain-fed systems is by influencing microclimates. In the three countries it emerges that a combination of measures, rather than stand-alone techniques, is the most effective way to match the flexibility needed to increase crop production across the range of farming communities present in these regions.

Youth e-agriculture entrepreneurship

Nynke — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 11:27:55 +0000

This ICT-Update magazine (PDF) published by CTA focuses on youth e-agriculture entrepreneurship. Young innovators in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific region, have recognized the need for creative solutions to raise agricultural productivity and the huge prospective market for their ICT-enabled services in agriculture (ICT4Ag). Young innovators face some specific challenges. For example, they often have limited understanding of the agriculture sector, specifically the functioning of value chains and the diversity of stakeholders. Specific gaps frequently mentioned by young entrepreneurs include the lack of business courses in agriculture and ICT curricula, the lack of capacities and sustainability in innovation hubs and incubators, the limited availability of venture capital and an unfavorable business environment in general. Although young e-agriculture entrepreneurs still face many challenges, the magazine argues that they have the potential to transform agricultural value chains in developing countries. The majority of ICT4Ag applications focus on the production segment, in particular on the provision of extension and advisory services. Other innovative examples include GPS-based tracking of livestock, “smart” tractors integrating geo-localisation services, SMS features for communication between farmers and tractor owners, and data collection on usage. The issue includes articles with many examples and challenges of scaling-up initiatives and ensuring inclusive initiatives and on how to set up healthy, supportive eco-sytems for ICT start-ups in agriculture. It also offers practical advise on how young e-agriculture entrepreneurs can fund their initiatives and on how to develop a business strategy.

Applications of Whole Genome Sequencing in food safety management

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 10:01:19 +0000

This technical background paper (PDF) published by the FAO in collaboration with the WHO, discusses recent advances in Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) technology that have the potential to play a significant role in the area of food safety. WGS provides rapid identification and characterization of microorganisms, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with a level of precision not previously possible. With the rapidly declining cost of this technology, WGS applications in food safety management, including the opportunities it provides for enhanced integration of information from other sectors, such as human and animal health, could contribute to enhanced consumer protection, trade facilitation, nutrition and food security. However, the level of understanding of the concepts and potential use of WGS in food safety management vary among countries. This document aims to take the first steps in addressing these gaps, and providing answers to some of the questions which food safety officials (particularly those in developing countries) need to ask and consider if they are to make informed decisions about WGS and its potential value in food safety management in their context. Four real-life case studies are presented to highlight key benefits and potential drawbacks of WGS in food safety management.

How big data will revolutionize the global food chain

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 16:21:16 +0000

This article by Mckinsey shows in what way the advanced analytics of big data opens vast untapped potential for farmers, investors, and emerging economies to reduce the cost of goods sold. By taking advantage of big data and advanced analytics at every link in the value chain from field to fork, food companies can harness digital’s enormous potential for sustainable value creation. Digital can help them use resources in a more environmentally responsible manner, improve their sourcing decisions, and implement circular-economy solutions in the food chain. For food producers, the opportunities begin upstream and end downstream. At the upstream end, the agricultural practices followed by dairy farmers, cacao and coffee producers, wheat and barley producers, cattle farmers, and so on result in enormous variations in commodity costs in an industry where raw materials represent easily 60 percent of the cost of goods sold. The opportunities for digital innovation in the food chain are enormous and vary by context, with some well suited to emerging markets and others more appropriate to mature economies. Emerging markets can tap the potential of digital in the food chain through innovations such as precision agriculture, supply-chain efficiencies, and agriculture-focused payment systems.

Hello Tractor: smart tractors for smallholder farmers

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 09:41:35 +0000

This blog on Takepart describes an interesting technological innovation serving smallholder farmers in Nigeria. For resource-poor farmers, labor shortages often leads to under-cultivation, poor harvests and lost income. Targeted farm mechanization has proven to be an effective solution to these shortages. Despite this, small farmers throughout Africa lack access to tractors to improve farm productivity. The company “Hello Tractor” has designed an innovative, low-cost “Smart Tractor” specifically for small farmers unique needs. Equipped with various attachments, owners can tailor its use for a variety of crops and stages of the production cycle, allowing them to serve their customers throughout the year. The “Smart Tractors” come equipped with data analytics capabilities that allows Hello Tractor to track “Smart Tractor” usage and gather data on location, market trends, and uptake. Hello Tractor also offers Smart Tractor Financing that requires no collateral and has flexible repayment schedules. Hello Tractor has developed low-cost smart tractors that smallholder farmers can either buy or rent along with a driver, via SMS. The company works with service providers who can deliver the tractors when individual farmers text message into the Hello Tractor’s virtual cloud. Hello tractor pings the service provider when a farmer needs tractor service, and the machine is delivered in less than two weeks. The farmer then pays for the service via mobile money, which is a technology pioneered in Kenya but is widely used is sub-saharan Africa. IITA Youth Agripreneurs is partnering with Hello Tractor to train young Agripreneurs in Nigeria on the use of a ‘Smart Tractor’.

Science, technology, and the politics of knowledge: The case of China’s agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa

Babs — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 09:56:13 +0000

This paper in the World Development Journal, studies the role of Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre (ATDC) in Africa. The ATDC has been considered as an alternative model to pursue sustainability of Chinese foreign aid to African countries. This paper attempts to examine the ATDC scheme, particularly focus on the knowledge construction at macro level of design and the knowledge encounter at micro level of daily operation based on the case studies in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Our study finds multiple facets of the ATDC, i.e., the cleavage between the macro-level of policy design and micro level of implementation realities; the interplay between knowledge and politics, and appearance of possible alternative development pathways stimulated by ATDCs in African countries. The paper argues that even though the ATDC is a technology-centered scheme, it is inevitably a social and political process in implementation, resulting in the discontinuity of the policy results. With a whole set of ideas and imaginaries being delivered, frustrated, and negotiated, the ATDC creates a very different vision to the established CG system, or the western bilateral aid programs. As an embodiment of a “traveling technocratic rationality”, the ATDCs are important sites for negotiations over knowledge and politics, and the meanings of aid, investment, and development, as part of the wider playing out of China’s engagement in Africa.

Drones on the horizon: New frontier in agricultural innovation

Nynke — Tue, 17 May 2016 11:29:08 +0000

This issue of ICT Update (PDF), published by CTA, elaborates on the potential of drone technology for agriculture. Drone technology could help farmers around the world monitor their crops, fend off pests, improve land tenure, and more. But to realize its full potential, regulatory regimes are necessary, while keeping citizens’ safety and privacy rights secure. Crop insurers and insurance policy holders also benefit from readily-available and easily repeatable drone imagery: in India, insurers plan to use UAVs to conduct assessment of crop losses after natural disasters, allowing them to more accurately and quickly calculate pay-outs, while large US crop insurers like ADM have begun running their own drone tests. Drones also have proven useful to agricultural planners, greatly reducing the time and cost required to conduct an accurate survey. UAVs can be used to conduct volume estimates, to create irrigation and drainage models, and to collect the data needed to generate high-definition, geographically accurate elevation models and maps. In an example described in this issue, a team tasked with planning a Nigerian rice farm used drone imagery to make decisions on the layout of both rice paddies and irrigation and drainage systems – and, thanks to the drone imagery, were able to quickly determine that their original design was poorly suited to the terrain that was actually available to them. The issue further elaborates on the needed regulations and capacity building to ensure the adoption of the drone-technology will be functional in remote areas and in line with privacy law.

The issue is also available in Spanish (PDF) and Swahili (PDF).

Reducing rural women’s domestic workload through labour-saving technologies and practices

Nynke — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 13:33:50 +0000

This toolkit from IFAD provides practical papers on how labour-saving technologies and practices can promote inclusive development through reducing the domestic workload and freeing up time to perform productive tasks, but also to participate in decision-making processes and development opportunities. Labour-saving technologies can also make rural areas more attractive places for younger people. When the domestic workload is reduced, women are the principal beneficiaries but men also benefit, depending on the extent to which they perform these tasks. The toolkit is composed of: a “How to do note“, that offers practical guidance on design and implementation of project, best practices and more resources; “Lessons learned“, that provides from a IFAD’s water investments impacts on time-savings of household; a “Compendium“, that showcases some labour-saving technologies.

The adoption problem; or why we still understand so little about technological change in African agriculture

Nynke — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 07:20:43 +0000

In this article (PDF) in Outlook on Agriculture the authors argue that a re-conceptualization of adoption of technology is needed. The notion of adoption is central to efforts to measure technological change in African agriculture, and plays an important role in the evaluation of returns on investment in agricultural research and technology development. However, the adoption concept, as it is commonly used in both the literature and development research practice, is seriously flawed and leads to inaccurate and misleading conclusions. The authors argue that the concept of adoption currently used is too linear in both spatial and temporal terms, too binary, too much focused on individual decisions, and blind to many important aspects of technological change. The authors outline a design specification for a replacement concept that would provide a better basis for robust empirical research on the economic, social and environmental impacts of investment in agricultural technology development and promotion. They propose that this new concept can contribute to a better and more nuanced understanding of the impacts of technology development interventions. The new concept they propose would include sociologically and anthropologically informed conceptions of technology and technological change; encompass change processes that are emergent, iterative and incremental; include partial or adaptive change processes; include the diversity of technologies of diverse complexity; encompass the multiple levels and scales at which technology operates.

Agricultural service delivery through mobile phones: Local innovation and technological opportunities in Kenya

Nynke — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 15:28:07 +0000

This book chapter published by Springer elaborates on the spread of mobile phone use across Kenya and the opportunities this brings to improve service delivery for smallscale farmers. International and local companies have already started to capitalize on these opportunities, although many mobile phone-enabled services (m-services) are still at an early stage. Kenya has emerged as a leader in m-service development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors assesses the key factors that have helped the local innovation scene to emerge and reviews existing agricultural m-services that provide Kenyan farmers with access to information and learning, financial services, and input and output markets. They particularly point to the start-up/innovation environment, the government policy, the mobile banking services already in place, and the growing customers base. The author concludes by stressing that m-services can only ever be part of a broader solution. Farmers in the developing world face a multitude of challenges, some of which can be addressed through m-services, but many others of which cannot. Therefore, m-service should be embedded in complementary support programs and infrastructure developments to tackle other production and marketing limitations. Such complementary measures do not necessarily need to be implemented by the m-service provider, but can be the responsibility of other actors, such as companies, non-governmental organizations or government departments.

Weather forecasting and monitoring: Mobile solutions for climate resilience

Nynke — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 15:33:41 +0000

This paper (PDF) from GSMA and DFID explores new cases for weather monitoring and forecasting through mobile phones to enhance climate resilience. The authors advocate for increasing focus and investment from mobile network operators (MNOs), value added service (VAS) providers and donors into enabling technologies that can provide more localized and accurate service. In the developing world, the availability of localized, granular weather forecasts can benefit smallholder farmers who depend on rain for their agricultural activities and food security. With changing climates the need for accurate weather information is becoming greater. In theory, the dependency of the agriculture sector on rain should translate into high demand for weather forecasts. However, the lack of reliable data and resources, particularly from national meteorological agencies, has meant that weather forecasts available today through radio, TV and mobile have hardly provided value to people depending on agriculture. The authors urge that need to put weather forecasting and monitoring at the core of climate adaptation funds, and should focus on mobile-centered projects in order to increase the opportunity to scale services and generate socioeconomic impact.

New storage bags decrease agricultural waste and increase rural smallhoders’ income

F&BKP Office — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 16:45:53 +0000

This article on the Inter Press Service (IPS) elaborates on the so-called PICS bags which can cut agricultural waste and increase the incomes of rural smallholders. The PICS bags are big plastic storage sacks made of triple-lined plastic that can hold up to 90 kilograms of cowpeas (also known as black-eyed beans) or other farm produce. The bags costs 2 dollar a piece. The acronym stands for Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags. By hermetically sealing dried produce, the PICS bags protect the crops from insects. This increases the potential value of the food that farmers grow, as they lower the risks of losses from insects that were known to destroy crops when traditional storage methods were used. With their crop better protected, smallholders can increase their own food security and can command higher prices at the market since they are not forced to sell the produce directly after the harvest season. An early analysis found that cowpea farmers raised their income by almost 50 per cent by using the bags. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is trying to promote the use of these bags in Nigeria.

mAgri Design Toolkit: user-centered design for mobile agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 16:43:15 +0000

This toolkit (PDF) of GSMA, a global association for the mobile telecoms industry, provides operational guidance on the product development process to better connect services offered by mobile network operates to the needs of the farmers and other key actors. Often, programs launched by mobile network operates to support the usage of mobile phones and information sharing in developing regions for better agricultural practices have suffered from low user adoption, despite coming from leading mobile network operators and value-added service (VAS) providers. This toolkit is a collection of instructions, tools and stories to help develop and scale mobile agriculture products by applying a user-centered design approach. It provides guides for different stages in a product development cycle elaborating on the tools and displaying stories from the field.

Crop Monitoring for Improved Food Security

Nynke — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:16:00 +0000

This FAO and ADB report summarizes the outcomes of the Expert Meeting on Crop Monitoring for Improved Food Security in February 2014 at Vientiane, Lao PDR. This expert meeting, gathered over fifty experts and focused on best practices and methodological issues related to crop monitoring and food security. Estimates and forecasts of crop area and yield are of critical importance to policy makers for the planning of agricultural production and monitoring of food supply. The possible links between poverty and crop yields, which depend upon a variety of factors such as cultivation practices, availability of irrigation, access to resources to buy agricultural inputs for adoption of new technology, cannot be fully understood without reliable estimates of crop area and yields. In the absence of reliable information on crop productivity the reasons behind food insecurity of agricultural households cannot be precisely identified. The report contains a series of technical papers presented in the meeting and some reference papers, and also tries to identify challenges for future research work.

Success stories on information and communication technologies for agriculture and rural development

F&BKP Office — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:36:43 +0000

This publication (PDF) from FAO presents seven case studies in innovative use of emerging technologies to improve the living standards of farming communities. The paper covers case studies from India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Thailand and Papua New Guinea wherein technology is used to share knowledge on farming method within local circumstances, to combat illegal fishing or to create smart irrigation systems. Smallholder resource-poor farmers are confronted by many challenges and at the same time, agriculture is becoming increasingly knowledge intensive. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have provided opportunities to address such challenges to improve agricultural production and productivity, and enhance value chains. Linking knowledge to innovation is crucial to addressing the information and knowledge gaps in the agriculture sector. Therefore, ICTs can play a very important role in bridging information gaps. This publication showcases a few case studies where innovative use of emerging technologies together with capacity development has brought about rich dividends. The authors highlights ICT as an important means of communication for sharing of information and innovations among all players of the agriculture sector.

The publication is a follow up to the FAO publication Information and communication technologies for sustainable agriculture (PDF).

2015

Bubble desalination latest effort to boost crop growth

Babs — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:22:19 +0000

The article in Desalination explains the Bubble-Greenhouse: A holistic sustainable approach to small-scale water desalination in remote regions. The Bubble-Greenhouse idea develops an existing seawater greenhouse concept, which uses the evaporation and condensation of salt water to produce fresh water for irrigation and to create a cool, humid environment inside a greenhouse, meaning crops need less water to grow. The new approach moves the evaporation and condensation processes outside the greenhouse. Inside two water-filled ‘bubble columns’, streams of thousands of tiny bubbles create a large surface for water to evaporate or condense. A unique property of seawater prevents the small bubbles joining to form big bubbles, thus maintaining a large surface area. Remote, arid places could be provided with a low-tech, low-maintenance way to turn salt water into fresh water to grow food. As the technology is conceptually simple to implement, it holds great potential for community participation, empowerment, skills development and capacity building of local people in remote locations.

Innovation systems and technical efficiency in developing-country agriculture

F&BKP Office — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:38:55 +0000

In this article in the Agricultural Economics Journal, the authors argue that policy makers should focus on differences across countries when trying to combat low productivity and formulating global strategies and national policies for agricultural development. They showed how different components of an agricultural innovation system interact, to determine levels of technical inefficiency in developing-country agriculture. Using a model they compared the technological advancement of different countries and found that depending on the level of technological efficiency, different interventions were most effective. In some cases agricultural output is determined by the availability of agricultural labor force, size of arable land and the area of land equipped for irrigation, while in others productivity is boosted by increased fertilizer use and the availability of arable land.

e-Agriculture 10 Year Review Report: Implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Line C7. ICT Applications: e-agriculture

F&BKP Office — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 16:13:34 +0000

This report (PDF) by the FAO, provides a comprehensive overview on the topic of ICTs in agriculture and rural development, not only covering achievements but also bringing together a large number of practical examples that have proven their effectiveness. Furthermore, the report reflects on what has been done, identifies challenges and upcoming trends as well as plan the use of ICTs into future work in a more effective, sustainable and innovative way. Positive trends observed include mobile applications for agricultural information, mobile services and stronger integration of ICTs into agriculture and e-agriculture strategies. Several challenges are highlighted: ineffective knowledge exchange and management of information content; limited human and institutional capacity; and inadequate sensitivity to gender and diverse needs of different groups. An important recomendation of the report is that linking knowledge to innovation is crucial in addressing the information and knowledge gaps in the agricultural sector.

How can we improve agriculture, food and nutrition with open data?

Nynke — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 15:40:52 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) elaborates on the role of open data in solving practical problems in agriculture and nutrition sectors. The authors state that alongside the challenges the world faces with regard to food security, there are also great opportunities due to the emerging global data infrastructure. The paper highlights three ways open data can contribute to increase food security: 1) Enabling more efficient and effective decision making; 2) Fostering innovation that everyone can benefit from; 3) Driving organisational and sector change through transparency. They present 14 cases that show how open data can be useful in different stages of agriculture, food production and consumption. From managing scarce water resources during the California drought or helping farmers in Africa estimate the outbreak of animal diseases. Open data can become a valuable tool for policy-makers, industry, small-scale farmers and consumers alike.

See also this CTA Working Paper (PDF) on open data and smallholder food and nutrition security (February 2015).

Uses of geothermal energy in food and agriculture: opportunities for developing countries

F&BKP Office — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 13:13:46 +0000

This book by FAO reviews the use of geothermal energy in agriculture and agro-industry around the world. With a simple format and illustrations and models, the book is accessible to a wide range of interested readers, including those with no technical background. It shows that geothermal resources have the potential to provide long-term, secure energy for the agriculture and food industry in both developed and developing countries. The book covers basic concepts, geothermal energy uses in practice around the world and the role of the public sector. It concludes with the main constraints and challenges to the use of geothermal energy in the agricultural and food industries of developing countries: i) policy and regulatory barriers; ii) technical barriers; and iii) financial barriers.

Drought and food security – improving decision-support via new technologies and innovative collaboration

Babs — Mon, 18 May 2015 14:43:47 +0000

This article in Global Food Security focusses on improved decision-support for agricultural droughts that threaten the livelihoods of people living in vulnerable regions. The authors claim that new strategic partnerships are required to link scientific findings to actual user requirements of governments and aid organizations and to turn data streams into useful information for decision-support. Furthermore, they list several promising approaches, ranging from the integration of satellite-derived soil moisture measurements that link atmospheric processes to anomalies on the land surface to improved long-range weather predictions and mobile applications. The latter can be used for the dissemination of relevant information, but also for validating satellite-derived datasets or for collecting additional information about socio-economic vulnerabilities. According to the authors, the added value of these technologiesis could be a translation of early warning into local action, strengthening disaster preparedness and avoiding the need for large-scale external support.

The most critical scientific & technological breakthroughs required for food security & agricultural development

F&BKP Office — Thu, 14 May 2015 14:14:46 +0000

The main purpose of the 50 Breakthroughs study by LIGTT is to identify where game-changing technologies for sustainable development are most required. The study’s main objectives are to: 1) foster a thought-provoking conversation about the role of technology in solving the world’s most pressing problems, 2) provide contextual background for technologists; and 3) provide decision-makers a guide to asking the hard–but important—questions. This report on food security & agricultural development focuses on the key factors that can improve food production and smallholder farmer incomes: increasing yield, preserving food, improving market access, reducing workload (especially for women), and making agriculture more sustainable. The report is divided into chapters on: irrigation; fertilizers and plant nutrients; biotic stresses; post-harvest handling and storage; extension services; livestock; and sustainable agriculture. Each chapter covers three parts: core facts and analysis, key challenges, and scientific and technological breakthroughs. The study identifies a number of breakthroughs that are needed in agriculture such as new methods to produce fertilizers to replace current processes, which are extremely capital intensive and have significant environmental footprints.

A diagnostic tool for integrated analysis of complex problems and innovation capacity

Babs — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 14:24:23 +0000

This paper published in the Agricultural Systems journal introduces Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS), a diagnostic tool that can guide the analysis of complex agricultural problems and innovation capacity of the agricultural system in which the complex agricultural problem is embedded. The tool focuses on the integrated analysis of different dimensions of problems, interactions across different levels and the constraints and interests of different stakeholder groups. Innovation capacity in the agricultural system is studied by analysing (1) constraints within the institutional, sectorial and technological subsystems of the agricultural system, and (2) the existence and performance of the agricultural innovation support system. The application of RAAIS is described for conducted analysis in Tanzania and Benin, demonstrates the use of the diagnostic tool and providing recommendations for its further use.

Unleashing science, technology and innovation for food and nutrition security: Developing a road map

Babs — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 14:24:47 +0000

The 2014 CTA international forum on “Unleashing Science, Technology and Innovation for Food and Nutrition Security: Developing a Road Map” brought together leading ACP and EU scholars, senior scientists/researchers/academicians, policy-makers, development practitioners, innovators, farmers and private sector representatives to deliberate on these interlinked issues which have national and global significance. The Forum covered four strategic issues: novel pathways for agricultural innovation; optimising resources (human and physical); the enabling policy and institutional environment; and the way forward. The final report (PDF) presents an integrated Road Map addresses critical gaps which were prioritized for the strategic areas considered relevant when going forward. The Road Map focuses on the means to upscale institutional change and to harness STI knowledge for business /social enterprises and entrepreneurs to exploit opportunities, enhance effectiveness and impact, and strengthen governance systems.

Six innovations revolutionising farming

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:20:37 +0000

In this article by The Guardian, six innovations in farmer technology as are highlighted relating to the increased agricultural productivity of the last half century. These include: 1) dairy hubs (see example); 2) fertiliser deep placement (FDP); 3) mobile apps, such as VetAfrica or Farming Instructor; 4) high-roofed greenhouses (see example); 5) new feeding systems that meet animal’s nutrient requirements and 6) farm management software (see example) and training

Kenya-Dutch PPP puts new twist on ancient farm technology

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:09:49 +0000

SNV Kenya and the Dutch company Land Life Company joined in a public-private partnership to improve the water efficiency and survival rates of young trees in dry-land Kenya. For avocado trees as well as mango trees, a Land Life Box is provided, a donut-hole centred box that delivers water slowly and over time to the roots of young saplings planted. The boxes are made from recycled composite material or pulp and consist of a reservoir and a wick, a tree shelter, an evaporation sheet and mycorrhiza fungi. In this way, ancient practices are used with a modern technological twist.

Nanotechnology in agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture in China: A review

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:07:07 +0000

Nanotechnologies have been less developed in agronomy than other disciplines, due to less investment, but nanotechnologies have the potential to improve agricultural production. In this article at Springer Link (PDF), the authors review more than 200 reports on nanoscience in agriculture, livestock and aquaculture in China since the 1990s. The major findings of the research are: 1) nanotechnologies used for seeds and water have improved plant germination, growth, yield and quality; 2) nanotechnologies could increase the storage period for vegetables and fruits; 3) for livestock and poultry breeding, nanotechnologies have improved animal immunity, oxidation resistance, reduced use of antibiotics and less manure odour; 4) nanotechnologies for water disinfection in fishpond increased water quality and increased yields and survivals of fish and prawn; 5) nanotechnologies for pesticides increased pesticide performance threefold and reduced cost by 50 %; and 6) nano urea increased the agronomic efficiency of nitrogen fertilization by 44.5 % and the grain yield by 10.2 %, versus normal urea.