technological innovations

This book by The Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) is offering 14 best practises and policies that increase agricultural productivity and farmers’ resilience to climate change. Key ingredients for success can be distilled out of these cases, such as active farmer participation and youth attraction. Projects which involve high levels of initial investment or drudgery, fail to attract young people, and are costly in terms of time and labour are unlikely to be successful. »

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. »

This issue 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. »

This study assesses the impact of cooperative membership among dairy producers in Selale, Ethiopia. Cooperatives are sometimes seen as being instrumental in poverty alleviation among dairy farmers and can provide a suitable environment for dairy intensification. However, the authors stress that in this case there were trade-offs between cooperative functions. »

This book chapter 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. »

This paper 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. »