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DISCUSSION No. 134 • FSN Forum digest No. 1278
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Using information technology in the agriculture of
APEC economies and beyond.
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The potential of Wisdom Agriculture for poverty reduction and improved food security.
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until 30 November 2016
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Dear Members,
The online discussion "Using
information technology in the agriculture of APEC economies and beyond. The potential of Wisdom Agriculture for poverty reduction and improved food security" is coming to a close, and we would like to share with you the summaries of the latest comments
received.
Please find below also the closing remarks of Xiuming Guo, one of our colleagues at the Agriculture Information Institute
of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In her message, Xiuming shares recommendations that were formulated during the ‘APEC Wisdom Agriculture Workshop’, and she thanks the participants to the online discussion for their valuable input.
We would like to thank you as well for taking the time to share your thoughts on this important topic, and we encourage
you to take advantage of these last few days to post your contribution, which is welcome in
English,
Chinese,
French,
Russian or
Spanish.
For a full overview of exchange, please refer to the webpage or the proceedings document. A summary of this discussion
will be made available over the next few weeks.
Your FSN Forum team
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Xiuming Guo, Agricultural Information Institute of CAAS,
China
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The "APEC Wisdom Agriculture development and application workshop" was held successfully from Nov. 23 to 25 in Yinchuan,
Ningxia (China). The workshop invited more than 120 experts and scholars from 8 APEC economies, 5 observing countries, 5 international organization and different provinces in China. Experts from Greece, Korea, Spain, and Canada gave wonderful speeches on wisdom
agriculture, precision agriculture, internet & agriculture, and agricultural product traceability. Chinese experts gave speeches on wisdom plants, precision forest, wisdom animal husbandry, crop modelling and wisdom orchard respectively. Experts from different
economies showed the research and application progress in their economies and exchanged information on the advanced technologies and achievements.
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The workshop has yielded a series of achievements, mainly along four points.
1. Create an APEC wisdom agriculture cooperation network, build a communication and exchange platform for experts.
The information and technologies have already been commonly applied in agriculture, and wisdom agriculture has received more attention from APEC and other regions in the world. The economies and regions faced some common problems regarding wisdom agriculture
and there exist also some differences in wisdom agriculture development and application due to regional variations. The creation of an APEC wisdom agriculture network can help share information, integrate and optimize resources, and promote cooperation and
communication.
2. Strengthen long-term cooperation in wisdom agriculture for APEC regions.
The APEC wisdom agriculture workshop can build bridges for researchers and organizations in APEC and other regions in the world and strengthen related cooperation. It also can help apply funds and projects for wisdom agriculture in APEC regions, collectively
carry out research in wisdom agriculture, and push the development and application of wisdom agriculture in APEC and other regions.
3. Create an expert database, and promote multilateral cooperation.
An expert database in wisdom agriculture can collect the related information of agricultural experts to support the researchers in wisdom agriculture while strengthening multilateral cooperation in different APEC regions.
4. Promote the research level and application ability of related researchers in wisdom agriculture.
The workshop invited international leading experts in wisdom agriculture to give presentations on the internet of things, big data, intelligent agents, the agricultural product traceability system, the plant growth model, digital orchard, and presented good
international application cases of wisdom agriculture in different APEC economies. The workshop supplied advanced knowledge on technologies, helped share good cases, and promoted the research level and application ability of related researchers.
In order to expand the influence of the workshop, this online discussion was held to allow experts from across the world
to exchange on wisdom agriculture. This discussion has been very successful in debating some crucial questions and for collecting examples from around the world.
On behalf of agriculture information institute of CAAS, I thank the staff from FAO responsible for the online discussion,
my colleague Dr. Bi for her support, YPARD for joining the discussion actively and the colleagues from the Agriculture Information Institute of CAAS for their help. I also thank our partners from the Ningxia Foreign Affairs Office and finally and especially
thank Mr. Max Blanck from FAO for his hard and careful work. I appreciate you all for what you have done for the online discussion, without which it would not have been as successful.
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Sinead
Quealy, VirtualVet, Ireland
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Sinead stresses the need to explore the potential for rural job creation in supporting farmers in the use of ICTs. In
addition, she elaborates on the work of her company, which establishes a knowledge and data collection service; gathering on-farm data allows farmers to benchmark performances or warn of nearby animal disease outbreaks. Mobile technology and an analysis platform
facilitate information exchanges, but also promote social inclusion and outreach while granting farmers’ knowledge the respect and value it deserves.
Read
the contribution
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Cavin
Mugarura, Blue Node Media, Uganda
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Cavin highlights the potential of online marketplaces, which connect buyers and sellers of agricultural produce. In Uganda
some online marketplaces have been established, but these are sometimes poorly designed and do not function adequately. In addition, Cavin stresses that in general, farmers will be able to adopt technologies even if they themselves lack access to mobile phones,
as most of them will have a person in their immediate surroundings that does own the necessary equipment.
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the contribution
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Yrysbek
Abdurasulov, Kyrgyzstan
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Yrysbek recognizes the potential of ICTs to contribute to poverty reduction and improved food security, but also points
to the constraints to the full implementation of Wisdom Agriculture in APEC countries, such as low education levels and resistance to new technologies. In Kyrgyzstan, the application of ICTs has been limited, although some initiatives have been undertaken.
For instance, a project of the Norwegian government that establishes a farm-level information database has had positive impact.
Read
the contribution
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Muhammad
Makky, Andalas University, Indonesia
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Muhammad tells us about the situation in West Sumatra, were the average plot of agricultural land is only 5000m2, and
where farmers face high production costs. He elaborates on the project in which he was involved, which focused on implementing low-cost precision farming in order to reduce the costs of inputs. This approach is suitable for smallholders and has yielded positive
results.
Read
the contribution
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Salvador
Peña, Sinú Verde, Colombia
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Salvador recognizes the benefits of using ICTs in agriculture regarding their contribution to planning, crop management
and the right application of agricultural inputs. However, he stresses that the high cost of technology is a major bottleneck constraining the adoption of ICTs. In particular, considering the absence of financial incentives such as tax benefits, the widespread
adoption of ICTs will be difficult among small- and medium-size farmers. Salvador refers to the following saying in Colombia that clearly captures the issue: “A Mercedes Benz is cheaper than an agricultural tractor”.
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the contribution
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Alastair
Marke, Climatekos, United Kingdom
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Alastair argues that the keys to addressing food security as an interconnected global problem are ‘sharing’ and ‘collaborating’,
and that leveraging the digital revolution is crucial in this regard. He shares information on various digital initiatives that target smallholders such as the ‘M-Farm initiative’. M-Farm is a mobile app-based programme providing Kenyan smallholders with market
pricing information via a free mobile phone app or SMS to help them negotiate fairer crop prices. In some regions, farmers selling collectively more than doubled their return for their produce.
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the contribution
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Ernest
Bethe, International Finance Corp, Singapore
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Ernest questions to what extent smallholders can benefit from agricultural product traceability systems, and argues that
there is a need to better understand why and how farmers would use such a system.
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the contribution
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Rick
van der Kamp, Indonesia
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Rick focuses on the challenges associated with adopting ICTs, such as creating business models that allow smallholders
to benefit from high-tech and high-investment services and finding ways to motivate small farmers to pay for yield-enhancing services. In many developing countries, ‘minimal cash outlay systems’ are still dominant in agriculture. The success of applying ICTs
in agriculture may be more about getting services adopted than having the technically most elegant solution.
Read
the contribution
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