Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition

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FSN Forum

 

DISCUSSION No. 134   •   FSN Forum digest No. 1276

Using information technology in the agriculture of
APEC economies and beyond.

The potential of Wisdom Agriculture for poverty reduction and improved food security.

until 30 November 2016

 

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Dear Members,

Please find below an update on 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.

We share with you the summaries of the comments that specifically address the use of information technologies in agriculture, and we invite you to further reflect on:

·         the role that using information technologies in agriculture can play in reducing poverty and increasing food security;

·         how smallholders can benefit from agricultural product traceability systems;

·         the specific challenges of and the policies required for taking full advantage of using technologies in agriculture;

·         the status of the use of information technology in your country, and in particular, on successful ICT applications.

We take this opportunity to remind all participants that the Forum is a platform to share original ideas and reflections based on your professional background. We also welcome quotes of articles and papers relevant to the topic, referencing the authors.

Next week the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences will host the "APEC Wisdom Agriculture Workshop". Your comments will provide additional knowledge to this event and will be shared in one of the workshop's sessions.

For the full introduction to the topic, please visit the webpage in English, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish; we accept comments in any of these languages.

We look forward to keep receiving your input!

Your FSN Forum team

 

 

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

iconSaydagzam Khabibullaev, Land of Plenty Agro Distribution LLC, Uzbekistan

According to Saydagzam, ICTs are hardly used in agriculture because agricultural experts are not trained to use them in an efficient way; in Uzbekistan, ICT use in agriculture is still in its infancy. Saydagzam argues that the use of ICTs should be an integrated solution and not a customized application, and that strategic plans promoting the use of ICTs in agriculture could be developed.

Read the contribution

 

iconLal Manavado, University of Oslo affiliate, Norway

Lal stresses that information technology should only be used with a view to improving global nutrition and food security. He calls for adopting a holistic approach, and identifies a number of principles which need to be considered in this regard, such as taking into account the effects ICTS will have on employment and carefully considering the (needs of the) context.

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iconEdward Mutanda, UZ, Zimbabwe

Edwards elaborates on the monitoring and evaluation aspect of ICT projects. Inter alia he shares the example of the ‘Eco farmer’ initiative in Zimbabwe, which offers a platform that disseminates agricultural information to farmers via mobile phone technology. He then argues that it is difficult to assess the impact of these initiatives, as ‘participating farmers’ may share information with ‘non-participating farmers’, and poses the question of what techniques can be used to properly measure the benefits of using ICTs in agriculture.

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iconChuan Gong, China

Chuan Gong emphasizes the central role of the internet of things in Wisdom Agriculture and in promoting technological progress and industrial development.

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iconXiuming Guo, Agricultural Information Institute of CAAS, China

Xiuming Guo argues that the implementation of Wisdom Agriculture has been progressing in China and describes the implementation strategies of several Chinese provinces. In Shandong Zibo for instance, a ‘Wisdom Agriculture center’ has been built.

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iconJun Hao Li, China

Jun Hao Li points out that China mainly uses traditional agricultural production systems in which the fertilization methods used can negatively affect the environment. However, a project that addresses this problem has been implemented, using a real-time and dynamic agricultural information gathering system to facilitate the intelligent fertilization and irrigation of farmland.

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iconYanran Li, China

Yanran Li elaborates on the impact of the development of cultivation facilities such as greenhouse farming on the process of agricultural modernization. He argues that for the optimization of facilities for bio-environmental control, technologies facilitating access to information are crucial. Related to this, he mentions the example of an integrated wireless sensor network, which allows for information exchanges.

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iconVethaiya Balasubramanian, Freelance consultant, India

Vethaiya elaborates on the various technological developments of the last decades that have provided farmers with access to information. Currently, smartphones give farmers, researchers and dealers of agricultural produce access to information on prices, the weather and crops and diseases. In particular, ICTs can empower farmers and effectively link them to the commodity value chain. Vethaiya argues that if properly used, all actors in the value chain can benefit from using ICTs in agriculture.

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