Showing posts with label CTA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CTA. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Developing Institutions and Inter-Organizational Synergies through Digitalization and Youth Engagement in African Agriculture: The Case of “Africa Goes Digital”

As digitalization increasingly gains attention in the agriculture sector, many African youths are seizing the opportunity provided by digital technologies to engage in agriculture. 

While prior studies have started examining the intricacies of digitalization in agriculture, they have paid less attention to its implications for fostering institutions and inter-organizational synergies that can support and sustain the businesses of youth enterprises engaging with Africa’s agriculture. Against this backdrop, the authors undertook a qualitative case study to shed light on the development of a community of practice comprising youth enterprises engaging in agriculture through digitalization. Thus, they studied Africa Goes Digital (AFGD), a consortium of young African enterprises that rely on digital technologies and solutions to provide services to farmers across the African continent. 

Africa Goes Digital - Transforming Africa into #TheAfricaWeWant from Federico Rambaldi on Vimeo.

The results showed that: (1) the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) played a pioneering role as a development agency in supporting enterprises with drones and training for agriculture, which led to the formation of AFGD; (2) two prevalent themes characterized the services offered by AFGD members; (3) AFGD brings members under one platform where they leverage WhatsApp for communication and knowledge sharing and Twitter to showcase success stories and form partnerships with each other to execute certain development projects with governments and development agencies; (4) the lack of regulations or the restrictive regulations on the use of drones are still problems that some members face, and the high costs of sensors and related drones are challenges for the members. 

Building on the results, the authors discuss the implications of digitalization for supporting African governments in meeting sustainability goals and conclude by describing the theoretical contribution of their study and promising future research directions.

Authors: Matthew Ayamga , Abdelaziz Lawani, Selorm Akaba and Arsene Birindwa

Read and download the full article.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report, 2018-2019 - available for download

At CTA, we know and understand the power to digitalise African agriculture. But we also understand that the evidence that will attract targeted investments to further develop D4Ag on the continent is lacking.

We realised that it is time to chart the scale of the opportunity and make some projections that will help in guiding policy and investment decisions. It is why we have produced a report together with Dalberg Advisors and supported by a high-level Advisory Council bringing together the key stakeholders that have been engaged in the space. The report is the first attempt to consolidate evidence and provide proof of impacts and the knowledge that will allow evidence-based investments.

While, in the report, we find a young sector, it’s clear that the appetite for D4Ag is burgeoning. However, without the right policy focus and investment there is a danger that the development will be piecemeal, neither sustainable nor inclusive. To capitalise on this opportunity we need to ensure that development is coordinated, that best-practices are shared and a collaborative approach to rolling out and scaling-up digital innovation, primarily focused on increasing use by farmers, is adopted.

 This report is a valuable first step, we have seen an appetite to continually improve our understanding of the D4Ag landscape and chart the opportunity it offers for entrepreneurs, investors and governments. I hope our efforts will be valuable in guiding the opportunity and look forward to the collaborative push that I believe will bring D4Ag to life for the benefit of Africa’s smallholder farmers and food and nutrition security across the continent. And as long as we learn from lessons, do it right and manage risks and take into account data sovereignty, inclusivity, sustainability, we will all benefit.”  Michael Hailu, CTA Director"

This report realises that there is great appetite for D4Ag and that policy mechanism should be invested in to guide the implementation of digital solutions. The value of collaborative approach that is focusing on increasing use of technologies by farmers is encouraged.



Friday, June 8, 2018

Landmark Pan-African Policy Recommendation Singles out Drones as a Transformative Technology for Africa


On June 8, 2018, a full report on the technology entitled “Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture” has been launched by Prof Yaye Kène-Gassama Dia, from the University Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar, on behalf of the High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies (APET) and NEPAD during the Africa Innovation Summit which took place in Kigali, Rwanda. 


The African Union singled out Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) also known as drones, as a disruptive technology which could impact the development of agriculture on the African continent. On 26 January 2018, by issuing Decision  EX. CL/Dec. 986-1007 (XXXII), the AU Executive Council recommended that all Member States harness the opportunities offered by drones for agriculture.

"Precision agriculture-drone nexus is seen as enhancing the socio-economic well-being of Africa and is likely to support African states in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and specifically SDGs 1 and 2 Prof Yaye Kène-Gassama Dia"stated.

The report, available in English and French, is a high-level recommendation by the AU to Member States to support and facilitate the deployment of drone technology in agriculture.

More on the launch of the report :

Monday, May 16, 2016

Le dernier numéro d'ICT Update est sorti : Les drones au service de l'agriculture

L'utilisation de véhicules aériens sans pilote, ou drones, pour la gestion des cultures, des cheptels, des pêches, des forêts et d'autres activités basées sur des ressources naturelles représente le franchissement d'une nouvelle frontière technologique et ouvre la voie à toute une série d'opportunités enthousiasmantes.

Le dernier numéro d'ICT Update, un magazine bimensuel publié par le Centre technique de coopération agricole et rurale ACP-UE (CTA), est consacré à l'utilisation de cette technologie et de systèmes connexes dans différentes parties du monde.  Le numéro, disponible en ligne et en version imprimée en français et en anglais, est publié en collaboration avec Esri.

Il contient 12 articles, une interview et une sélection de diverses ressources en ligne sur le sujet.  Les articles traitent notamment de l'utilisation des drones pour concevoir un système d'irrigation au Nigéria, pour alimenter un système de surveillance des sauterelles, pour récolter des preuves d'occupation illégale de terres au Panama, ou encore pour aider des petits producteurs à superviser leurs cultures en Afrique de l'Est.

Vous pouvez commander une version imprimée ou télécharger une version PDF de ce numéro en suivant ce lien: http://bit.ly/uav4ag-FR

Une sélection d'articles sont proposés sur le portail web du magazine: http://ictupdate.cta.int/fr, où vous pouvez vous abonner à la publication gratuitement.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Sri Lanka's drone pioneers

The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Sri Lanka has begun to experiment with drone technology to support a wide range of studies like crop monitoring, disaster mitigation and disease prevention.

In recent months, the Colombo based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) has begun to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – also known as drones – to monitor rice crops in and around the water scarce area of Anuradhapura. The institute is testing the data-collecting capabilities of UAVs for various purposes. For example, RGB (red, green, blue) colour and near-infrared (NIR) sensors were used to capture images over the paddy fields. These technologies have the potential to help farmers detect fields that are under stress and to help them identify low-laying areas prone to pooling.

IWMI's drone is also regularly used in partnership with local authorities. In December 2015, the Survey Department of Sri Lanka was developing a disaster mitigation plan for Badulla, the capital city of Uva Province. The Survey Department needed a high-resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the town for the plan, and asked IWMI to use its drone to capture the required aerial imagery.

Using conventional techniques, it might have taken over a year to survey the town. However, the drone used by the IWMI team was able to survey the entire 10 square kilometres area in just three days, by carrying out fourteen UAV flights and shooting 4,600 high-resolution images, with an average spatial resolution of four centimetres.

Disease prevention


Drone imagery can also be used to better understand the spread of disease, allowing health analysts to create high-quality maps. Chronic Kidney Disease of Uncertain Aetiology (CKDu) is one of the most serious non-communicable diseases presently afflicting Sri Lankans, and it remains poorly understood. First diagnosed in the mid-1990s, the disease has now been found to occur in six out of the nine Sri Lankan provinces. It is essentially confined to the dry zone and only affects farmers engaged in rice cultivation. CKDu is believed to have resulted in the death of approximately 25 thousand people to date, while over 8 thousand people are currently estimated to be receiving treatment for the condition.

In the CKDu-affected area of Mahiyangana, the disease is believed to be spread via contaminated drinking water, which originates from wells. The UAV has been used to gather geo-referenced data on where households live and where wells are located. The collected data can be used in addition to a digital elevation model to locate the high and low areas of two villages, Sara Bhoomi and Badulupura.

The gathered data has been used in support of a pilot project on prevention of CKDu in the area. According to project leader Ranjith Mulleriyawa, these aerial photos and maps have provided researchers with an improved overall picture of the area, helping them understand how contaminated wells are linked to the spread of CKDu in affected areas.

High accuracy


IWMI also plans drone initiatives in Nepal to map fresh water springs by using a small thermal sensor. The targeted watersheds in Nepal have dense canopy cover, and it is difficult to use standard optical sensors to identify and locate the springs. The drone-mounted thermal sensor can see through the dense canopy cover to find these springs, as their temperature is lower than the temperature of the earth surrounding them.

While the use of UAVs in research and other practical applications remains in its infancy, IWMI’s initial tests have already demonstrated their usefulness. Drones can be used to carry out surveys over large and hard-to-access areas, in a relatively short timeframe and with high accuracy. For policy experts and decision-makers, these aerial images can provide them with more accurate and up-to-date information than has hitherto been possible. For farmers, high-quality drone images can help them detect potential crop failure early, giving them enough time to respond.

IWMI thinks that UAV based surveys will be especially useful in studies that require highly accurate and repeated monitoring. These include checking for changes in cropping patterns, shifts in the status of important water resources, and documenting the extent of environmental disasters. It doubtless won't be long before farmers routinely use UAVs to monitor their crops, just as they use more conventional machinery to sow and harvest.

About the author:


Salman Siddiqui (S.Siddiqui@cgiar.org) is senior manager of the Geographic Information System (GIS), remote sensing and data management unit at the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka.

Source:

Republished with consent from http://ictupdate.int

Friday, March 4, 2016

IWD2016 - From GPS to drones – women leading the way

Tanzanian entrepreneur Rose Funja believes that information and communication technologies (ICTs) hold the key to a better future for young women, especially in the agriculture sector. Setting an example to them all, she has launched a start-up that links small-scale farmers to financial institutions – and is now turning her thoughts to drones.

An ICT start-up that grew out of a CTA hackathon contest is poised to help solve one of the most intractable problems facing farmers in Tanzania – how to show banks that they own the land they farm, so that they can secure loans using it as collateral.

Behind AgrInfo, which uses geographical information system technology to map information about farmland and the crops it produces, is dynamic ICT specialist and entrepreneur Rose Funja. The idea came to her and her partner Grace Makanyaga as a solution for tree farmers, but the young women quickly realised there was potential for scaling out the concept to reach other producers. In many parts of Tanzania, land ownership is unrecorded, aside from in village customary documents, making it difficult for farmers to obtain credit.

"We all know that for a smallholder farmer, the farm is their major asset," said Funja. "AgrInfo profiles the farmer and the farming business – the farm, the location, the size, the produce – and posts this data on an online platform, then gives access to this to financial services who use it to assess the creditworthiness of the farmers and give them loans."

The business concept received a major boost when AgrInfo won the runner-up prize in the CTA AgriHack Talent Programme for East Africa in 2013, a contest based on the idea of a hackathon – a gathering that brings together computer programmers for a short period of time to develop an ICT application or platform that addresses a specific challenge.

Refining the business model


In the run-up to the tournament finals, Funja and Makanyaga received technical support to develop their idea, as well as advice on how to draw up a business model, how to approach investors and how to pitch their idea to the judges and the audience. After the hackathon, a follow-up phase offered incubation and mentoring from a local ICT innovation hub, together with smartphones and a cash prize of €4,000, which proved invaluable as a first investment.

"The help of CTA and the training we received took our idea to a whole new set of levels," said Funja. "That's when everything started rolling out, and it's been a roller coaster ever since."

Rose and her new business partner – Makanyaga is no longer closely involved in the start-up – are currently running a marketing campaign to explain the AgrInfo service to farmers, mainly targeting producer organisations. The service works on a subscription basis, with the charge added to producer-organisation membership fees for farmers who decide to sign up.

The cost of the service is deliberately pitched at an affordable price, and Funja predicts that it will pay for itself in terms of better access to credit for farmers, so that they can expand operations.

"We go and collect the GPS coordinates for a farm and check the ownership," she explained. "We couple that with an assessment of what is produced on the farm, as a basis for a credit analysis. We also update the data as time goes on, which will increase a farm's credit worthiness. So if a farm increases from one to five hectares, for example, the bank sees the growth and will be more willing to make a loan."

Future plans involve extending the database model to cover the entire value chain, connecting farmers with farm supplies, extension workers, weather forecasts and a host of other value-added data, including information on markets.

Always on the lookout for new horizons, Funja is currently exploring the idea of offering a drone service to monitor land maintenance, aimed at reducing damage by fires. Firebreaks – cleared pathways between land boundaries of between 1 and 5 metres – can be effective in preventing fire from spreading from one farm to another, but keeping them from becoming overgrown can be a challenge, and each year hundreds of hectares of farmland are burned.

An ICT boot camp for girls


Funja is firmly convinced that ICTs are the way forward for development in Africa, and especially for women. She is co-founder of a network in Tanzania that promotes women's involvement in ICTs. Called She Codes for Change, the organisation recently ran a month-long ICT boot camp for girls aged 14–19, introducing them to technologies such as web applications, video-game design and electronics.

"ICTs can definitely open up new opportunities for women and I think it's important for them to venture into technology at an early age," said Funja, who in 2014 spent six weeks in New York after being selected as young female leader for US President Obama's project, the Young African Leaders Initiative. She is also director of ICT at the University of Bagamoyo, and as a result of her contacts with farmers for AgrInfo she has recently entered the sector herself, cultivating sesame.

"What I would like to see is women becoming more educated in using technology for socio-economic purposes, instead of just social engagement. So rather than seeing mobile phones and the Internet as a way of spending time on social media, I would like them to understand that it can be a very valuable tool to help them improve their livelihoods, for example by enabling them to sell their crops for a better price by accessing information about markets."

Monday, October 5, 2015

Social media revolutionising rural communities in the Pacific - Pacific Beat - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


Social-media has been called many things -- and now it's being described as a 'life-changing' experience for people living in rural parts of the Pacific.

Increasingly, social media, and the internet in general, is being used to drive agricultural development - with some dramatic impacts.

Speakers: Michael Hailu, director of Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA); Giacomo Rambaldi, Sr Programme Coordinator, ICTs (CTA, Web2forDev) and Faumuina Felolini Tafunai, Media Specialist (WIBDI).

by Catherine Graue
Source: Pacific Beat | Duration: 5min 42sec

Friday, May 29, 2015

CTA programme wins top UN prize for its youth and ICT work

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has been honoured in the prestigious 2015 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Project Prizes. The Centre won the e-agriculture category for its youth and ICT programme – Agriculture, Rural Development and Youth in the Information Society (ARDYIS).  The prize was presented in Geneva, Switzerland, during the WSIS Forum 2015, the biggest international event in the ICT for Development calendar.
CTA’s ARDYIS entry was proclaimed winner of the e-agriculture category at the prize-giving ceremony on May 26, following a round of online voting and a review by a panel of experts.

The prize marks the third time that CTA has won a WSIS award.

In 2013, the Centre’s Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities programme was also named winner of the WSIS Project Prizes contest in the e-agriculture category.

Jointly with the FLMMA network in 2007 CTA won the WSIS award in the domain of e-culture for its activities in the domain of Participatory 3D Modelling in Fiji.

Each year, a series of WSIS Project Prizes recognises initiatives that help to further the goals of bridging the global digital divide and ensuring wider distribution of the benefits that can be generated by information and communications technology (ICT). Launched by the United Nations in 2011, the awards span 18 categories and offer a platform to showcase success stories and models that can be easily replicated.

The CTA ARDYIS programme, a group of initiatives aimed at 18 to 35-year-olds living in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, seeks to connect young people with ICTs and promote their use for agricultural development and enterprise. Key activities include the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards), which has so far attracted nearly 300 agricultural blogs, and the AgriHack Talent contest, which supports the development of ICTs, mobile apps and entrepreneurship in agriculture.

An important feature of the ARDYIS programme is the wide range of activities it uses to raise awareness among young people of the potential for ICTs in agriculture. These include e-debates, workshops, information dissemination and support in developing agricultural ICT applications and other entrepreneurial initiatives.

“ARDYIS is an incredibly dynamic project which has opened opportunities for ACP youth in agriculture through ICTs, and strengthened their capacities in using these tools,” said CTA Director Michael Hailu. “So far, the project has reached young people in more than 40 ACP countries and it has supported the development of dozens of ICT prototypes, targeting different segments of agricultural value chains.”

Receiving the award on behalf of CTA at the WSIS ceremony was Ken Lohento, Programme Coordinator, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

“We are very proud of this prize,” said Lohento, who is leading the ARDYIS programme. “the prize also belongs to all the youth who have been participating in the ARDYIS network and who support us with their ideas and contributions. We thank all the people who voted for us from many countries around the world and the ARDYIS Advisory Committee for its support. CTA will continue to work hard to encourage and support greater youth engagement in ICTs for agriculture.”

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Building Capacity in using social media for agricultural development in Cook Islands

Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 14 April, 2015 – From 13 to 17 April 2015 the Cook Islands Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is hosting a Web 2.0 and social media learning opportunity workshop and training. The event held at the MoA’s headquarters in Arorangi, is jointly supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), and the European-Union-funded Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP) (part of the Intra-ACP Agriculture Policy Project). The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is the implementing agency for the European Union funded PAPP project.

Participants in the course posing together
with the Minister of Agriculture, Kiriau Turepu
Participants were drawn from government agencies, including ministries of the environment, agriculture, education and internal affairs, the police and the Seabed Minerals Authority, from the private sector and from civil-society and non-governmental organisations, including the Red Cross, the National Youth Council, national women’s group, and two youth organisations Rotaract, and organics. All were keen to learn how to make best use of online social media tools to generate and share information to achieve both personal development and organisational goals.

The Hon Minister of Agriculture, Kiriau Turepu, delivered the keynote address to more than 25 local participants. He acknowledged the partnership of CTA, SPC and the European Union for offering the opportunity to the Cook Islands to build capacity in information and communication technologies and social media.

“I am particularly pleased for the Ministry of Agriculture to take the lead in promoting social media to generate, manage and disseminate information in this ever-more-connected world we live in. The internet offers tools we can harness for the development of our people. The outer islands may have produce to sell and using the internet they can connect to consumers and markets in Rarotonga. We will be able to share and show new innovative ideas such as growing dragon fruits for example – I can show a friend in Penrhyn steps on growing these fruits using social media.

“As the first of this kind of workshop to be held here in the Cook Islands, we are expecting this group of participants to learn, and make use of the knowledge so that our people are better informed, more articulated in the affairs of development as far as agriculture is concerned.

“Today the speed with which information travels in our work places and the changing technologies that we have at our disposal is extraordinary and important to all of us. Whether it is Facebook, blogging, Twitter, photos you share, these are all extensions of individuals and their personalities. They help portray interests, views and help show people who they are. They offer a platform for you and I to be ourselves, to be creative, to be who we want to be and most importantly, have an audience for all to debate critical innovative ideas that are good and can grow for the future.”

Mr Emil Adams, PPPP Information Communication Management Officer, thanked Permanent Secretary, Dr Matairangi Purea, and MoA Director of Policy, Planning, Mr Patrick Arioka, for the planning and coordination that went into organising the workshop. The good turnout of local participants is testimony of the planning, interest and enthusiasm of stakeholders to release their officers to attend the Web2.0 and social media training.

“Social media tools allow continuous dialogue between groups of individuals to take place on the internet. This online dialogue contributes to a knowledge society where individuals continuously pull information as well contribute content, further enriching knowledge and available to other users. People are empowered when they freely express their opinions on social media, and attain a level of gratification when they get information they want when they want it,” said Mr Adams.

“Accessing the internet allows a farmer in a remote village to directly interact and feedback on government policies affecting rural livelihoods, tweet a photo of a pest outbreak back to researchers for identification and management, or post on Facebook photos of a rural development training.”
Workshop facilitator, Ms Anju Mangal, offered words of warning about the potential of social media, noting that, while it can open up a whole new horizon of possibilities that can improve lives, it can also destroy lives and upset social norms if used wrongly by unscrupulous individuals.

Ms Mangal said that online cyber security is of major concern to individuals and to organisations that want to protect their integrity. Social media policies supported by national infrastructure need to be robust to guide the use of these tools to achieve national goals. Above all, measures are needed to prevent compromising the integrity of government machinery.

In the Cook Islands broadband connection is available to more than 95% of the population, with mobile coverage reaching more than 99% of the population. On Rarotonga only, third-generation (3G) services are available to 11,000 plus mobile connections.

Agriculture currently contributes only 3.8% to GDP, but Mr Arioka expressed his confidence that this can be increased through the use of online tools supported by an enabling policy environment. The Ministry is currently developing a new Strategic Plan to help agriculture services support income streams, food consumption and self sufficiency. Healthy soils, healthy food will underpin the strength of the new Strategic Plan.

CTA, in partnership with SPC, has embarked on a series of regional Web2.0 and social media learning opportunity workshops to strengthen national capacity in the use of social media for agricultural development and climate-change adaptation. National workshops have been completed in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu. A second national workshop for the Cook Islands is planned for September 2015.

Here is a link to follow for more information on forthcoming training events.

Follow Web2forDev on Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo and join the community on DGroups and LinkedIn


Saturday, January 3, 2015

Latest statistics about the Web 2.0 for Development Community of Practice


The Web2forDev Community of Practice was created by CTA in 2006 in anticipation of the Web2forDev International Conference which CTA organised in September 2007 in partnership with FAO, GIZ , IFAD, APC, IICD and other development organisations.

As anticipated in the article published on PLA 59 in June 2009, “The Web2forDev story: towards a community of practice” the community has been steadily growing also as a follow-up of the Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities regularly organised by CTA, so far in 37 countries.

Here are some stats about the latest growth of the Web2forDev community on various social media platforms:

Dgroups (En) (since 2006) :
# of members on 31/12/14:      3,874  in 110 countries
Growth over the year 2014:     +46%

Dgroups (Fr) (since 2006)  :
# of members on 31/12/14:      940 in 48 countries

LinkedIn (since July 2007)  :
# of members on 31/12/14:      1,939
Growth over the year 2014:     +20%

Facebook (since July 2007)  :
Total Likes on 31/12/14:          4,060
Growth over the year 2014:      +49%

Twitter (since August 2008)  :
# of followers on 31/12/14:      2,926
Growth over the year 2014:     +18%

The main portal is found at www.web2fordev.net and is available both in English and French.


Friday, October 17, 2014

Web 2.0 and Social Media spread like wildfire in Vanuatu

Group photo of participants of the Web 2.0 and Social Media
training in Port Vila, Vanuatu 2014
Friday 17 October 2014, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Vanuatu – Vanuatu is a young state as far as information and communication technology (ICT) is concerned and the development of ICT is very important for the socio-economic growth of the country.'  The first Political Advisor for the Vanuatu Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mrs Emily Tumukon, made this statement in her opening remarks at the beginning of a five-day training workshop on the use of web 2.0 and social media in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 13 October.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), in collaboration with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), promotes information and knowledge sharing, learning and communication for the agriculture and forestry sectors, using low-cost technology – Web 2.0 and Social Media.

CTA-developed curriculum is designed to help users interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue. Examples of Web 2.0 applications include blogs, , Google Drive, Google +, video sharing sites, photo editing, and sharing social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. These web tools are used in the context of development work and are designed for stakeholders actively engaged in agriculture and rural development / natural resource management in the domains of ICT for development, policies and markets, publishing, communication and media.

Mr Hannington Tate, Vanuatu's Director of Forestry, believes that new ICT tools such as web 2.0 can improve agricultural and forestry information in rural and remote communities of Vanuatu. He maintains that this type of workshop also offers a platform where participants from the government line agencies and those representing different stakeholders can come together to share their experiences and eventually find out how they can collaborate by making use of each others’ networks in order to better reach and serve the people of the country.

The Vanuatu Government CIO (Chief Information Officer), Mr Fred Samuel, stated that the Vanuatu Government recognised ICT as an enabler for social and economic development in the country.  He emphasised that it is now important to create online content that users and citizens can access, and that is the reason such training is needed. He added that web 2.0 represents an important shift in the way digital information is created, shared, stored, distributed, and manipulated.

The five-day learning opportunity is currently under way in Port Vila. Twenty-three participants – fifteen men and eight women – from different organisations are attending it. The event is part of CTA’s effort to facilitate access to and dissemination of information in the fields of agriculture and rural development in 78 countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), this being the sixth to be held in the Pacific. Similar workshops have been conducted in Papua New Guinea and Fiji and a one is planned for Samoa in two weeks' time that will focus on the agriculture and forestry sectors.

Sponsored by the ACP-EU CTA, the event, titled Web 2.0 for Development and Social Media Learning Opportunity, is undertaken by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in collaboration with the Vanuatu Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries, and specifically the Department of Forests (DoF) and Biosecurity and the Office of the Government’s Chief Information Officer (OGCIO).

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Young Jamaican team wins AgriHack Talent Caribbean contest at 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture

And the winner is… Node420, from Jamaica. The team’s ICT application, also called Node420, offers real-time weather analysis and automatic yield forecasts for farmers. The AgriHack Talent Caribbean contest, organised by CTA and partners, came to a close during the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture, held this week in Paramaribo, Suriname. The winning teams designed agricultural apps that can forecast crop yields, improve pest management and put farmers in touch with market outlets.

Second prize went to CropGuard, from Barbados, an app that seeks to enhance food security by helping farmers to protect their crops through pest diagnosis, monitoring and control. Third prize was awarded to UNICODE, from Suriname, with an application called Agri-Kari, designed to help farmers manage their land and sell their products.

More than 150 young ICT specialists took part in the AgriHack Talent Caribbean contest run by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and partners. The regional championship sought to develop innovative ICT applications that address key Caribbean agricultural challenges and drive agri-enterprise among young people. The ICT applications created by the first three prize-winners will now be developed and incubated, to promote their successful rollout in the region.

The eight regional finalists, drawn from the results of national contests in six Caribbean countries – Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago – spent the first four days of the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) fine-tuning their applications before the winners were announced on Thursday October 9. The CWA has been held this week in in Paramaribo, Suriname and ends today (October 10).

All the finalists were given the opportunity to pitch their products to participants attending the CWA, before the regional winners were selected by an international jury.

The contest was based on the idea of a hackathon – a gathering that brings together computer programmers for a short period of time to develop an ICT application or platform that offers solutions for a specific challenge.

Partners in the AgriHack Talent Caribbean contest included the Caribbean Farmers’ Network (CaFAN), the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Connectimass, Suriname telecom operator Telesur, the Caribbean Open Institute and eight ICT innovation hubs.

“ICTs can strongly enhance family farming and the AgriHack Talent Caribbean initiative is supporting ICT innovations and entrepreneurship by youth in the Caribbean,” said CTA Director Michael Hailu. “There is an undisputed need to engage youth in agriculture. Encouraging young ICT innovators to develop services for agriculture contributes to this. It also contributes to improving the image of agriculture and offers opportunities to modernise the sector.”

A key ingredient in the mix has involved bringing together a broad range of expertise from the ICT, agriculture and business sectors, to help take products to the next level. In the run up to the regional finals, the ICT team members received technical support to develop their applications, as well as advice on how to draw up a business model, how to approach investors and how to pitch their idea to the judges and audience.

During the next six months, incubation and mentoring will be offered to the winning teams, who will be given technical and business support, including contact with potential investors and opportunities to promote their applications.

“This contest is about helping young people to sustain agriculture, developing exciting ICT applications that target key agricultural challenges in the Caribbean,” said Ken Lohento, ICT Programme Coordinator for CTA. “The agricultural sector offers substantial opportunities for young people, including those who can offer ICT services to support it. We hope that the AgriHack championship will also result in young people having more livelihood opportunities.”

Winning Jamaican team Node420 said its product sought to provide solutions for some of the most challenging difficulties faced by farmers. “Collecting the information they need can be a real problem for farmers, so we decided to design some hardware that could gather all sorts of data to help them with their cultivation, including planting, sowing and harvesting,” said Jason Scott, who was at the prize-giving with colleague Orane Edwards to collect first prize on behalf of the Node420 team from Jamaica.

The other two team members were: Simantha Hong and Jonathon Cooper. The young ICT developers, who won €5,000 euros plus six months of incubation, are supported by Jamaican ICT Hub SlashRoots, which won €3,000.

“Think of it as a very compact weather station,” said Scott. “It helps farmers to increase their yields, and to forecast how much they might be able to produce.”

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Web 2.0 and Social Media Success Stories: Nawsheen Hosenally



Dubbed as the TwitterLady, Nawsheen Hosenally shares the story of her professional career and how skills acquired in mastering Web 2.0 and Social Media have played in a role in shaping it.

At present Nawsheen is working as CT4Ag Assistant at the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) in the Netherlands.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Web 2.0 and Social Media Success Stories: New skills and lifelong changes



Husna Yagoub is from Sudan. She works at CTA as data assistant in the framework of the Knowledge Management & Communication Programme (KMC).

Likewise other CTA staff she has been following the Spring 2014 session of the online course "Innovative Collaboration for Development" run by UNITAR and co-funded by CTA. This is the first distance learning course she has ever attended.

Confronted with great challenges she has been perseverant and kept telling me that - while doing the course - she gained a lot in terms of self-confidence and that she is going to be much more effective on her work.

We decided to capture her thoughts on camera and it's worth listening to her story ...

Visit the Web2forDev Gateway for more information on face to face courses on Web 2.0 and Social Media.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Web 2.0 and Social Media Success Stories: from disseminating agri information to supporting drafting the new constitution



Mr Simunza S. Muyangana is Director at Digital ICE Interactive Media Ltd and founder of BongoHive in Lusaka, Zambia. He is specialised in website development, new media technologies, and web 2.0 and social media training.

On 24-26 March, 2014 a 3-day write-shop took place at CTA in Wageningen in the Netherlands. The purpose of the event was to update the curriculum which is used by CTA and partner organisations to run "Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities" in ACP countries. The participants in the write-shop agreed on the need to identify and document success stories resulting from the adoption of Web 20 and Social Media solutions.

In this short video he briefly recalls three success stories. Let's hear his story ...

To know more about Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities visit our site www.web2fordev.net

Web 2.0 and Social Media challenges : What about people thinking I am wasting time in networking on social media?



Pete Cranston is director of Euforic Services Ltd. He is an ICT, Communication and Digital Media specialist, with long experience as a facilitator and trainer.

A 3-day write-shop took place at CTA in Wageningen (NL) on 24-26 March, 2014. The purpose of the event was to to update the curriculum which is used to run "Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities". In the discussions institutional barriers towards adoption were identified.

Giacomo Rambaldi, the organiser of the event, put to him a question on ... staff wasting time in fiddling around with social medial during office hours ...

Let's hear what he had to say ...

To know more about Web 2.0 and Social Media learning Opportunities visit our site www.web2fordev.net

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Web 2.0 and Social Media challenges : Could you help me convince my boss?



Pete Cranston is director of Euforic Services Ltd. He is an ICT, Communication and Digital Media specialist, with long experience as a facilitator and trainer.

A 3-day write-shop took place at CTA in Wageningen (NL) on 24-26 March, 2014. The purpose of the event was to to update the curriculum which is used to run "Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities". In the discussions institutional barriers towards adoption were identified.

Giacomo Rambaldi, the organiser of the event, asked him: "Could you please help us in convincing bosses that it is worth investing in the adoption and institutionalisation of Web 2.0 and Social Media"?

Let's hear what he had to say ....

Web 2.0 and Social Media success stories: By-passing the middlemen



Mr Johnson Opigo is an ICT Consultant and trainer, Web Designer and Developer based in Nigeria. Among others he has been running Web 2.0 and Social Media trainings on behalf of CTA and UNITAR.

Interviewed during the 3-day write-shop (Wageningen, 24-26 March, 2014) on updating CTA's curriculum used during the Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities Johnson summarises the power of Web 2.0 and Social Media and recalls a success story of their adoption and deployment in in the framework of the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES) implemented by Nigeria’s Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, which ended four decades of corruption in the fertilizer sector, eliminating the middlemen and scaling up food production by nine million metric tonnes in the first year.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Year 2025 of the @gricultural Revolution




Albert Einstein is quoted having said: “I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.” How true he was!

There is no doubt that the transformative power of ICTs makes us live in exponential times !

Let’s give it a try, and jump to year 2025 of the @gricultural revolution.