Vote now! Reward the outstanding free services offered by the Digital Agri Hub to support the transformation of the agricultural sector

 

The Digital Agri Hub run by the Wageningen University and Research (WUR) has been nominated as a potential candidate awardee for the UN / ITU WSIS 2024 prize in the Category 13 - AL C7 E-agriculture. 

The Hub offers free access to a dashboard with over 1200 digital solutions for agriculture in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and to digital communities hosted on community platforms. 

The winners of the WSIS 2024 prizes will be selected based on the result of a public voting process.

How to vote:

• Only registered members of the WSIS Stocktaking Platform (STK) with requested complete information may vote for/appreciate a project. The information should contain organization details: name, type, country and user details: username and e-mail.
• Members may only vote for one project in each category 
• Voters are encouraged but not required to cast votes for one project in each of categories.

Voting – step by step (for new STK members):

1. Register https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/stocktaking/Account/ 
2. Confirm your registration via the confirmation email you will have received in your inbox
3. Login
4. Select Prizes on the top navigation bar.
5. Select “Vote” > “Vote ->”
6. Select: “Voting form”
7. Select: AL C7. E-agriculture on the drop-down menu.
8. Scroll down, look for Digital Agri Hub and click on “Vote for this Project”
9. Optional: Select other categories of your interest and express your preferences as well.

Voting – step by step (for already registered STK members)

1. Follow this link: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/stocktaking/Prizes/2024 
2. Select “Vote” > “Vote ->”
3. Login
4. Select: “Voting form”
5. Select: AL C7. E-agriculture on the drop-down menu.
6. Scroll down, look for Digital Agri Hub and click on “Vote for this Project”
7. Optional: Select other categories of your interest and express your preferences as well.

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.

Is gender inclusion in the framework of D4Ag projects a genuine need based on objective assessments, or an indispensable component to satisfy donors’ expectations? | Join the e-conversation on Starting on Monday 17 April, 2023

Digital technologies and solutions are increasingly important in revolutionizing agriculture food systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The drive towards promoting digitalization for agriculture (D4Ag) among small-scale producers in LMICs is relentless. Therefore, it is crucial to take a factual, objective, and measured approach to identify and possibly overcome potential stereotypes.

On Monday 17 April, the Digital Agri Hub is launching the 4th of a series of e-conversations on what it considers as potential clichés in the D4Ag domain.  The exchanges are hosted on the Digitalisation for Agriculture or D4Ag dgroup which you are welcome to join.

The outcome of the exchanges may lead to a more objective, prudent and realistic attitude on how to approach and present gender inclusion in D4Ag projects in LMICs. It can also open new avenues which could help solving issues that are at the basis of potential stereotypes.

The 3rd e-conversation on whether “smart farming is raising justifiable expectations” has come to an end, and its summary is now available on the D4Ag dgroup’s wiki (login required) or on The Hub events’ page.

The forthcoming e-conversation Starting on Monday 17 April, 2023, will address the following question: “Is gender inclusion in the framework of D4Ag projects a genuine need based on objective assessments, or an indispensable component to satisfy donors’ expectations?”

Each e-conversation topic is well framed via an initial message posted on the D4Ag group to kickstart the reflections. The subsequent topic will be launched once the exchanges about the preceding one are completed, and so on. Summaries of the exchanges are shared.

Join the conversation -> https://bit.ly/dGp4A

🍾 The @D4Ag_ Digital Agri Hub database has passed the 1000th registered & verified #digital #solution for #agriculture! Is your solution missing ? It's never too late. Follow this🔗to register your company & solutions: https://t.co/iPIvFFnds7 | #D4Ag #ICT4Ag #agtech #LMICs #D4D pic.twitter.com/aMnfBrwViy

— Giacomo Rambaldi (@iapad) March 30, 2023

How true is the mantra that #smallscale producers benefit from #digitalisation?
Our upcoming e-conversation strives to unpack this potential #D4Ag cliché, backed by unique experiences from our diverse contributors in the #D4Ag dgroups.

Join the exchange👉 https://t.co/TFY2CnlqLi pic.twitter.com/8fxGCxGTk0

— The Digital Agri Hub (@D4Ag_) March 9, 2023

 

Your welcome contribution to forthcoming e-conversations on controversial issues related to #digitalisation for #agriculture, #aquaculture, #mariculture, and more

 

With the relentless promotion of #D4Ag among #LMICs #smallscale producers it is imperative to adopt a fact-based, objective & measured approach to focus & possibly overcome some potential clichés.@D4Ag_ has organised a series of e-conversations on this.
💻https://t.co/TFY2CnkSVK pic.twitter.com/mUymzkiZKe

— The Digital Agri Hub (@D4Ag_) February 24, 2023

Closing #webinar | #D4Ag online dialogue on shaping digital agriculture capacities | Wed 15/12/21 @ 2PM-3:30PM CET

 

Over the past three weeks, the Digital Agri Hub with the support of the Dgroups Foundation, has been hosting an online dialogue to identify capacity opportunities, gaps, priority needs and best-bet learning solutions for people and organizations working with digital agriculture.

Specifically, at the dialogue kick-off webinar and in the subsequent email-based exchanges, dialogue’s participants have been pinning down the perceived capacity needs of three stakeholder groups - implementers (extension services, farmers organisations, NGOs, etc.); enablers (policy makers,  government and international organisations, etc.); and D4Ag service / solution providers (organisations or individuals providing services in the domain of digitalisation for agriculture, including innovations and data infrastructure).

Are you curious to know what emerged from this dialogue? Do you want to know more and add your voice and ideas to the dialogue outcomes and results?
 

Join us for the D4Ag dialogue closing webinar on 15 December and contribute to shape and deliver digital agriculture capacities for the future!

Register here >> https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqc-Ggrj8vEtG9ThuSg45tGo9bSaBlUByL

Landscaping the Agritech Ecosystem for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 Promotional video for the report “Landscaping the Agritech Ecosystem for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Based on the review of 131 digital agriculture tools, this report, prepared by GSMA and IDB Lab, provides a market mapping and landscape analysis of the most prominent cases of digital disruption. It highlights some of the major trends observed in five digital agriculture use cases, identifies opportunities for digital interventions, and concludes with recommendations for future engagement that could deliver long-term, sustainable economic and social benefits for smallholder farmers.

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.

Drones for Agriculture - Long awaited ICTUpdate issue now released

Latest issue of @ICT_Update on #drones for #agriculture now available https://t.co/gwItjPO5tg | #ICT4Ag #PrecisionAg pic.twitter.com/6UV1d3XJxg

— Drones 4 Agriculture (@UAV4Ag) April 28, 2016

Interested in the topic?  Follow @uav4ag on Twitter and join the community on www.uav4ag.org

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."

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.

The film “The enabling power of participatory 3D mapping among the Saramaccan People of Suriname” launched at CWA2014

Fifty years ago, some 5000 Saramaccan people of Suriname had to leave their traditional lands along the Suriname River due to the construction of a major dam. The wounds of this transmigration are still felt today. Meanwhile, the Saramaccans who live in the Upper Suriname River area face new challenges since their territorial rights are not yet officially recognized and road infrastructure to access the area is improving. Creating a 3D model of the area that tells the inside story of their traditions and land use can help them to overcome their sense of being misunderstood by decision-makers and rediscover their voice.



The 15 min video production “The enabling power of participatory 3D mapping among the Saramaccan People of Suriname” has been launched on October 9 at the 13th Caribbean Week of Agriculture in Paramaribo, Suriname. The launch occurred during the session “Maps as media in policy processes: Bringing the 3rd dimension to the negotiating table” in the presence of representatives from the Saramaccan community.

The launch was followed by reflections done by Saramaccan representatives Mr Godfried Adjako, one of the captains of the village of Kaajapati, and Ms Debora Linga who spent her infancy with her grandparents on their farm on the shores of the Brokopondo Reservoir and later on kept visiting them in Ginginston village along the banks of the Upper Suriname River.

Mr Godfried Adjako recalled that in the process of populating the 3D model the community, especially the youth, learned a lot from the elders. “The map now shows our life, the Earth we live on, the Earth we walk on, the Earth without which we cannot live.” “We can use the map to take decisions on where to locate future developments”, he added. Both men and women contributed to the map. “Women know a lot about the surrounding of the villages, while men who use to go hunting, know the most about far away areas.”

Mr Adjako stated that when developing the legend ahead of the mapping exercise, the community decided to omit sensitive and confidential information. Therefore the data contained in the model and currently being digitised by Tropenbos International Suriname (TBI) should be considered as publicly available.

The P3DM process has been a discovery journey for young Debora. “In the 60’s my grandparents had to resettle because their village had been submerged by the rising waters of the Brokopondo Reservoir. They resettled along the Upper Suriname River in a village called Ginginston where I grew up. I could not understand the reason why my grandfather kept on navigating a long way along the river to reach the shores of the lake where he was growing watermelon” she said. “I discovered the reason while chatting with an elder who explained to me that transmigrating families were welcome by Saramaccan villages uphill the lake, but were granted limited access to resources. In fact they were sort of borrowing the land from people who occupied it for generations. Thus they only had access to small farming areas. In Saramaccan this is how you feel: they were living on somebody else’s land.”

Additional references:

• Saramakan’s forests: watercourses at the core of a Participatory 3D Modelling exercise along the Upper Suriname River
• CTA-funded 3D map helping tribe document and articulate their traditional knowledge
• Multi-scale modeling of ecosystem services and land-use scenarios in the upper Suriname River basin

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.”

L'an 2025 de la révolution @gricole

On rapporte qu'Albert Einstein aurait dit : « Je ne pense jamais au futur – il vient bien assez tôt. » Comme il avait raison !

Il ne fait aucun doute que le pouvoir transformatif des TIC nous fait vivre un développement exponentiel !

Tentez l'aventure et embarquez-vous pour l'an 2025 de la révolution @gricole.

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.