Originally written on Saturday, 1 August 2015 How relevant and useful are web tools for ICT4Ag today? Are they on their way out, or on the contrary, is the web a nucleus from which other channels spread? Is the web still a relevant environment for communicating agricultural information to users? Or is it doomed to…

Originally written on Monday, 2 December 2013 The ICT4Ag conference held in Rwanda in November 2013 was unique in that it brought together a highly representative body of delegates from the ICT and agricultural sectors. The CTA-sponsored ICT4ag conference held on 4–8 November 2013 in Kigali, Rwanda had several objectives, but the conference heading –…

Originally written on Sunday, 1 December 2013 Ben Addom, coordinator of the ‘Emerging innovations’ stream, talks about the effort to create a ‘living database’ of ICT4Ag solutions. In your article in the last issue of ICT Update you mentioned that we need to coordinate efforts to monitor the impact of applications since there are so…

Originally written on Tuesday, 1 October 2013 The conference will help to address the ‘inclusive’ component of ICT4Ag, or the idea that no one will be left out. It is imperative that emerging innovations support rather than exclude stakeholders in the agricultural sector. A vast number of ICT solutions have emerged in recent years that…

Originally written on Sunday, 15 February 2015 In your article in the last issue of ICT Update you mentioned that we need to coordinate efforts to monitor the impact of applications since there are so many of them. Have there been any positive signs during your stream sessions that this may be accomplished? Yes, this…

Originally written on Tuesday 22 April 2014 Lamon Rutten and Benjamin Addom discuss the far-reaching changes that are needed to revolutionise finance for agri-value chains. The Oxford English Dictionary’s first definition of ‘revolution’ is ‘a Unking farmers forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system’. When discussing how to change…

Originally written on Thursday, 12 March 2020 Extensive consultation with CTA and other stakeholders has resulted in a concept note for the establishment of a new International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture. Once operationalised, the Digital Council will advise governments and other relevant actors with the aim of realising the immense potential of digitalisation…

Originally written on Tuesday, 7 January 2020 Solutions that bundle multiple digital agricultural services have the capacity to unlock the potential of smallholder farmers. However, emerging ‘super platforms’ are complex and their impacts need to be carefully assessed before widely promoted in Africa. A super platform is a type of digital agricultural solution which bundles…

Originally written on Sunday, 15 February 2015 BLOG A recurring question in agricultural development is how to transition successful donor-funded initiatives into self-sustaining, smallholder-focused businesses. One of CTA’s most innovative digitalisation projects, the Market-led, User-owned ICT4Ag-enabled Information Service (MUIIS), is proving it can be done. The MUIIS project was established in September 2015 with support from the…