Category: Mobile

Lack of data in a time of data overload – Agriculture

For the past two decades, I have worked on e-Agriculture, ICTs for Agriculture and Digital Agriculture as a practitioner, researcher, development officer, and now a policy adviser. My conclusion is that, for digital solutions and services to be sustained, scaled and then accelerate smallholder agriculture transformation, we need a better approach to data management at…

Read More

D4Ag (D4D) should be about Information not Technology!

In my first blog in this series “It’s Time to Phase Out ICT4D (ICT4Ag) and Embrace D4D (D4Ag)!”, I argued that the concept of ICTs for development, both in literal sense and its delivery has focussed on promoting “technologies” to support communication of information for development (information communication technologies (ICTs). I concluded that, technology is…

Read More

Digital agriculture to help Africa through coronavirus

Originally written by Benjamin Addom and Sabdiyo Dido, and published by CTA on Tuesday, 28 April 2020 As COVID-19 continues to devastate lives all over the world, agriculture and food systems come under critical strain. Recessions, food shortages, hunger and malnutrition are feared to be likely, with grave impact on vulnerable communities in developing regions…

Read More

From ICT4Ed to ICT4Ag: The Potential of EasySMS Mobile App!

Photo Credit: EasySMS EasySMS mobile app intends to enable illiterate people to “read” SMS on Windows Phone 7; understand the meaning of each word of the SMS; and write SMS using icons with sound support and SMS recomposition from previous SMSs. It is a Windows phone application which empowers illiterate people to read, compose, send…

Read More

Another App for Smallholder Farmers: M-Farm

Photo Credit: M-Farm M-Farm is an award winning mobile solution for agribusinesses and farmers currently being piloted in Kenya. It is an SMS and web-based application focused on improving weaknesses in the value chain. It is a transparency tool for Kenyan farmers to get information pertaining to the retail price of their products, buy their…

Read More

8Villages: A new social network app for smallholder farmers

Photo Credit: 8Villages.com One of the new ICT solutions that I have discovered and love to share with agricultural commodity value chain implementers is 8Villages, a mobile platform that links farmers to their communities of peers, input suppliers, and their external business partners. Below is a short discussion that I had with the Founder and…

Read More

Who wins: Rural Agriculture or Mobile Sector?

Is rural agriculture a big business opportunity for the mobile industry or the mobile industry is a big business opportunity for rural agriculture? This is the question that I continue to grapple with as I browse through presentations at the mAgri event during the just ended GSMA Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, and…

Read More

AMIS-Cameroon for UN’s MDGs 1, 3, 7, and 8

AMIS-Cameroon is bridging information gap in the African country of Cameroon by connecting farmers with vital information through SMS thereby boosting sustainable agricultural activities that promote the UN’s Millennium Development Goals 1 (Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger), 3 (Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women), 7 (Ensure environmental Sustainability), and 8 (Develop a Global Partnership for…

Read More

Social Media @ IFAD’s 2012 GC Meeting

The 35th Session of International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD’s) Governing Council (GC) is currently underway with innovative use of social media for more inclusive, interactive and impact-oriented forum. The 2-day event with the theme “Sustainable smallholder agriculture: feeding the world, protecting the planet” takes off officially on Wednesday at IFAD’s headquarters in Rome…

Read More