Photo Credit: USAID

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and GSMA have launched a global initiative to facilitate the rapid scaling of the use of mobile phone networks to provide poor farmers with valued agricultural information.

The mFarmer Initiative aims at developing a global, shared database of digital agricultural information; a challenge fund to promote innovative partnerships between operators and public or private agriculture extension service providers; technical assistance; sharing of best practices; and impact evaluation.

At a recent webinar organized by USAID to introduce the mFarmer initiative, Judy Payne, the ICT Advisor for USAID’s EGAT and Africa Bureaus reiterated the interest of USAID in supporting agriculture in the developing nations through the Feed the Future (FTF) program. She explained that the selected countries for the mFarmer initiative in Africa are priority countries for the FTF program. According to Judy Payne, USAID is a partial funder together with BMGF. She strongly encouraged USAID missions and implementing partners working in Africa to take full advantage of the opportunity given the funding from the agency and the importance of the initiative to help increase productivity and income of smallholder farmers. She cited the involvement of one of USAID’s FTF implementing projects for Africa as a partner in submitting an application during the first round of the Challenge Fund.

The mFarmer initiative has an ambitious vision of success to help about 2.2 million poor farmers in developing countries increase their productivity and incomes by receiving actionable, high quality, relevant and timely information and advice through mobile phone service networks by 2015. These services are delivered via sustainable and scalable business models without on-going donor support and reflect significant private sector investment. They complement other delivery channels, reflect feedback from farmers, and are based on a growing body of shared digital agricultural content.

The introduction to the mFarmer initiative webinar, which was the first in series of webinars to focus on the initiative, was attended by over 40 participants across the globe. Other presenters at the session include Smith Fiona, mAgri Program Director, GSMA Development Fund, and Natalia Pshenichnaya, mAgri Business Development Manager, GSMA Development Fund. Access to the recorded presentation of  this webinar could be found here.

Also, an upcoming online forum to initiate discussion around the types of partnerships that are conducive to creating sustainable and scalable mobile information and advisory services for farmers will be help between November 21st and December 1st at e-Agriculture website. Subject Matter Experts to help lead the discussion include:

  • Sharbendu Banerjee, Director of Business Development, CABI South Asia-India
  • Hillary Miller-Wise, Country Director, TechnoServe Tanzania
  • Collins Nweke, Project Manager, Tigo Tanzania
  • Judy Payne, ICT Advisor, USAID
  • Fiona Smith, Director, GSMA mAgri Program
  • S. Srinivasan, CEO, IKSL

GSMA, is an association of 800 mobile operators serving over 95 percent of the market in developing countries. It helps its members adopt new approaches to provide valued information and services to their customers. In 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) made a grant to GSMA to catalyze mobile operators’ investment in these innovative mobile services, evaluate their impact, and facilitate experimentation with sustainable and scalable delivery models.

Tanzanian Farmers Using Smartphone

Photo Credit: Sauti ya wakulima

Through a collaborative knowledge base, farmers from the Chambezi region of the Bagamoyo District in Tanzania are using smartphones equipped with GPS modules and an application that makes it easy to send pictures and sounds to the Internet. The smartphones are used to document their daily practices, make reports about their observations regarding changes in climate and related issues, and also to interview other farmers, expanding thus their network of social relationships and engaging in a process of mutual learning.

This is just one of the stories of local people innovating through the challenges they face on the field. Over the years, local people are known to innovate due to necessity, changing conditions, and curiosity, doing informal experiments on new ideas either from their own ingenuity or learned from other farmers, researchers, extensionists and other information sources like the mass media. But over and over again, scientists have learnt very little about these innovations in order to take advantage of them to improve their scientific research work.

The farmers at Chambezi not only struggle because of insufficient infrastructure and unreliable markets for their products, but they are also facing the challenges of a changing local climate. Less rains, less underground water and unprecedented threats caused by pests and plant diseases are some of the pressing issues that they have to deal with. However, they know that by sharing their knowledge on how to cope with these problems, they can become stronger and find ways to overcome them. They hope that, by communicating their observations to extension officers and scientific researchers, who can be in remote locations, they can participate in the design of new strategies for adaptation.

In order for their voices to be heard, the farmers gather audiovisual evidence of their practices using smartphones and publish images and voice recordings on the Internet.  The project, which started early this year, is currently being sponsored by the North South Center of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, with the support of the Department of Botany of the University of Dar es Salaam and the Zurich Node of the Planetary Collegium (Z-Node). The participants of Sauti ya wakulima, a group of five men and five women, who gather every Monday at the agricultural station in Chambezi, use a laptop computer and a 3G Internet connection to view the images and hear the voice recordings that they posted during the week. They also pass the two available smartphones on to other participants, turning the phones into shared tools for communication.

For more information about this innovation, visit the Sauti ya wakulima blog and site.

M-Kilimo Immage

Photo Credit: M-Kilimo Project

Two recent case studies on some ICTs for agricultural development projects supported through the GSMA Development Fund – mAgri Program reveal an emerging trend within the broader Agricultural Extension Services (AES) and specifically in the developing nations, that worth commenting on. The revealing trend I’ve noticed, is that, either drastic policies and actions be taken to restructure the current  educational systems of agricultural extension agents/officers or nations be prepared to seed-off their agricultural advisory services to the private sector (full privatization).

The projects are M-Kilimo in Kenya which has been developed as a result of cooperation between Rockefeller Foundation and KenCall the largest BPO Company in East Africa. The second project is IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), which is also a tri-lateral venture between Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO), Airtel, and Star Global Resources Ltd.

The following two stories tell the kind of impact these two ICT4Ag projects are having on the lives of rural farmers in the respective countries.

Sanjay Mondal, a farmer from India had his cucumber farm infested with necrotic leaf lesions. After discussing his problem with IKSL staff remotely, the disease was diagnosed and a topical spray of Sectin fungicide in the ratio of 2mg per litre of water was prescribed. The total cost of the treatment was 500 Indian rupees. The yield increased by 50% as a result, and income also went up by 50% (India – IKSL).

Nahomi, a chicken farmer in Kenya had problem with thin weak egg shells that did not allow her to sell or store the eggs in that quality. She called M-Kilimo and the livestock expert on the other end of the line suggested that she gives the chicken a feed rich in calcium. By using a calcium rich poultry feed or adding fishmeal to the feeds will increase the calcium content of her feed, the expert explained. Now, Nahomi’s chickens are laying good quality eggs and she can sell more eggs as a result of the advice and availability of M-Kilimo experts (Kenya – M-Kilimo).

A closer look at the design and operational models of IKSL and M-Kilimo predicts the future demise of most National Agricultural Extension Services (NAES) if the necessary reforms of the current educational systems delay. I will attempt to explain my argument from two perspectives – the human resources level of extension staffs and the medium of delivery of the information to the end users (which is also a factor of ICT human resource development).

Human Resource – Agricultural Extension and Education

The traditional agricultural extension service as the main platform for delivery of new innovations, technologies and information to farmers, has its strength in the extension staffs. The extension agent/officer/worker is seen as a “Change Agent”. These officers are mostly public servants trained and equipped to be, most of the time, in direct contact with their clients, the farmers. Even though the service has been engulfed with a host of problems, its human interaction capability is still strong which helps not only to deliver new innovations but also train users how to use these technologies through field demonstrations. However, my personal experience tells me of the poor quality of extension staffs currently on the field in most developing countries due to a number of issues.

A recent study I conducted with over 30 agricultural extension officers from three agricultural districts in Ghana shows that only 39% did receive some form of undergraduate degree in agriculture. The remaining 61% is made up of either certificate in agriculture or diploma in agriculture obtained in the late 70s and early 80s.

The IKSL and M-Kilimo projects have tended to improve upon this traditional human resource development in extension. For example the IKSL project acknowledged that the quality of its experts is critical for their success since these experts decide the content of the messages that are being delivered to the users. As a result, they have a minimum qualification of first degree in agriculture for their first line of staffs that are in direct contact with the users; highly experienced academics and specialists in agriculture for second line experts; and the third line of 10 specialists who regularly convene to vet and validate contents being delivered to the users.

M-Kilimo also has similar model with emphasis on trustworthy and effective system to deliver appropriate information to the end user. The project also requires the experts to have a minimum of bachelor’s degree in agriculture and at least 2 years of relevant field experience. This first line of experts is supported by Subject Matter Experts (SME) to help provide quality assurance service for content and delivery. Also the contents are obtained from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, National Weather Station, and other Research Institutes within and outside the country.

IKSL

Photo Credit: IKSL

Medium of Delivery – Timely and Remote Access to Information

Even though the traditional medium for agricultural extension has improved over the years including the mass communication technologies such as radios and televisions; and recently with mobile phones, the face-to-face interaction still dominates most NAES. Extension officers are expected to visit individual farmers’ field and other farmers groups to deliver new information. This continues in the wake of high extension officer-farmer ratios (1:3000 and over), one of the primary indicators used to measure the intensity of extension coverage in a country. Ironically, most of the public extension officers who have access to the new ICT facilities through public telecenters, and other community information centers are not well trained and equipped to use them to facilitate their work.

The result is the deplorable condition of information or knowledge gap as seen in the stories of the two farmers above prior to the intervention of M-Kilimo and IKSL in Kenya and India respectively. But how many rural farmers have access to M-Kilimo and IKSL and similar projects across the developing nations?

With the IKSL and M-Kilimo projects, a critical part as seen in the stories above is ‘remote delivery of information to users’ – either through their mobile phones or SMS messages. The use of these tools facilitates timely delivery of information to users. Apart from the information communication systems that are put in place, ICT human resources development of the helpline experts is important. These features of the emerging information communication systems are helping to ensure more accurate, appropriate, timely and remotely accessible information to end users such as rural farmers whose farming success are previously determined by extension agents/officers.

Implications for National Agricultural Extension Services (NAES)

ICTs are not here to replace the rich human interactions between rural agricultural farmers and extension agents. It should be recognized that the social capital created through face-to-face interactions during extension visits are irreplaceable. ICTs are “technologies” that can enable social behaviors. But without some drastic reforms of the existing extension system, especially the educational standard of the extension staffs, I see the gradual downfall of the public agricultural extension system in most developing countries. Could this be a journey towards a kind of partnership/collaboration in the future where research and development will remain in the public domain while extension and advisory services go to the private sector? With the general acceptance of “Agribusiness Models” across the world within smallholder agricultural production, I do expect to see changes within agricultural extension and advisory services in the next few years – I do expect to see more private sector involvement in extension delivery.

Logo of Agro-Hub

Photo Credit: Timbuktu Chronicles

Earlier this month, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) held its 8th Biennial US-Africa Business Summit in Washington DC. One of the key focus areas at the summit was the agribusiness sector in Africa with sessions and workshops covering topics such as “Winning for Farmer Entrepreneurs and Investors”; “Partnering to Build an Integrated Agribusiness Sector”; “Financing a Dynamic African Agribusiness Sector”; “Removing Barriers to Create Opportunities in Regional and Global Trade”; and “Leveraging Development Assistance to Support Private Enterprise”. Stories and experiences from a number of participants who are already in the market in certain parts of Africa clearly show the increasing interest in changing Africa’s agricultural sector from an “AID Recipient” to a “BUSINESS Partner”. This of course, calls for a number of changes including the perception of agriculture by the smallholder farmers that need to be undertaken in Africa’s bid to revamp its agricultural sector.

As an agricultural information specialist, I followed with keen interest the proceedings at the said US-Africa Business Summit with special concern for agricultural development in the continent. What I saw and heard at the summit during the discussions on issues such as farmer entrepreneurship, partnership, financing, removing barriers for regional trade, and leveraging development assistance within the agricultural sector, seemed to be missing a major component – information and communication technologies (ICTs). In fact, one would have expected most of these discussions to have some element of  ICTs as enabler or catalyst for the entire agricultural value chain. Especially given the Information Economy Report 2011: ICTs as an Enabler for Private Sector Development (PSD), published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) that pointed out clearly that the potential of leveraging ICTs to develop the private sector is far from fully exploited.

Access to information by smallholder farmers is key for producing high quality products to meet market specifications both locally and international. ICTs are key in gathering and delivering timely and accurate agricultural information for farmers to be able to do just that. Smallholder farmers are currently using ICTs in pre-production and production activities across the world that the business sector needs to exploit and leverage upon in Africa.  This is being achieved through the reformed and modernized Agricultural Advisory Service (AAS), which connects local farmers to research, market, and policy. Popular applications that should interest companies and institutions interested in Africa’s agribusiness include Grameen AppLab Community Knowledge Workers; Farmer Voice Radio Project; M-Powering Farmers, and other radio services across the developing world.

Farmers also lack access to credit for their production and there are a host of financial services using the new ICTs to facilitate the flow of financial services to smallholder farmers in the developing world. Mobile payments, mobile money, or mobile banking applications are being used to make financial transactions more accessible, faster, and safer for rural farmers. These services also link farmers to financial services and make it easier for them to save money obtained from their farm activities for other social services. These are great opportunities for entrepreneurs and the business community interested in investing in Africa’s agribusiness to explore. Examples include the M-PESA currently operating in countries like Kenya and Tanzania; Mobile Money in Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and others.

Also worth exploring is ICTs for market. When one talks about business, the first thing that comes to mind is “market” and markets affect smallholder agriculture production from inputs supply such as seed, agrochemicals, farm machinery to the outputs or products delivery to the final consumer either in the local, regional or international market. Access to market information helps farmers find out about market prices, make decisions regarding when to harvest, how to negotiate with intermediaries, etc. ICTs models such as esoko in a number of Sub-Saharan Africa countries, e-Choupal and Reuters Market Light in India, Manobi in Senegal, Infotrade in Uganda, and Zambian National Farmers Union MIS are just the tip of the iceberg.

The traditional agricultural extension service, which has been a public platform over the decades, is undergoing a lot of reforms to create an enabling environment for the private sector to heavily invest in the ICTs sector. With the new models of agricultural extension reforms such as decentralization, privatization, commercialization, pluralism, and partnerships, there should not be any barrier for the private sector in using ICTs to enhance their agribusiness in Africa. American and European businessmen and companies interested in Africa’s agriculture should not make mistake by ignoring the importance of “information” in their business – ICTs can help when recognized and incorporated into the agribusiness plan!

Farmer with Mobile Phone

Photo Credit: OpenIdeo

Let’s imagine the state of the global food security in the next 3-5 years, if rural women decide to back out of agriculture and food production today? Secondly, let’s visualize how access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) by rural women could reverse the negative impacts that this could make on the globe – that is the magic!

Rural women in most of the developing world play an indispensable role in improving the quality of life through agriculture, food production, processing and decisions concerning nutrition and diet. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture  Organization (FAO), over two thirds of all women in Africa are employed in the agriculture sector and produce nearly 90% of food on the continent. As the world recognizes the importance of rural women on the International Day of Rural Women (2011), I would like to highlight some of the key roles that rural women play across the globe in sustaining life. The piece concludes with the ‘envisioning’ of ICTs to improve the current deplorable conditions of these rural women. While each of these cases highlights the “role” of rural women in agriculture, they also inform the public (in general) and our policy makers (in particular) about the plight of this hardworking social group within our society.

In Bangladesh, rural women are known for their traditional role in a wide range of agricultural activities including post-harvesting, cow fattening and milking, goat farming, backyard poultry rearing, horticulture, and food processing. Women, almost equal to the contribution of male family labor, carry out some 40-50% of field irrigation and non-farm water management.

Depending on the geographic location in Bhutan, rural women may dominate agricultural production. The population consists of 49% women, and 62% of them work in agriculture. Agriculture remains the primary economic activity in the rural areas of Bhutan in addition to other dominant activities as kitchen garden and livestock. Women considerably contribute to household income through farm and non-farm activities.

The situation is not different in India where the national rural female work participation rate is around 22%. While agriculture is a household enterprise, social norms demarcate the division of labor based on sex and age. Activities like transplanting and weeding are regarded as women’s jobs, whereas both men and women perform activities like harvesting and post-harvesting.

About 79% of Kenya’s population lives in rural areas and relies on agriculture for most of its income. The rural economy depends mainly on smallholder subsistence agriculture, which produces 75% of total agricultural output. The poorest communities are found in the sparsely populated arid zones, mainly in the north and made up of households headed by women, herders, and farm laborers. Subsistence farming is primary – and often the only – source of livelihood for about 70% of these women.

In Rwanda, women account for about 54% of the population, and many households are headed by women and orphans. Agriculture remains the backbone of the economy contributing an average of 36% of total GDP, and employs more than 80% of the population. Rural livelihoods are based on agricultural production system that is characterized by small family farms, practicing mixed farming that combines rain-fed grain crops, traditional livestock rearing and some vegetable production and dominated by women.

A substantial proportion of Nepalese women (40%) are economically active. Most of these women are employed in the agriculture sector, the majority working as unpaid family laborers in subsistence agriculture characterized by low technology and primitive farming practices. As men increasingly move out of farming, agriculture is becoming increasingly feminized in Nepal.

In Pakistan, women are key players in the agriculture sector, which employs almost 12 million women in the production of crops, vegetables and livestock. The cotton crop, accounting for half of national export earnings, depends heavily on female labor. Women have the exclusive responsibility for cotton picking, exposing themselves in the process to health hazards emanating from the intensive use of pesticides.

In Sri Lanka, about 80% of the population lives in rural areas in which women play an important role in the agriculture sector. About 42% of the female labor force is engaged in agricultural activities. Gender roles in slash and burn cultivation, rice paddies and home gardens vary according to the cultivation practiced in these systems of production. Women take on activities related to transplanting, post-harvesting and household level processing of home garden produce.

The agriculture sector of Ghana contributes about 33.5% of GDP and remains the country’s major engine of economic growth. Over half the country’s population lives in rural areas. About six in ten small-scale farmers are poor, and many are women. Women bear heavy workloads. In addition to their domestic chores, they are responsible for about 60% of agricultural production. More than half the women who head households in rural areas are among the poorest 20% of the population.

In Côte d’Ivoire, most of the country’s poor people are small-scale farmers. They face problems of market access, low prices for export crops and inadequate basic social services. Rural women, who lead the sector, have limited or no decision-making power over the allocation of land, and they are dependent on men for access to land. Yet gaining access to land is crucial for these women because their livelihoods depend largely on the production of food crops.

In Indonesia, women represent the mainstay of rural households, providing family as well as farm labor. Agriculture accounts for the highest share of rural employment. Since most rural households control small amounts of land or have no land at all, rural women often seek to supplement household income and food security through off-farm employment in small and medium enterprises, some of which have links to agricultural production.

The East African country of Ethiopia, has about 12.7 million smallholders who produce about 95% of agricultural GDP under extremely vulnerable conditions such as drought and other natural disasters. Households headed by women are particularly vulnerable. Women are much less likely than men to receive an education or health benefits, or to have a voice in decisions affecting their lives.

Poverty in the Sudan is deeply entrenched and is largely rural. Poverty particularly affects farmers who practice rain-fed agriculture. It is more widespread and deeper in rural areas dominated by women and children and in areas affected by conflict, drought and famine. In general, small-scale farmers and herders in the traditional rain-fed farming and livestock sectors are poorer than those in the irrigated agricultural sector.

Tanzania has about 85% of its poor people living in rural areas and relies on agriculture as their main source of income and livelihood. Within the agriculture sector, food crop producers who are mainly women, are generally poorer than cash crop farmers, but both operate under cyclical and structural constraints and are subject to frequent natural calamities.

Despite all these contributions of women to agricultural sector under the aforementioned harsh conditions, their role has tended to be seen as secondary to that of men. Unfortunately, the opportunities offered by ICTs in the digital age, are not immediately available to the poorest of the poor – who are mostly ‘rural’ women. Rural women in most developing countries face important constraints with respect to ICTs. Some of these include the limited time availability to participate in training and use of ICTs due to the nature of their role at home, low literacy level, minimal access to technology such as mobile telephones or computers, and social and cultural stigma that goes with the social group.

Notwithstanding, there is an increasing body of evidence that shows how ICT is contributing positively to women’s socio-economic empowerment. A range of ICT models have been used to support the empowerment of women all over the world and there is evidence to show that ICTs have improved women’s access to information, and provided them with new employment opportunities.

While the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that giving women the same access as men to ‘agricultural resources’ could increase their farm production by 20-30%, I would like to state that giving women same access as men to “ICTs” could increase their farm productivity by 20-30%.

Map of Africa

Photo Credit: Zunia

The President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Mr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, hosted a virtual press conference from his Rome office yesterday, September 29 to discuss why he believes Africa can ensure its own food security through investment in agriculture, with particular focus on West Africa.

The interactive press briefing touched on a number of pressing and interesting issues relating to African agriculture. According to Mr. Nwanze, reducing rural poverty in Africa is a high priority for IFAD, and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains IFAD’s highest priority, absorbing as much as 40% of new commitments. IFAD investment in Africa and SSA is more than 50% of IFAD’s total investment worldwide. With years of investment and working relations with African experts and governments, IFAD has accumulated a rich experience of what works and doesn’t work in Africa.

The agency has identified with the great challenges facing African agriculture including volatile food prices, changing climate, the challenge of feeding its populace, land grabbing, among others. But at the same time, sees great promise for Africa in the face of all these challenges. Africa has the highest share of the world’s arable land for agriculture, with West Africa alone holding about 284 million hectares of arable land available for investment. Out of this, only 60 million are currently in use. In addition, the region has more than 10 million hectares of land that could be irrigated, but it barely uses 10% of this to its full value. About 60% of Sub-Sahara African is under 25 years of age with high skills and training to be tapped for agricultural growth.

I asked Mr Nwanze what IFAD’s view is on policies that ensure investment in ICTs for agricultural development in Africa. He referenced the on-going Agricultural Knowledge Share Fair (AgShareFair) in Rome with support from IFAD and other UN agencies that brought together people from all over the world including Africa with innovative information and communication technologies for knowledge sharing. IFAD is also supporting many projects in the area of mobile telephony, mobile banking, last mile etc. that are helping in the advancement of agriculture in Africa. Also the use of this virtual press briefing by the President, which made possible for people to participate remotely attests to IFAD’s recognition and commitment to ICTs for development. On policies guiding the creation and administration of Universal Service and Access Funds (USAF) in African countries, Mr. Nwanze recalled a recent meeting by ITU that brought together telecom regulators together to deliberate on its application for development.

Responding to another question from the press as to why Africa is starving, the President stated that Africa is not starving. He cited booming economies in Africa such as Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia where African governments are pursuing sound economic policies thereby enabling the growth of their economies. He cited Ghana as an example that made enormous stride and has great promise for growth with the possibility of transitioning into middle-income country in the near future. He was quick to state, however, that he is ‘no prophet of the future’ to tell how things will turn in these countries. Referring to the crises at the Horn of Africa, the President said agriculture must be made a priority in Africa by all who are interested in reducing poverty and ensuring food security. He called on African leaders to “act now: investing in agriculture is the best way to prevent famines.” African leaders must take the lead and invest in agriculture – no people or nation can make progress with sole external support, the President stated.

On the possibility of investing in green energy for Africa’s agriculture, Mr. Nwanze said it depends on how one defines green energy. According to him, African farmers are already practicing green energy in their farm practices through good soil management practices to prevent erosion and the like.

My main take of the press briefing applies to the question of Mr Nwanze’s view on ICTs investments by African people for agricultural development in Africa. Mr. Nwanze pointed some interesting initiatives by IFAD to expand access to ICTs in rural Africa but it is not clear how much of this is being spearheaded by Africans themselves. On the issue of availability of vast arable lands, huge youth population, and skills in Africa for investment, it is difficult to see how that translate into food security and prevention of future famine in Africa. In this era where Africa is experiencing more and more rural-urban migrations, not only the youth but also the older generations, as a result of declining opportunities and lack of incentives for farming, policies should go beyond mere recognition of ‘rich resources’ on the continent. The President did not mince his words by calling on African leaders to act now, but I also think that there is so much to explore outside African governments and political leaders. The call for investing in low-cost and simple technologies such as information and communication technologies for example should be a fertile ground for Africa’s young entrepreneurs. By creating a conducive environment for investment, Africa could see a wave of young investors especially in the ICTs sector.

Mr. Nwanze also responded to questions from the press covering areas of good governance for agricultural development, south-south collaborations for knowledge transfer to Africa, investment in post-conflict countries such as Liberia, the use of subsidies, and examples of successful models of agricultural development in Africa. The session was covered by over 25 different media outlets across the world in the area of radio, TV, magazine, blogs, multimedia press such as Voice of America, Voice of Nigeria, Deutsche Welle (DW), the Organic Farmer, Think Africa Press, and the Global Broadband for Innovation Program of USAID.

An image from past share fair

Credit: ShareFair

Agriculture professionals will converge at the Headquarters of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) next week in Rome for the 2nd Global Agricultural Knowledge Share Fair.

As I write this, it is days away from kick-off of the 4-day event in Rome from the 26-29 September. With all the excitements that ShareFair brings, participants will be expecting to discover and share new creative and innovative learning and sharing opportunities; and equipping themselves with tools to better influence future agricultural development activities. With the advent of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs), the approach to agricultural knowledge sharing has evolved enabling people of all background to participate and contribute. ShareFairs present unique opportunity for participants to share and discuss the ways in which they have applied new methods of communication and knowledge sharing to improve the effectiveness and impact of their work.

Being the fourth ShareFair and the second of its kind with global focus, participants are expected from all regions of the world with over 160 presenters. This includes farmers, students, academicians, researchers, practitioners, journalists, entrepreneurs, politicians, and policy makers. They will be sharing their knowledge on a variety of rural development and agriculture related topics such as food security, climate change and green innovations, gender, ICTs, mobile technology and social media, new technologies and innovative agricultural and farming practices, markets and private sector, water, livestock, young people, networks and communities of practice. These presentations will take forms such as TedTalks, market place, world café, chat shows, peer assist, fish bowls, and open space.

Knowledge fairs are face-to-face events in which participants set up displays to share their undertakings. Share fairs are interactive events that employ various knowledge sharing formats such as market stalls and booths, and workshops and presentations designed to encourage discussions. They are “free-flowing,” open, flexible, and non-hierarchical. The aims of knowledge share fairs are to provide opportunities for multiple parties to broadcast their achievements, exhibit their products, and market new programs to donors, policymakers, other institutes and potential partners; facilitate face-to-face networking and promote South-North exchange on common agendas; help people benefit from each other’s experiences; and stimulate interest in future collaboration and the development of new programs. ShareFairs can be internal to an organization or open to partners and the public.

Since 2009, the ICT-KM Program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has helped organize three Share Fairs: ShareFair 09, Rome; ShareFair Cali, Colombia in May 2010; and AgKnowledge Africa Share Fair, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia October 2010. This fair is being jointly organized by Bioversity International, FAO, IFAD, WFP, CGIAR, and CTA.

To follow events:

Live webcast of the keynote addresses, plenary sessions and sessions to be held in the Italian Conference room and Oval room via: http://sharefair.ifad.org/

Other social media channels include:

Conference hashtag: #sfrome

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sharefairs, http://twitter.com/ifadnews, http://twitter.com/faonews

Blog: http://blog.sharefair.net/ and http://ifad-un.blogspot.com

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/sharefair

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sharefair09/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KnowledgeShareFair

“Daily Corriere” – the Share Fair daily newspaper – will feature blogposts, tweets and stories from the event.

Somali refugee with her child

Credit: WFP/Judith Schuler

Responding to the food security needs of those affected by famine in the Horn of Africa is an enormous logistical challenge…

The most severe drought in a half a decade has made the already unstable region, particularly Somalia, an even more food insecure place. The United Nations is on the cusp of declaring a full-blown famine in Somalia, having deemed nearly a third of the country’s regions (5 of 18) to be experiencing a famine, which means more than 30% of people in those areas are subject to malnutrition—a quarter of all Somalis can relate. Upwards of 12 million people are caught in this perilous situation that also found toeholds in sections of Dijibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.

The food crisis (and all out famine in parts) is made worse by drought, but high fuel and food prices, and longstanding conflict in the region are primary causes. This makes for an especially complex emergency, where getting the right kinds of aid to people when and where they need it most, logistics, requires smart tools and strategies. This gives credence to the rapid shift in how development aid is being managed and deployed, to a point where technology becomes a vital tool in emergence response.

The ongoing crisis in the Horn of Africa underscores this. The last issue of The Economist carried an article with an insightful lead that quotes a text message from a Somali affected by famine. The sender declared ‘“MY NAME is Mohammed Sokor, writing to you from Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab. Dear Sir, there is an alarming issue here. People are given too few kilograms of food. You must help.” Mr. Sokor texted his appeal to two United Nations officials, in London and Nairobi, after finding their numbers on the internet while surfing at a café at the north Kenyan camp.

As many have observed, Mr. Sakor’s strategic use of a near ubiquitous ICT, his mobile-phone, signals the rapidly transforming relationship between the senders and receivers of aid. It is clear that greater accountability and agility will become a demand from the bottom-up. Increasingly, aid recipients will influence the kinds of aid they receive, where and how they get it. In the humanitarian operation of the future,” says Save the Children’s Mr Porter, “beneficiaries of emergency aid will use technology to tell us what they need—cash, food, or education—find out from us what to expect, and track its arrival, just as we can track an order from Amazon.com now.”

But, the relationship between food security and logistics supersedes complex humanitarian scenarios. As I contend in a previous blog, food insecurity is caused by a wide range of factors, including declining yields, inadequate investment in research and infrastructure, and increased water scarcity, but it is also brought about by immense waste. Logistical woes is a key cause for much of this waste. For instance, more than a third of crops reaped never gets to market in edible fashion because of poor value chain management and practices.

Long term development of the agricultural systems in the region must focus on using logistics technology to improve transportation and warehousing of produce. It’s crucial that we reduce food waste in the drive to improve food security.

 

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched a comprehensive food security communications toolkit this week. The kit will help food security professionals to better communicate their knowledge.

The kit will offer lessons on the follow:

  • Communicating strategically with policy makers – for maximum impact
  • Dealing with the media and building good relationships with journalists
  • How to prepare a communication strategy
  • Exploiting the internet, social media and Web 2.0 technologies to deliver your message and engage in dialogues with global audiences
  • Writing policy briefs, early warning bulletins, needs assessment and research reports
  • Improving your writing skills and editing your work

Michael Riggs, a blogger on e-agriculture, says the toolkit includes readymade templates complemented by a flexible e-learning course on food security communications.

Here’s the Food Security Communications Toolkit.

Here’s the e-learning course

Green leaves of a Cassava plant

Credit: Farm Africa

After two decades of civil war and amid a tense truce, the world recently welcomed its newest nation, The Republic of South Sudan.  But like many of its Sub-Saharan neighbors did 50 years ago, South Sudan joins the rank of nationhood with a raft of intractable developmental  challenges– and the high expectations of 8 million people adds importance to each.

While the slate of challenges at hand are all important for sustained socio-economic development, achieving national food security will be key to the success of the nation.  It is a vital part of  national security and nationhood. But achieving self-sufficiency in food production and food security will require full transformation of the embryonic nation’s agricultural sector.

Although the sector accounts for the majority of economic activity—33% of the rural population lives on agriculture, whereas 45 % and 12 % are agro-pastoralists and fishermen respectively—the industry is stuck in a pre-industrial form. This is particularly bothersome as new nations must effectively manage their citizens’ expectations–for basic services, jobs and food–to thrive.

However, the country has been unable to provide enough food for the people of South Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. More than a fifth of the population depends on food aid, and the majority of the country’s food is imported from neighbouring countries, many of which are unstable. This doesn’t bode well for the country, and begs the question: where is the national food policy that would foster sustained food production and security? What should a national food policy for South Sudan entail?

A map showing the 10 states of South Sudan in various colours

Credit: South Sudan Forum For Public Policy

As I noted earlier, at the heart of any food policy must be the repositioning of the agricultural sector. South Sudan’s agriculture is characterized by subsistence farmers and disproportionate involvement in agriculture and forestry, compared to livestock and fisheries. There ought to be a concerted campaign to educate farmers about the importance of diversifying their crops and exploring opportunities in the livestock and fisheries sector.

This will require the bridging of the information divide.  In other words, South Sudanese farmers ought to have improved access to better extension services and information that will sensitize and inform them about markets. ICTs will be useful tools for enabling this and should therefore form a central part of the overall food security strategy for South Sudan.  However, the full incorporation of ICTs will depend on improvements in connectivity and access– mobile subscription, broadband access and total internet users are all less than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nonetheless, traditional ICTs such as radio, which is relatively ubiquitous in South Sudan, may be used as a key first step to offer extension services that tackle issues, including irrigation cycles, pest control, access to seeds,  fertilizer, transportation and prices. These services may be provided via a series of  regularly aired radio programs and features that capture the voices and interests of the farmers.  The use of traditional ICTs and other less advanced but newer technologies are likely to be more contextually relevant and appropriate, compared to high end ICTs. The latest technology is not always suitable. In the long-term, many opportunities to use the latest ICTs will mature. That is to say, they exist now, but the infrastructure in not in place to facilitate their effective implementation for the benefit of the majority.

Here are a few of the ICT opportunities:

  • The provision of access to financial services via mobile money
  • Improve irrigation and water management services using remote sensing technologies and GIS
  • Establishment of legible rural and agricultural markets through market information systems
  • Reduction of waste through proper storage and transportation facilities enabled by logistics technology
  • Text and other mobile-based  extension services to create access to better agriculture and livestock  inputs

Despite the immense scope for growth in South Sudan’s agriculture sector, much depends on the development of indigenous agricultural and livestock research, animal health services, infrastructure (including roads and bridges), and the stability of the  regulatory and political environment.

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