2016 ICT4D Conference

With the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, agriculture is recognized as contributing significantly to most of these goals. The agricultural sector is confronted with the major challenge of increasing the production of nutritious food to address food security, malnutrition and environmental sustainability against the backdrop of climate change, decreasing availability of natural resources and an aging demographic of farmers. Convergence of stakeholders along value chains for agriculture, ICT, finance and education sectors will be critical for us to realize the SDGs.

Agriculture is a data-intensive enterprise when one considers soil variability, moisture and nutrient levels, rainfall variability, timing of key operations like planting and harvesting, and market price volatility. Advanced agriculture industries help farmers manage these production and market risks through the application of spatial/temporal databases that are cloud enabled and integrated through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). This creates a rich and dynamic data ecosystem that enables advanced analytics to inform farmers of the best economic options to maximize profitability and minimize risk – the two critical variables farmers around the globe need to manage. Digital agriculture is a powerful tool to help farmers.

Digital agriculture can be defined as ICT and data ecosystems to support the development and delivery of timely, targeted (localized) information and services to make farming profitable and sustainable (socially, economically and environmentally) while delivering safe, nutritious and affordable food for ALL. The key components to support the implementation of digital agriculture are Smart Development Infrastructure (SDI) and low-cost smart phones and tablets to support bi-directional flow of data and information to rural consumers. SDI has been the key driver in supporting modern farming in USA, Australia and Europe as well as emerging economies of China and Brazil.
To realize the promise of prosperity to smallholder farmers through digital agriculture, a wide range of partners will be required. Requirements of farmers and consumers need to be captured to support demand-driven innovation. Stakeholders along the value chain from basic to adaptive research on improved seed and agronomic practices are required to increase productivity. Modern knowledge management systems and service providers are required to translate these inputs into realized productivity increases. Storage providers and processors need to be integrated to create the market incentives for farmers to adopt improved technologies. Policy makers need to create an enabling environment for all stakeholders to support the migration from subsistence to commercially viable agriculture and food systems that deliver safe, nutritious and affordable food for all. This diverse panel of public and private sector stakeholders will offer their perspective on the challenges and opportunities for digital agriculture to lift farm families out of poverty and support sustainable food systems around the world.