Download ICT for sustainable agriculture

ICT for sustainable agriculture
By Muhammad Imran Azeem , Dr Shoukat Ali
The Dawn. Feb 09, 2015. Pakistan
Globally, the emerging concept of e-agriculture incorporates the
sophisticated use of innovative information and communication technologies
(ICT). This technology empowers different stakeholders involved in the
value chain to perform tasks quickly, efficiently, and with greater ease and
accuracy.
ICTs can help farmers improve rural livelihoods and the quality of life by
making informed decisions. By using ICT tools, farmers can get timely, upto-date, relevant and accurate technical information and advice regarding
good agronomic practices (GAP), ranging from soil testing to post-harvest
management techniques to exploit their farming potential. These tools can
effectively answer farmers’ abundant information needs. Farmers can locally
share relevant information, knowledge and experiences with each other.
Moreover, timely information on weather forecasts would help them prevent
crop losses and cope with major crop failures as weather forecasts are more
reliable nowadays due to technical sophistication.
Farmers can get information on the location of profitable agri-markets,
enquiring about who is paying the highest price and even contact with their
potential buyer to sell their produce online. They can also benefit from
mobile banking and government credit programs with reduced transaction
costs. Apart from this, there are more-specialised applications, esp
softwares, for supply chain and financial management that can increase the
accuracy of the farm operations.
ICT tools are gaining traction in agriculture due to their affordability,
accessibility, and adaptability
The government can effectively monitor its agri-projects in rural areas. Data
collection, monitoring and evaluation — a vital part of development work —
are faster, time-saving and efficient with ICT-enabled applications. Large
amounts of data, like national surveys and research findings, can be stored
by governments and made accessible to public. It would not only improve
inter-departmental communication and collaboration but also enhance
transparency and accountability.
Furthermore, the government can streamline extension services making them
more inclusive and effective by increasing adoption of proven innovative
technologies. It can also promote sustainable practices, enhancing
environmental protection and climate adaptability, as well as build capacity
and take feedback of the rural communities, even in remote areas.
ICTs can be effective for policy advocacy as well. The government can
make its credit services more efficient, better-understood and transparent.
And last but not the least, ICTs can help bridge communication gap and
improve interaction between farmers and agri-scientists to better identify
farmers’ specific problems. Researchers can get critical agricultural
information like incidence of pests and crop-yields using mobile-based
applications. Data collection is faster than traditional methods; more people
can be interviewed in less-time using minimum resources.
However to harness the potential of ICTs, especially in a rapidly changing
global environment, a number of factors need to be taken into account.
The government must formulate consistent and strong but flexible policy
and regulations and provide enabling environment for ICT innovation and
service provision. Local governments should ensure the provision of basic
ICTs for rural communities within their jurisdiction. The government should
also foster public-private partnerships as private sector involvement could
enhance access, affordability and adaptability of ICTs for development by
offering complementary investments in ICT-infrastructure development. It
would also make public services more sustainable.
In addition, mere technology is not enough; government should also invest
in capacity development of the end-users to ensure long-term viability of the
projects and successful implementation of ICT-in-agriculture applications as
lack of literacy and numeracy skills could be a hindrance in the use of ICT-
tools. The government should encourage locally appropriate, affordable and
sustainable ICT infrastructure, applications and services for rural economy.
Local factors like gender issues, local languages, limited network coverage
and low bandwidth must be considered beforehand. Implementation
approaches ought to identify the specific needs of the intended users and
tradeoffs imposed by resource-constrained environments by working in
collaboration with them. The government must ensure that ICT in
agriculture interventions are useful and cost-effective for and accessible to
small-scale marginalised farmers in remote rural areas who have restricted
access to capital, electricity and infrastructure. The information must be
tailored specifically to distinct conditions keeping in view the highly
localised nature of agriculture.
In closing, although ICT tools are not a panacea to agricultural and rural
development, but have the potential to revolutionise the agricultural sector.
ICT tools are gaining traction in agriculture due to their affordability,
accessibility, and adaptability; however, an appropriate framework of policy
and investment is required to harness its potential enhancing rural economy
and quality of life.
Muhammad Imran Azeem is a research associate at King Saud University,
Saudi Arabia Dr Shoukat Ali is an assistant professor at University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad