Information and Communication Technology in Agricultural Development

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Information and communication technologies (ICT) can play an important role in agricultural development, particularly in helping address the need for technical training, knowledge about markets, advertising, and more. ICT can help improve the livelihoods of farmers as well as the overall efficiency of agricultural sectors in developing countries.

Partners has increased the use of ICT tools in the Farmer to Farmer (F2F) program and is seeing results. Videos, for example, have been developed to help promote the products or work of host organizations, or serve as agricultural training tools. Information management specialists have helped universities develop library and catalog systems to better train students. And F2F currently has someone using a geographic information system (GIS) to map country projects against sub-regional data on stats like malnutrition to see how the program relates to poverty levels. As video has been a popular tool, below are some links to current and past videos, many of which have been highlighted elsewhere on the blog.
  • This F2F video features the activities and impact of our program in Haiti. The history and activities of Haiti's own Makouti Agro Enterprise is also highlighted, and farmer beneficiaries share their stories. This video was created by three talented F2F volunteers. They have captured on film what many of our volunteers have experienced - a Program that is making a difference in Haiti's agricultural industry and the lives of farmers. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XawTlnqptU)
  • F2F works with the whole dairy value chain in Nicaragua and volunteers interviewed farmers, business owners and others to bring to light the importance of consuming local dairy and meat products for nutritional and health reasons and it helps the local economy. The video is being aired on local TV stations and in schools, and is being promoted by cattle and dairy farmer associations. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzzQH1_tuHA)
  • In Guyana, F2F volunteers combined an overview of a highly successful hydroponic shadehouse project with a training video. In the video, women offer their testimonials as well as their expertise on such topics as shadehouse bed preparation and how to mix and apply fertilizers. This video therefore serves to inspire potential shadehouse producers and to teach them technical skills. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgL9Nlk95G0)
  • Also from Guyana is an example of a video on the Carambola Fruit Fly produced in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Ministry of Agriculture. In Guyana, carambola (also known as star fruit) is an important source of income for many farmers and the spread of the carambola fruit fly is of great concern to farmers and government agencies alike. In this eight minute video, a representative from the National Plant Protection Organization in Guyana is able to cover topics ranging from how to identify the fly larvae to how to create traps for the pest. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nECzl-2qtV0)
And we expect additional videos and increased use of ICT tools in the future.

Comments

  1. Communication TechnologyThursday, April 18, 2013

    Very Great Idea, Hope every thing goes success and thank you for giving good post.

    ReplyDelete

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