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AGRICULTURE AND EVERYTHING ICT...
Ever stopped for a moment to consider the practical effects of technology in your life? Perhaps you have, and you may have marvelled at what a unique time in history we live. The last generation has probably experienced more technological change than any other in history. Breakthroughs that once might have rocked our perceptions of the world have become almost mundane, a regular occurrence. Sometimes it becomes difficult to evaluate their real significance. However, your logging on to this blog indicates that you have caught at least a glimpse of that significance in one area, that of the application of Information and Communication Technologies in agriculture, one of the most significant uses of ICT and one that is growing with immense speed.

When I wake up in the morning and having said my prayer, the first thing I do is to power my computer, and this I can do without rolling out of my bed. I leave it to boot and check my phone for any missed calls or messages or any delivered emails, (through an sms notification, thanks to my service provider). I turn on the radio to get in touch with the latest in news and log online on to the local daily to read the news in real time - then I know my morning has began. This is how ICT filled my day is, looking that this is just the first 5 minutes of start of my day. In this era, I am certain that the lives of most people are just as ICT filled as mine, or even more. As you use your laptop or tablet to do some work while stuck in traffic on your way to work, or as you use your phone to make or receive that important call, send sms, chat online or on your phone, blog, skype - we are all ICT incorporated.

 WHY AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT?

Three-quarters of the world’s poorest people get their food and income from farming small plots of land—typically the size of a football field or smaller—and most of them labour under difficult conditions. They grow a diversity of local crops and must deal with unique diseases, pests, and drought, as well as unproductive soil. Their livestock are frequently weak or sick, resulting in reduced production of eggs and milk to eat or sell. Reliable markets for their products and good information about pricing are hard to come by. Most often, government policies do not adequately serve their interests.

The need to improve agricultural productivity is clear:

• •Severe hunger and poverty affects nearly 1 billion people around the world.
• • By 2050, it’s estimated that the earth’s population will reach 9 billion. Global food production will need to jump by 70 percent to 100 percent to feed these people. Rising incomes, increasingly scarce resources, and a changing climate are putting additional strains on agricultural productivity.
• •  Two billion people in the developing world are malnourished. Malnutrition continues to be the world’s most serious health problem and the single biggest contributor to child mortality.

The power of investing in agriculture is clear: Agricultural development is two to four times more effective at reducing hunger and poverty than any other sector.Improvements in agricultural productivity certainly create social and economic ripple effects, and putting in to consideration all aspects of agriculture, ICT needs to be incorporated to help this sector grow. ICT and agriculture is a field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, it involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies with a primary focus on improving support and innovation in agriculture. In ACP countries, ICT in agriculture is a relatively new term and we fully expect its scope to change and evolve as our understanding of the area grows, I will play my part through my blog.

We live in an information age characterized by global expansion in mass media, through electronic "super-highways" that span the globe. But there is concern that the gap between the information rich and the information poor widens. Rural communities are still difficult to reach - they lack communication infrastructure such as newspapers, telephones, televisions and radios. In rural areas of Africa, the challenge of bridging this information gap involves not only increasing the quantity and accessibility of communication technologies but also improving the relevance of the information to local communities. Some information and communication technologies and know-how exist, the challenge is how to use them effectively for sustainable agricultural and rural development and especially for improved food security.

Various science and technology issues emerge to enable Africa achieve food security and sustainable development and we should work to develop and incorporate ICT systems that can handle all these.  The major science and technology issues include:

• Developing agricultural technology for meeting the increasing need for food at affordable prices;
• Developing sustainable land management technologies for rangeland, forestland, grassland, swampland, marginal land, etc.;
• Developing agricultural systems that conserve biodiversity within the system itself; and
• Developing knowledge systems based on proper understanding of needs of households that depend on the ecosystem and indigenous knowledge of existing resources for their survival.

Touching on the main phases of  the agriculture industry : Crop cultivation, Animal production, Water management, Fertilizer application, Fertigation, Pest management, Harvesting, Post harvest handling, Transporting of food/food products, Packaging, Food preservation, Food processing/value addition, Food quality management, Food safety, Food storage, Food marketing, ICT is so vital in their deveolpment. All stakeholders of the agriculture industry need information and knowledge about these phases in order to manage them efficiently. Any system applied for getting information and knowledge and for making decisions in any industry should deliver accurate, complete, concise information in time or on time. The information provided by the system must be in user-friendly form, easy to access, cost-effective and well protected from unauthorized accesses.

Any ICT system that is adopted in agriculture, be it GIS,GPS, radio, TV, video, internet or the telephone, should be able to perform most, if not all, of the functions listed below. The better an ICT system, the more functions it can incorporate. These functions include:

·         Record text, drawings, photographs, audio, video, process descriptions, and other information in digital formats,

• Produce exact duplicates of such information at significantly lower cost,
• Transfer information and knowledge rapidly over large distances through communications networks.
• Develop standardized algorithms to large quantities of information relatively rapidly.
• Achieve greater interactivity in communicating, evaluating, producing and sharing useful information and knowledge.

In my blog, I shall touch on ICT systems available for use in agriculture and how they can be applied in the agriculture sector for its development. I want to share ICT skills and knowledge that must be involved in the technological learning and implementation of technological policies for sustainable agriculture, thus sustainable development. I will blog on ICT systems with the main focus of providing a marketable skill to improve agricultural practices and outputs countrywide, in extension worldwide.