Agriculture Corner

Archive for Category: "ICT4D"

MOFA to introduce mobile phones to improve agriculture productivity

5 days ago

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) would in June this year use smart mobile phones to disseminate information on agriculture among farmers to increase productivity. The new technology being implemented by a consultant under the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme Two (WAAPP-2) would be piloted in some selected districts in the Northern region. Farmers would be introduced to an e-extension hub through a central portal to be located to serve the nation with data and information. Mr Emmanuel Alorigiya, [...]

Read full story → 0 comments

Scholarships available students to do MSc agricultural extension program 54 comments
Masters and PhD Scholarship in Agriculture for African Countries, Australia 2012-2013 26 comments
India expands kissan call centers to help farmers 21 comments
2012-2013 Erasmus Mundus Europe Asia (EMEA) Scholarship, Europe 15 comments
Surge in guar prices 14 comments

2012-2013 Erasmus Mundus Europe Asia (EMEA) Scholarship, Europe 3939 views
Agriculture department expects up to 55 percent fall in crop production 3654 views
Surge in guar prices 3564 views
Mango: US, Japanese markets to remain out of reach 3097 views
German firm to set up first solar panel plant in Pakistan 2958 views

Electronic wallet for agriculture subsidies saves Nigeria US dollar 188m

The deployment of an electronic wallet initiative by the Nigerian government saved more than NGN29.7 billion (US$188 million) in the agricultural sector in 2012. Cellulant Nigeria Limited, the company running the e-wallet scheme, revealed the figures and said the amount would have been lost by federal and state governments during the distribution of subsidised fertilisers, seedlings and other services supporting farms to more than 1.2 million farmers. Goke Akinboro, chief executive of Cellulant Nigeria, described the initiative as a landmark [...]

April 3, 2013 10:28 am

Farming with a smartphone Mobile technology has agricultural applications

After calling Mother Nature for more than a year and a half to end the drought, area farmers are trying a different option: their cell phones. The farmer who’s tired of waiting for rain can now water his field from a smartphone. That’s the type of technology GPS Services in Adams now distributes to farmers. The millenniums-old concept of irrigation has gone wireless. Owner Lynn Lagerstedt considered offering new irrigation pivot units through his business for more than a year. [...]

March 15, 2013 11:20 am

Development Informatics (IS/ICT) Masters Scholarship from Manchester University

Funding Opportunities for Studies in International Development at the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) Equity and Merit Scholarships for Study by Distance Learning (Jan 2014 start) – Applicants from Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda Applications for the January 2013 MSc Human Resource Management and Development programme and MSc Management and Information Systems: Change and Development programme have now closed. Applications will reopen for 2014 entry in autumn 2013. Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) Development Leadership Scholarships Applications [...]

March 13, 2013 8:53 am

Why High Speed Internet in Africa is Crucial for Efficiency on the Farm

This is a guest post by Celina jones. CJ has been in the farming business for a number of years now, advising people on choosing the right kind of internet service providers for their farming businesses. She also works for “High Speed Internet” as their community manager and looks after the entire web marketing for them. The barriers of time and distance are easily broken down through high speed internet, allowing people living in rural areas of Africa a chance [...]

March 4, 2013 2:46 am

Cell phones revolutionizing Kenya’s livestock sector

Mobile phones send first alerts for livestock diseases, and Web access by cell phone means endless innovations are improving Kenya’s livestock industry by leaps and bounds Farmers and veterinarians across Africa are increasingly using cell phones to issue alerts quickly about possible animal disease outbreaks at a very early stage and to track wide-scale vaccination campaigns. Mobile phone applications are making ‘early warning’ a matter of seconds instead of weeks for animal disease outbreaks, and essential veterinary care can be [...]

February 6, 2013 10:39 am

Research based advice for farmers

An ICT service provides farmers with research-based advice to boost food production Based on information from soil samples in Africa, ICT tools have been developed to gather more specific information and disseminate research results to farmers by using text messages. The African Soil Information Service (AfSIS) aims to serve African farmers by developing ICTs that gather relevant information, analyse it and translate it into valuable information that can be sent to end users by a text message service. Once information [...]

January 28, 2013 6:17 am

Soil Testing Service to Kenya via SMS

Crop Nutrition is an agribusiness company providing soil testing and fertilizer advisory services for farmers. Farmers collect soil samples from their field in a specimen bag provided by Crop Nutrition. They are trained how to collect their samples properly by Crop Nutrition field advisors. These soil samples are delivered by the farmer to their local agro dealer who sends the samples to Crop Nutrition via courier. Crop Nutrition’s state of the art equipment processes the samples quickly, keeping costs low [...]

January 15, 2013 6:57 am

Remote sensing for Monitoring Agricultural Crops and Assessing Soil Salinity

UAF Vice Chancellor revealed that the university in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation is offering a new programme on remote sensing. FAISALABAD: Remote sensing, monitoring and forecasting are of paramount importance for agricultural land and crops as more than 1,800 Indian postgraduate departments are working on the subject and it is being taught in Australia at primary education level, says a researcher. Speaking at a seminar on ‘Remote sensing for monitoring agricultural crops and assessing soil salinity’ at [...]

January 12, 2013 7:36 pm

Mobile app for farmers

Torika Tokalau FARMERS across the country who have access to mobile phones will now be able to sell their products by accessing simple menus on their devices. Digicel Fiji, in partnership with F1 Mobile Solutions, has created a mobile-based ‘buy and sell’ platform called ‘Fiji Makete.’ The technology used in the ‘buy and sell’ applications is known as Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) that is used by the network to send information (usually text menu) between a mobile phone and [...]