E-Agriculture, Advantage of E agriculture and application of ICT in Agriculture

E-Agriculture, Advantage of E agriculture and application of ICT in Agriculture

1. WHAT IS E-AGRICULTURE? The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) proposes the following definition (FAO, 2005): “e-Agriculture” is an emerging field in the intersection of agricultural informatics, agricultural development and entrepreneurship, referring to agricultural services, technology dissemination, and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. More specifically, it involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of new (innovative) ways to use existing or emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs).

2. E-Agriculture goes beyond technology, to promote the integration of technology with multimedia, knowledge and culture, with the aim of improving communication and learning processes between various actors in agriculture locally, regionally and worldwide. Facilitation, support of standards and norms, technical support, capacity building, education, and extension are all key components to e-Agriculture (FAO, 2005). A subset of e-agriculture is mobile agriculture (M-Agriculture). M-Agriculture refers to the provision of agricultural services and information, using mobile devices such as cell phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), tablets and other handheld communication or computing devices ( Gichamba , and Lukandu , 2012).

3. Mobile Agriculture supports actors along the agricultural value chain through the use of mobile technology. Mobile technology covers a broad range of devices and the sub-categories include voice, data, network and connectivity technologies. The introduction of mobile technology and portable, wireless devices has led to the creation of innovative services and applications that are used within the agricultural value chain in developed and developing countries. In developed markets where mechanization is more advanced and the agricultural labour force is significantly smaller than that of many developing countries, mobile agriculture applications tend to be implemented further up the value chain, for example with processors or consumers. In developing countries where a large proportion of the workforce is employed in agriculture, mobile technology is more commonly used to deliver services for producers and traders.

4. CHARACTERISTICS OF E-AGRICULTURE BENEFITS i . Transformation of processes: E-agriculture transforms the way actors in agricultural value chains collect, analyse , store and share agricultural information for their daily decision making purposes. ii. Investments: E-agriculture development stimulates investment in ICT infrastructure and human capital. iii. Efficient markets: E-agriculture leads to greater efficiencies in rural markets: lower transaction costs, less information asymmetries, improved market coordination and transparent rural markets. E-agriculture reduces wastage in various stages from the field-to-fork value chain. Around one-third of the food in the supply chain is either lost or wasted at the farm, during storage and distribution, or in households. By facilitating real-time information exchange, e-agriculture can improve supply chain efficiency which can significantly reduce such food waste.

5. iv. Improved vertical and horizontal linkages: E-agriculture results in the development of trust-based relationships between value chain actors. In conventional agriculture value chains, intermediaries add to reduced transparency and thus increasing price manipulation resulting in mistrust. E-agriculture can help in reducing the layers of intermediaries and can make transactions unbiased and transparent, thus improving the trust factor. v. Facilitation of information sharing networks: E-agriculture facilitates the development of networks for agricultural information sharing and knowledge societies. vi. Value-added Services: E-agriculture leads to the development of value-added services for rural farmers and other actors of the agricultural value chains. vii. Reducing individual and institutional risk: E-agriculture can be leveraged to reduce uncertainty and enhance preparedness and response to climate change, disasters and other agricultural risks. viii. Increased food and nutrition security and safety: E-agriculture can improve food management through efficient information flow, data gathering and analysis, traceability, transactions and supply chain management.

6. Role of ICT in Agriculture Information and communication technology in agriculture (ICT in agriculture), also known as e-agriculture, is developing and applying innovative ways to use ICTs in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. ICT in agriculture offers a wide range of solutions to some agricultural challenges. An ICT is any device, tool, or application that permits the exchange or collection of data through interaction or transmission. ICT (Information & Communication Technology /Technologies) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and etc, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning.

7. Advantages of ICT in E-agriculture 1) It can initiate new agricultural and rural business such as e-commerce , real estate business for satellite offices, rural tourism, and virtual corporation of small-scale farms. 2) It can support policy-making and evaluation on optimal farm production, disaster management, agro-environmental resource management etc., using tools such as geographic information systems (GIS). 3) It can improve farm management and farming technologies by efficient farm management, risk management, effective information or knowledge transfer etc., realizing competitive and sustainable farming with safe products. For example, farmer has to make critical decisions such as what to plant? When to plant? how to manage pests?, while considering offfarm factors such as environmental impacts, market access, and industry standards. IT-based decision support system (DSS) can surely help their decisions.

8. 4) It can provide systems and tools to secure food traceability and reliability that has been an emerging issue concerning farm products since serious contamination such as chicken flu was detected. 5) It can facilitate rural activities and provide more comfortable and safe rural life with equivalent services to those in the urban areas, such as provision of distance education, telemedicine, remote public services, remote entertainment etc. 6) Empowerment of Stakeholders (Government Officials, Research, Education & Extension Scientists, farmers and other service providers such as Community Information centers. 7) Development of Knowledge Management, Decision Support and Advisory Systems to strengthen Extension services and also used for Farmers Redressal system

9. 8) Efficient management (Development, Conservation, allocation and utilization) of resources 9) Improved productivity and profitability of farmers through better advisory systems. Computer modelling is the representation of three-dimensional objects on a computer, using some form of software designed for the purpose

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