Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Policy Brief: Using ICT to enable Agricultural Innovation Systems for Smallholders

18 October 2012. The World Bank, in collaboration with the e-Agriculture community and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), held in September a two week online forum. 

This e-forums stem from the launch of the World Bank's ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook (2011) and the growing demand for knowledge on how to use ICT to improve agricultural productivity and raise smallholder incomes. The following summary captures the discussion during the most recent e-forum. The text is derived strictly from the participants' posts during the forum and does not reflect the views of the World Bank or FAO.

The potential of ICT to support the access to and exchange of information for smallholder farmers is clear. A rich discussion centred on examples of current pilots and processes expected to bring beneficial results. It must be noted, however, that there continues to be a challenge in finding examples that have moved beyond the pilot stage, reaching scale in a sustainable manner.

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