Can mobile phones improve agricultural productivity, resilience and food security?
29th May 2012, 08.30 – 12.30
Hörsalen, Sida, Valhallavägen 199, Stockholm
Moderator: Matthew Fielding, SIANI
Speakers: Karin Svingby, Ericsson; Anne-Charlotte Malm, Sida; Daniel Ninsiima, L3F Uganda; Theresa Stanton, IICD.
Mobile technology offers a smart way to support rural agricultural development by providing information direct to farmers. To farmers who do not have physical or financial access to information through current extension services, mobile phones and applications can act as a conduit for locally relevant information. If the support package is right, there are huge opportunities for improvements in agricultural productivity, livelihood resilience and future food security.
Increases in agricultural production benefit both the local farmer and helps food supply keep pace with population growth. Agricultural support services assist farmers in adapting to climate change with new cultivation techniques, follow market prices and understand prevailing weather conditions. But through traditional extension services this information is slow to permeate. In Uganda there is just one extension officer for 46,000 farmers.
As of 2010 the mobile phone penetration rate in Africa was 68% – over 3.8 billion subscriptions. This figure continues to grow every year as network coverage expands and prices for data fall. In this context mobile telecoms offer a smart way to support rural agricultural development by providing information direct to farmers.
SIANI, the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative is organising a seminar to assess the future potential for mobile technology within the agricultural sector. The following themes will be discussed:
- Using the mobile phone as learning tool for rural farming communities
- Can the technical hardware cope with greater user demands?
- Scaling up: Providing locally relevant content to an expanding user base.
- How sustainable business models create sustainable development.
There are huge opportunities in this sector for improvements in agricultural productivity, livelihood resilience and future food security if the support is right. The event will be an opportunity to bring together African actors with the Swedish development and private sector.