This initiative was developed in 2014 as a follow up to the ICT4Ag International Conference organised by CTA and partners in Kigali, November 2013. The project intends to facilitate access to thriving ICT solutions by promoting sound enabling environments, and increased uptake of ICT solutions by ACP stakeholders through a series of activities.
These activities are sub-divided into
- identifying and collating ICT4Ag resources to enhance access,
- promoting enabling environments and sound e-agricultural strategies, and
- building viable delivery models for ICTs for agriculture.
While ICTs can play a critical role in both supporting stakeholders in influencing agricultural and rural development policy processes and strategies, and value chain development, the uptake of these technologies by millions of smallholder farmers, pastoralists and fishers remains very low in many developing countries. Experiences from the 2013 ICT4Ag International Conference confirmed the huge potential of the new technologies for agriculture, but also pointed to several constraints such as the lack of coherence in the development process of ICT solutions, with areas of overlaps and gaps in the services being offered. It also confirmed that a majority of the solutions are still at the pilot stage with few able to scale up and eventually reach sustainability without support from donors. The promotion of enabling strategies, better infrastructure, and low-cost, low-energy products and services that ensure affordable ICT access by ARD stakeholders, was also an important concern.
This project therefore intends to facilitate access to thriving ICT solutions, promote sound enabling environments, and increase uptake of the solutions by ACP stakeholders through a series of activities addressing the problems mentioned above.
