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How to make precision agriculture work for small scale farmers

ICT4Ag

 

Video transcript:

When Sudanese farmer Ahmed Ibrahim was told that reading text messages on his mobile phone would change his farming practices forever, he was skeptical.

Like many small farmers in developing countries,  Ahmed and his people have farmed for centuries relying on conventional knowledge and resources.

But the world has changed.

Weather patterns have become less predictable and the cost of farming has gone up.

So in 2014 off had decided to give the text messages a try.

The messages are based on satellite images and precise information about Ahmed’s plot of land specialists interpret the data translate them into practical advice and send them back in their own language, as in Ahmeds case an SMS message.
For example on when and how much fertilizer to use or when to irrigate and how much water to use.

The results were amazing. Achmed harvested four times as much wheat as the season before and he was not alone.
44 other farmers who follow the text message advice harvested an average of sixty percent more chick peas, onions and
wheat.

Like Ahmed most farmers nowadays have a mobile phone. We want to reach them and help them unlock the potential of their land and labour.

This project in Sudan is just one example of many initiatives of the ICT4Ag programme at CTA.

We believe that giving farmers precise practical information will contribute to greater food security, increase incomes and in the end a more sustainable way of producing and distributing our food.

Learn more on precision agriculture at ICT4ag.org

© 2016, CTA. Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

CTA is a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU). CTA operates under the framework of the Cotonou Agreement and is funded by the EU.