CABI and the Cereal Growers Association (CGA) have been sharing information with farmers in Kenya on how to effectively and safely manage the continuing threat of the invasive fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). This was achieved thanks to a  development communication campaign that combined video sharing through a network of lead farmers and social media.

Innovation is the main driver of agricultural and rural transformation. This video highlights support provided by FAO to countries in adopting and scaling-up sustainable practices, particularly by promoting agricultural innovation to smallholder farmers. FAO has developed and deployed a Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS).

In creating a usable Information System (IS), the quality of information is crucial for making the right decisions. Although, many Information Quality (IQ) features have been identified in a broader context, only certain IQ features would become applicable for each domain from the usability perspective. This study focuses on a theoretical analysis to identify the IQ features which would be significant to produce a usable agricultural information system with respect to the developing countries.

Improved water management offers a range of benefits to people living in the dryland tropics, where water is scarce. Watershed programmes based on active participation of the rural population bear the potential to ensure food security, contribute to economic growth and help conserve natural resources. An ICRISAT programme in India provides an example of a science-led, knowledge-based approach in this field.

Smallholder farmers in East Africa need information and knowledge on appropriate climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices, technologies, and institutional innovations in order to effectively adapt to changing climatic conditions and cope with climate variability. This paper assesses farmer adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices and innovation after being exposed to Farms of the Future Approach (FotF). First; we explore and assess the various CSA technologies and practices; including institutional innovations farmers are adopting.

This article presents lessons from the rich adoption literature for the nascent research on adaptation. Individuals' adoption choices are affected by profit and risk considerations and by credit and biophysical constraints. New technologies spread gradually, reflecting heterogeneity among potential adopters, processes of learning and technological improvement, and policies and institutions. Adaptation is the response of economic agents and societies to major shocks. We distinguish between reactive and proactive adaptation.

Inefficiencies and imprecise input control in agriculture have caused devastating consequences to ecosystems. Urban controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a proposed approach to mitigate the impacts of cultivation, but precise control of inputs (i.e., nutrient, water, etc.) is limited by the ability to monitor dynamic conditions. Current mechanistic and physiological plant growth models (MPMs) have not yet been unified and have uncovered knowledge gaps of the complex interplay among control variables.

Improvements in the sustainability of agricultural production depend essentially on advances in the efficient use of nitrogen. Precision farming promises solutions in this respect. Variable rate technologies allow the right quantities of fertilizer to be applied at the right place. This helps to both maintain yields and avoid nitrogen losses. However, these technologies are still not widely adopted, especially in small-scale farming systems. Recent developments in sensing technologies, like drones or satellites, open up new opportunities for variable rate technologies.

The problems of agricultural development for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered. The features of modeling business processes in agriculture are analyzed. A financial decision support system is proposed to increase sustainability and reduce risks in the development of agricultural SMEs. The software modules are based on TEO-INVEST.

Based on GIS technologies, a decision support system (GIDSS) has been developed to remediate agricultural lands in the Bryansk region (Russia) contaminated by 137Cs after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. GIDSS is a multilevel system consisting of basic, information and computational layers. GIDSS allows justifying a targeted approach for the remediation of agricultural lands belonging to agricultural enterprises for the production that meets the established radiological requirements for the content of radionuclides.