One solution that may help farmers face climate challenges is for them to access real-time water-related information by using smart Information and Communication a Technology (ICT). This paper shows how integrating remote sensing, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), flood-forecasting models and communication platforms can, in near real time, alert smallholder farmers and relevant government departments about incoming floods, using the Gash basin of Sudan as an example. The paper outlines how to develop tools that can monitor plot-specific information from satellite measurements, and supply detailed and specific information on crops, rather than providing very general statements on crop growth. Farmers are able to use such tools to optimize their farm profits by providing water to their crops in the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity. Finally, the work demonstrates the high potential of combining technology, namely remote sensing data and simple a agro-meteorological model with limited parameters, for large-scale monitoring of spate irrigation systems and information sharing to advise farmers as to how to apply this information to their managerial decisions
The creation of commercialization opportunities for smallholder farmers has taken primacy on the development agenda of many developing countries. Invariably, most of the smallholders are less productive than commercial farmers and continue to lag in commercialization. Apart from the various...
Providing smallholder farmers with support through conventional government extension approaches is challenging as the number of extension agents is decreasing. At the same time, new information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as short message services (SMS) sent via mobile phones,...
This paper reviewed the potential of underutilized indigenous and traditional crops to bring about a transformative change to South Africa’s food system. South Africa has a dichotomous food system, characterized by a distinct, dominant agro-industrial, and, alternative, informal food system....
This paper proposes the adoption of small-scale friendly postharvest techniques in the form of small-scale postharvest practices (SSPPs). To justify this proposal, the impact of SSPPs adoption on self-reported losses were investigated in Rivers State Nigeria. The factors influencing plantain...
Despite the positive attributions ascribed to Digital Platforms (DPs), empirical studies that explore the role of DPs in smallholder credit access are lacking, particularly that which takes into account the dynamics of trust in complex actor interactions in the value...
