Fwd: M4Agric Conference - Notes from our discussion.
Allison Hewlitt
What is the felt need for this event?- need to better understand how ICT deployment programs and approaches implemented in the agriculture sector are making a difference (what's working and what's not working so well)- technologies exist that can be used to improve ag sector: what are they? how are they being used? to what level of success? how can they be improved? etc.What do you expect this process to become? A place where...- practitioners can find out what's working and what hasn't worked so well- technologists can get input into their designs- people can test drive technologies- people working in the area can meet and network- projects can find potential supportWhat is it at the core that is being offered to those invited to take part?- Presentations- Workshops- Networking- Technologies- Food(?)Who is the core audience?- Practitioners: People working within agriculture communities implementing technology solutionsWho is secondary?- Researchers- Private Sector (Agro Trrading Enterprises, Seed and Fertiliser Companies)- Donors- Government- Deploying Agencies- Technologist who are developing solutions to be deployedHow is the process seen to unfold? In other words, what is the overall direction that is envisioned?- Similar format to MobileActive08- SIMplaces and SIMlabs- Possible Themes: M&E, Technologies (products and applications), Market Segmentation
Francois Stepman
Dear Allison,
Sorry for the delay in my response.
At FARA (Forum of Agricultural Research in Africa) we are particularly interested in the use of mobile phone not only for Market Information but beyond this: for and by farmer advisory services.
We are presently working on an inventory of innovative farmer advisory systems in Africa using ICT.
We are awaiting feedback from CTA, IICD, IDRC and a number of mobile phone projects (especially with an updated on numbers of reached farmers so far) before putting this 40 pages report online on our website.
Karel CHARVAT (E-mail: cha...@lesprojekt.cz suggested (see EFITA newsletter) to organise at the IST-Africa 2009 Conference 06 - 08 May 2009 a Workshop AFRIFITA - The Global Strategy for Africa in IT Deployment in Rural Areas.
Maybe our group of « mobiles in agriculture » should also team up with this initiative ?
Abstract
There exist INFITA as Network provides the basis for cooperation among national
and international organizations and associations with interest in research and
the utilization of information technology in agriculture, food and the
environment. This network covers
AFITA, EFITA, PanAFITA, IAALD and CIGR. Africa is not represented in this network till now. The workshop
will open discussion between representative of EFITA, INFITA (and eventually
other representations) with African delegates, how to support establishing of African federation and how to
support cooperation between Europe
and Africa in this area.
Description
The workshop will be organised by EFITA, which is an autonomous,
non-political, non-profit making Ii is the co-ordinating
body and catalyst of its National Member. It is at the leading edge of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
developments and the application of ICT in agriculture. EFITA's mission is to
facilitate the exchange of information
and experience, the development of knowledge in the area of ICT in agriculture
in order to enhance the
competitiveness of Europe and to promote the awareness of ICT in agriculture,
food and environment.
Participants expected: mainly delegates from different Africa countries dealing
with issue of rural development.
Objectives
The objective of the workshop is to
support building African Association
for Information
Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment (AFRIFITA) on the base of
experiences from European federation EFITA and also federation From Asia AFITA
and American region PanAfita and include Afrita as member of world organisation
INFITA. Second objective is support
transfer of previous experiences from cooperation between European countries
with some African Regions to other regions of Africa.
Target Audience: Industry, academy, government officials
Duration: 1 Session: 80-90 min.
Programme
What is e rural?
What are EFITA and INFITA?
Discussion
Definition of roadmap
Core Conference Themes
ICT for eInclusion and
eAccessibility
Related Themes
eAdoption - national, regional and sectoral
case studies, cultural and policy issues
Further information:
IST-Africa 2009 Conference - Call for Papers Deadline 09 November (!).Hosted by Government of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT, IST-Africa 2009 Conference & Exhibition will take place 06 - 08 May 2009 in Uganda. Part of the IST-Africa Initiative, which is supported by the European Commission under the ICT Theme of Framework Programme 7 (FP7), IST-Africa 2009 is the fourth in an Annual Conference Series which brings together senior representatives from leading commercial, government & research organisations across Africa and from Europe, to bridge the Digital Divide by sharing knowledge, experience, lessons learnt and good practice and discussing policy related issues. Acceptance decision: 16 January 2009. Final Paper Submission: 20 February 2009. The Call for Papers can be downloaded from http://www.ist-africa.eu/Conference2009/files/ISTAfrica2009_CallForPapers.pdf
Francois Stepman
Communications
and Public Awareness Specialist
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA)
PMB CT
173 Cantonments ~ 2 Gowa Close, Roman
Ridge
Accra, Ghana
Tel: +233 21 772823 Mobile:
+233 249 951766 Fax: +233 21 773676
email: fste...@fara-africa.org
website: www.fara-africa.org
blog: http://farastaff.blogspot.com/
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