{"id":619,"date":"2022-11-07T08:54:22","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T08:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/nmict22group8\/?p=619"},"modified":"2022-11-07T08:54:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T08:54:22","slug":"are-you-ready-to-embrace-the-brave-new-world-of-digital-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu.mau.se\/nmict22group8\/2022\/11\/07\/are-you-ready-to-embrace-the-brave-new-world-of-digital-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you Ready to Embrace the “Brave New World” of Digital Agriculture?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\r\n

Imagine a woman collecting crops with her back bend, holding cereals in one hand. Her hair is held in place with a bandana, and she is concentrating on her work. Is this the spitting image of cutting-edge technology with the potential of eradicating poverty and hunger? Well, maybe it is \u2013 if she\u2019s holding a smartphone in her other hand.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today, more than 2,6 billion people draw their livelihoods mostly from agriculture, not least in low-income countries. At the same time, agricultural development can be a powerful tool to eradicate extreme poverty. According to the World Bank (2022), growth in the agricultural sector is two to four times<\/em> more effective in raising the income for the poorest, compared to other sectors. In addition, agriculture can contribute to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG\u2019s) according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (2022). In other words, revolutionizing the agricultural sector might be one of the most important things we can do to lift people out of poverty and at the same time address global issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and gender inequality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But wait, let\u2019s stop for awhile…<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"Before we go too far into this text, let me just acknowledge a few things. First, I am a middle-class, middle-aged white woman, studying at a Swedish university tutored by mainly middle-aged, white men and I\u2019m building this text on some core readings that are also written by mainly white, European men. In other words, my reflections are my own and may be very different from some of the groups I refer to in this text. Second, in this text I will use a few terms such as the global South\/North, developed and developing countries, ICT, international development etc. Each of these terms could be contested, analyzed, discussed, and narrowed down in perpetuity, but considering the scope of this text and the fact that it is a blog post, I ask you to bear with me \u2013 or add your comments at the end of the post. Now, let\u2019s move on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ICTs has Entered the Agriculture Field<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As I mentioned in my interactive post on this blog, agriculture today is far from what it once was<\/a>. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has entered the playing (and sown) field. \u00a0With the rise of ICT-based solutions in low-income countries, local farmers have increased access to business-relevant knowledge which, according to the scholars Krone and Dannenberg (2019, p 80), has led to positive expectations of the ICT impacts on \u201ceconomic, social and political development in low-income countries\u201d. These expectations have resulted in programs and projects, often funded by international banks and donor organizations under the term ICT4D \u2013 Information and Communication Technology for Development (2019, p 80).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Attracting Young Workforce<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In addition, developing agriculture by moving away from heavy, manual work towards high-tech solutions using drones, artificial intelligence (AI) and smartphones might lead to well-paid white-collar jobs, potentially attracting the young generation to agriculture and reverting urbanization. On top of that, precision farming, automated irrigation and drone surveillance of crops can do wonders for the environment, by reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides.<\/p>\n

This \u201cBrave, New World\u201d where digital agriculture has the potential to solve several challenges for the entire humankind is beautifully illustrated in the video below:<\/p>\n