THE E-AGRICULTURE INITIATIVE: ACHIEVING THE MDGS THROUGH SHARING OF INNOVATIVE EXPERIENCES

摘要

e-Agriculture is relatively new emerging field within agricultural informatics, agricultural development and business. It involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use existing or emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) in order to boost agricultural production and related activities. The paper discusses how innovative e-agriculture initiatives can contribute to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with a specific emphasis on Goal 1 – Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger. It reviews three cases of innovative e-agriculture initiatives – Virtual Extension and Research Communication Network (VERCON) from Egypt, Tradenet.biz from Ghana, and ITC's e-Choupal from India – and shows how these are contributing to changing the lives of rural-based farmers. Finally, it discusses the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s e-Agriculture Initiative (e-Agriculture Community of Expertise Forum) whose main goal is to enhance the contribution of ICTs to agriculture and rural development through a multi-stakeholder, people-centred, cross-sectoral platform that brings together all stakeholders from relevant constituencies. It concludes that there is an urgent need to learn and share lessons from various isolated e-agriculture innovations if they are to be scaled up or replicated successfully in other countries. FAO's e-Agirculture Initiative provides a forum for sharing experiences in e-agriculture. It is contributing to furthering e-Agriculture on a global scale, and thus the attainment of MDG Goal 1.