The Roadmap of ICT for Agriculture and Precision Farming In Less Developed Regions

摘要

This paper reviews and discusses the promotion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for agriculture in less developed regions. The rapid evolution of ICT in the past decades has created a good opportunity to renovate agriculture and rural economy in these regions. It is convinced that the gap of the starting lines between developed and developing regions to use ICT for sustainable agriculture is much smaller than that in other traditional industries and industrialized areas. The technologies and equipment that are being used can be at the similar technical level and the cost of investment for construction may be even cheaper than in developed regions. The technical transfer and knowledge dissemination are now very easy to realize based on the opening global and local network. The challenges include much lower economic and social development power, education, and skills as well as traditional management systems and development concepts in less developed regions. China has adopted a strategy of leading its industrialization based on promotion of informatization of national economy and social development. Applications and supported technologies on ICT for agriculture have been fast promoted in the last decade. The approaches need to be investigated and priorities of technological innovations need to be carefully identified. The obstacles for the integration of management systems and technical systems shall be overcome. A short description of the recent evolution of ICT for agriculture and precision farming practice in China is presented and some ideas on the further promotion in less developed regions are discussed for opening comments.