e-Agriculture at MobileActive 08

13-15 October 2008. Johannesburg, South Africa. Participants explored how mobile phones are used to advance civil society work, assessed the current state of knowledge in the use and effectiveness of mobile technology to advance social action, and investigated trends, needs and investment opportunities.

It was an opportunity for actors who deal with mobile phone communication in the sector of agriculture to meet.

Interview with Francois Stepman, communication officer of FARA by Pete Cranston.

Francois Stepman explains what the challenges are of upscaling innovative farmer advisory services

Mobiles max Mexican coffee industry Digital ICS mobile phone software for collecting survey data for agricultural collectives is helping coffee growers in Mexico.



Yael Schwartzman tells about the package and process of collecting and analysing data from coffee farmers to improve their produce.

Mobile phones in rural development and agriculture



Ugo Vallauri, David Newman and Jonathan Campaigne discuss small farm productivity issues which are key to economic growth and poverty reduction. They discuss how farmers are not effectively linked to the larger industry and therefore how mobiles phones can be used to help with this area. Farmers use these phones which allow people to enter markets and improve access to partners thereby improving their likelihoods and food security.

Freedomfone's fresh Mobile's answer to radio is the Freedomfone.



Brenda Burell explains how Freedomfone gives users access to dial-up information and services over their mobile. Dubbed 'dial-up radio', the service will be invaluable in societies where many people own cellphones but draconian governments have restricted access to newspapers and the airwaves. The project is run by Kubatana out of Zimbabwe with funding from US based Knight Foundation.

References:
MobileActive website

Related blogpost

Why it local content creation by farmers so important Interview during the MobileActive 2008 World Summit (Johannesburg, South Africa) with Mary NAKIRYA, Program coordinator BROSDI, Busoga Open Source & Development Initiative, ICT enabled rural development. CELAC - Uganda. FARA blog

Mobile phone conferencing among farmers Interview during the MobileActive 2008 World Summit (Johannesburg, South Africa) with Mary NAKIRYA, Program coordinator BROSDI, Busoga Open Source & Development Initiative, ICT enabled rural development. CELAC – Uganda. FARA blog