Challenges for the East African experience
Applications to be developed will provide solutions to key strategic information challenges faced by agricultural stakeholders in East Africa. The challenges have been selected following a consultation with key East African stakeholders, at a meeting organized on 16 -17 July 2013 in Rwanda. Participants came from countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, and included representatives of MINAGRI; the Ministry of Agriculture from Uganda and Kenya; the Rwandan Ministry of Youth and ICT (MYICT); ICT hubs from five countries; development organisations working in Agriculture; as well as representatives from NEPAD, COMESA, and AGRA.
The challenges also represent business opportunities.
The challenges finally selected for the hackathon are the following :
- Challenge 1:
How can bidirectional information sharing and communication between farmers and extension workers be encouraged or improved? Key areas of interest include information sharing and advisory on soil fertility, fertilizers, weather information, pests, diseases, access to localized farming inputs, multimedia content and ability to verify counterfeit products.
- Challenge 2:
Through ICT applications, how can access to financial services be made easier for farmers through a disruptive, innovative tool?
Partnering hubs are invited to support their participating teams with any available data sources and content in their countries for ICT4ag applications to be developed. Such data source may include but are not limited to the following :
- Weather Data for different countries
- Soil data
- Plant / animal diseases & pest data
- Agricultural productivity and yield data
- Land use data
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