home    about    browse    search    latest    help 
Login | Create Account

Can SMS, IVR and apps enhance organic farming practices in Africa?

Ulmann, Selina; Gräub, Benjamin; Maiyo, Faith and Dusabe, Lise (2023) Can SMS, IVR and apps enhance organic farming practices in Africa? In: Labarthe, Pierre (Ed.) Sustainability transitions of agriculture and the transformation of education and advisory services: convergence or divergence?: Book of abstract of the 26th European Seminar on Extension & Education (Toulouse, 10-13 July 2023), pp. 181-185.

[thumbnail of Extended Abstract] PDF - English (Extended Abstract)
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

582kB

Document available online at: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04249095


Summary in the original language of the document

Over the last three years, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), together with partners in Kenya, Rwanda, Mali and Senegal has accumulated a wide range of knowledge on how simple technologies can be used to improve access to organic farming knowledge by smallholder farmers. Over 4400 smallholder farmers in Kenya and Rwanda received SMS-based and app-based training on organic agriculture. This presentation showcases the experiences and derived recommendations for the use of digital technologies for capacity development of smallholder farmers in East Africa. Traditional farmer training and farmer field schools are hugely important in farmer education, but many farmers do not have access to them and its high costs limit their scaling. SMS-based or app-based training, as well as training via interactive voice response (IVR), can be a useful addition that are comparatively inexpensive and can more easily reach a large number of farmers. Raspberry Pi computers are found not suitable for farmer training. This work provides insights into the potential of phones, smartphones, tablets, (OTG) USB sticks and Raspberry Pi computers to improve farmer access to information and training on organic agriculture practices and to promote the growth of organic agriculture in East Africa and beyond. We will highlight the principal aspects when planning, developing and implementing digital trainings for farmers smallholder farmers in Africa.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Paper
Keywords:Advice, Africa, Data & digitalisation, E-learning, International, Knowledge exchange, Sector development, Abacus, FiBL65240,
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
Africa
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_165
English
knowledge exchange -> knowledge sharing
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_539fa2f6
English
organic agriculture
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_15911
English
training
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7861
Subjects: Knowledge management > Education, extension and communication
"Organics" in general > Countries and regions > Africa
Research affiliation: Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Knowledge exchange > Advice
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > International > Regions > Africa
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Society > Data & digitalisation > E-Learning
ISBN:978-2-9589569-0-5
DOI:10.17180/y125-
Related Links:https://www.fibl.org/en/themes/projectdatabase/projectitem/project/2170
Deposited By: Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau, FiBL
ID Code:52799
Deposited On:12 Mar 2024 09:20
Last Modified:12 Mar 2024 09:20
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics