E-agriculture system to benefit farmers

By TONY PALME
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation Asia-Pacific knowledge and information management officer Gerard Sylvester says farmers in Jiwaka and East Sepik will benefit greatly from the E-agriculture system.
He said this on Tuesday in Jiwaka during the opening of the e-agriculture pilot project training workshop for women and youths.
Sylvester said agricultural practices in rural areas where the majority of the people lived would be taken to a whole new level with the help of modern information and communications technology (ICT).
“You can use your smartphones in the comfort of your house or office to control farming activities on your land,” he said. “We will train you to do just that.
“What I want to stress here is that the growth of ICT in the last decade has enabled countries to use information and technology to make agriculture very efficient and effective.
“In PNG, the agriculture sector has been lagging behind.
“We are now trying to partner with all key stakeholders to connect agriculture and ICT sectors to address those challenges.
“E-agriculture is all about how best we can use the growth of ICT to address some of the challenges we have in the agriculture sector.” Sylvester said the whole concept of e-agriculture being piloted in Jiwaka and East Sepik was to train rural farmers to be acquainted with best farming practices.
“We have a lot of aging population in the agriculture sector,” he said.
“Women account for a huge percentage in that sector.
“With ICT, we can attract most of our youths and get them involved in the sector and make it more interesting.”