IC T IN OUR PROJEC TS
For a long time, AFC has been involved in the development and introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications in agriculture and financial sector development. This covers a wide area from simple data collection, storage and processing in databases, the use of radio-frequency identification tags to Internet of Things (IoT) devices to track and trace production from the producer right up to the final point of sale. To get an impression on how ICT has become an indispensable part of the projects, we present some of our flagship projects in this regard.
At the BMEL-funded Agricultural Knowledge and Training Centre in Zambia, we work together with BayWa and “Variable Rain“ – the latter is an IT-based precision farming tool. By integrating satellite data, weather data and soil moisture data of a field into a plant growth model, the tool delivers recommendations on variable irrigation rates. This reduced 30% of irrigation water use, while wheat yield increased by 25% compared to previous years in the project without the use of “Variable Rain“. For the GIZ Green Innovation Centre in Mali, AFC developed together with KIAG a digital traceability system for mangoes. This tool traces the agricultural product from field to export and ensures that the supply chain is transparent throughout the whole export process.
SolAntenna measuring data in a potato storage. Photo credit: Metos.
In India, AFC works with the IoT device “SolAntenna Intelligent potato” at the Green Innovation Centre. The intelligent potato tracks the location and environmental data and thus the growth conditions for product quality. Seed potato producers, cold
storage owners and potato farmers are the main users. As all IoT devices, it provides 24/7 real-time data to monitor the crop quality. Data is automatically uploaded to the cloud and can be viewed using the provided portal dashboard. When analysing the data, crop production management can be adjusted and the crop health status improved. In Ghana, AFC is in charge of the project “Consulting services for the implementation of the rural financial services e-zwich”. The biometric-based payment system e-zwich aims at strengthening financial inclusion through reducing cash dependency and problems with access to banks as well as decreasing costs of financial services. Overall, these examples show the wide range of possibilities to use ICT tools in agricultural and financial projects. The ICT spectrum is diverse and AFC always responds with a tailormade country and sector-specific approach in order to add value through information and communication techniques.
For further information, please contact:
Nina Thurn Project Manager ICT and Anglophone agribusiness and agriculture ninakristin.thurn@afci.de
Wael Louhichi Project Manager ICT and Francophone agribusiness and agriculture wael.louhichi@afci.de
Mareike Decker Project Manager ICT and Financial Sector Development mareike.decker@afci.de
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