Emerging Voices in ICT and agriculture - CTA Publishing

A case in point is Ghana’s e-Commerce project
which collects commodity prices in key markets
and makes the data available to rural farmers
through a network of provincial offices. Add-on
components to such a system might include an
information and online purchasing options for
farm implements, advice on how to cultivate and
manage certain crops and weather forecasts to
help producers plan for extreme conditions. Over
the past 6 years, hurricanes have destroyed
entire crop plantations in Antigua and Barbuda
and caused US$305 million ( 224 million) worth
of damage to agriculture in Belize.
ICTs for bio-control
To combat pest damage and crop disease –
which have led to what the Caribbean Agricultu
ral Re search De velopment Institute
(CARDI) describes as a “frightening situation”
– Internet-based decision support systems can
be useful tools for farmers. They can provide
all the information needed to help producers
select the most appropriate pest control strategy,
including pest identification, life cycles and
pest distribution models linked to weather
monitoring systems. For maximum effect, such
systems could offer details of bio-control methods,
backed up by ‘intelligent’ functions such
as e-learning tools and dynamic simulations of
crop ecosystems.
The sterile insect technique (SIT) is recommended
environmentally friendly option for
farmers. The technique involves sterilising factory-reared
male Caribbean fruit flies by irradiation
and releasing large quantities into infested
areas. When they mate with female fruit flies,
no offspring are produced, so populations are
gradually reduced and sometimes wiped out.
The Caribbean fruit fly causes massive damage
to tropical and subtropical fruits across the
region. CARDI research has revealed that the
pest is found in nearly one-hundred fruit species,
including citrus, guava, mangoes, French cherry,
rose apple, peach and tropical almond.
Based on the original essay:
“Challenges experienced in the Caribbean
region related to agriculture or rural development
and the use of ICTs to address them” by
Jason Haynes.
Key References
Clarke-Harris D., Fleischer S.J. (2003) “Sequential
sampling and biorational chemistries for management
of lepidopteran pests of vegetable amaranth
in the Caribbean”, Journal of Economic
Entomology, Vol. 96, No. 3, pp. 798 – 804.
Hoy, M.A., Jeyaprakash, A., Clarke-Harris D. &
Rhodes, L. (2007) “Molecular and field analyses of
the fortuitous establishment of Lipolexis oregmae
(Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) in Jamaica as a natural
enemy of the brown citrus aphid”, Biocontrol
Science and Technology, Vol. 17, pp. 473 – 482
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