To fight global food insecurity, USAID and BMZ are increasing technical cooperation in support of the 50×2030 Initiative, which aims to transform agricultural data systems in 50 countries by 2030. During the annual 50×2030 Strategic Development Dialogue, USAID and BMZ also agreed to co-sponsor the 2025 ICTforAg Conference, an annual gathering to share knowledge, find solutions, and form partnerships to
Top photo: Farmer taking the Panchakavya WhatsApp course in Puducherry, India For the one in five farmers in India living below the poverty line, access to knowledge and training is key to making farming profitable, and to support farms across India to adopt improved technologies. While the coverage and content of agricultural extension services has fallen far short of meeting
The ICTforAg Learning Network has just been launched, providing online spaces to find collaborators, showcase innovations, explore research with a specialized AI chatbot and access learning courses. Over April and May, the network will host events featuring innovators, networking with expert mentors, training seminars and community hackathons. To take part, simply register at the portal. Learning Network launch events (more
Top image: Berta Ortiz Crespo (Alliance Bioversity-CIAT) Authors: Eva Valencia, Charlotte Schumann Development organizations today rely on a wide array of methods to make their interventions more impactful, focused and demand-based. There are many methods based in social sciences that have been applied to this challenge in contexts like CGIAR. To make these more accessible, we propose a series of
Top image sources: Meghdoot / CIMMYT Since 2020, farmers across nearly all of India have been able to access to localized (district-level) weather and agricultural advice through a smartphone app. The Meghdoot app, which had been downloaded almost 300,000 times by the end of 2023, offers multiple advantages over delivery formats such as SMS or radio, and serves as a
CGIAR INITIATIVES Digital Innovation Primary Impact Area Environmental health & biodiversity Related Impact Areas
A study in Rwanda shows that it is possible to collect population-level and near real-time data on people’s diets via mobile phone survey, at nearly the same level of accuracy as traditional enumerated survey techniques. Top photo credit: IFPRI. Read the study, ‘Validating high frequency deployment of the Diet Quality Questionnaire’, here. This work was funded by the CGIAR Initiative
Photo credit: Groundtruth In South Africa, a simple test using a ‘clarity tube’ that measures the clarity of water has empowered citizen scientists to warn authorities of water pollution issues affecting their health and livelihoods. A new study has shown that the data from this method are reliable and can augment slower and more expensive laboratory testing. The tool has