Agricuture Group Charles
Agricuture Group Charles
Agricuture Group Charles
GROUP CHARLES
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GROUP CHARLES
1. E-AGRICULTURE
E-agriculture: is the global community of practice facilitates dialogue, information exchange and
sharing of ideas related to the use of information and communication technologies for sustainable
agriculture and rural development.
• Farmers
• Consumers
• Regulators, Consultants, Advisors
• Researchers
• Trade Unions and Boards
• Veterinary Health
• Funders and Sponsors
• Food Processing Entities
• Transport Service Providers
• Meteorologists
FARMERS
The primary responsibility of farmer include planting and harvesting crops. While it sounds relatively
simple, both planting and harvesting involve extensive work and are labour intensive. Farmer is also
responsible for considering weather conditions and determining the best time for planting, especially now
that weather is changing rapidly due to global warming.
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• Crop Management
In addition to taking care of planting and harvesting, a farmer also takes care of the crops as they grow.
Crops are sensitive to weather conditions, soil nutrition, pests, etc. It is a farmer’s responsibility to
monitor them and see if there is need for fertilizers, pesticides, etc., to keep the plants healthy and
strong.
• Livestock Management
Livestock management is also a critical part of a farmer’s responsibility and involves excellent teamwork
and organization. A farmer needs to plan his grazing times and locations, take care of their feed, and
manage their health. A farmer also needs to know how to work with milking machines and care for
newborn animals with the help of a team of other farmers to prevent any disruptions in farm running.
• Promote training and professional development of vocational teachers, extension officers and
agricultural specialists.
• Upgrade educational standards and curricula of the VET colleges.
• Elaborate and implement the modular programs in agriculture.
• Provide farmers with the high-quality training and extension services.
• Promote the new training methods in agriculture, such as work-based learning. Facilitate
cooperation between the public and private sectors.
• Innovation and creativity. Farmers adopt new technologies and best practices of farming such as
crop rotation, subsistence, commercial farming and international farming.
• Resource management. Such as land, water, trees.
• Production of quality products.
• Policy development. These create and enforce policies and regulations in agricultural sector.
• Infrastructural development. Such as roads, market centers.
TRADE UNIONS
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TRAINING COLLEGES AND RESEARCHERS
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
CONSUMERS
• Poor quality raw materials in a way that in the food industry using low quality raw materials can
lead to the production of food products that may cause food borne diseases for example
salmonella can cause typhoid, fever among others.
• High losses during transport from the farm to factory in a way that the weight loss can be
caused by leakage during transport for example when the sacks have holes or are securely
attached.
• Inappropriate processing equipment for mixer blender this puts the product itself at risk. This
makes it difficult to process raw materials into finished goods.
• Inconsistent quality of processed products. Heavily processed foods often include unhealthy
levels of added sugar ,sodium, fat these ingredients make the food taste better but too much of
them lead to serious health issues like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and this can
lead to product defects customer complaints.
• Lack of packaging capabilities in a way that food losses may occur due to damage of the
packaging.
• Underdeveloped transport facilities for example roads in bad conditions increase the risk of
damaging the food during transport especially in rural areas.
• Insufficient storage facilities food may become spoilt as a result of inadequate storage that is to
say food can be affected with harmful bacteria.
• Poor post-harvest handling. Post-harvest losses cause the quality and quantity of food to be
severely reduced thereby affecting incomes and impacting on the rural poor in the region.
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• Poorly trained personnel with the proper orientation and training food processors risk lack of
productivity.
• Lack of proper hygiene can lead to negative publicity and this can lead to low income outputs in
the food processing industries.
FARMERS
• Lack of quality seeds this can reduce crop productivity. They are also prone to weeds, insects
and diseases lead to poor growth of crops.
• Soil erosion this reduces the amount of land available for agriculture and this at the same time,
farmers are under pressure to conserve water and use fewer agricultural inputs.
• Climate changes has caused increased flooding and prevalence of pests and diseases in the
country and especially longer dry spells, increased droughts and high temperatures. This has
resulted in changes to farming seasons, increased crop losses and low productivity.
• Underdeveloped transport facilities such as rural areas due to bad roads and this leads to long
transport times and leading to a substantial decrease in income hence this does not encourage
farmers to increase their production.
• Inadequate capital that is to say lack of financial resources affects not only productivity but also
affects the quality of agricultural produce. Farmers in rural areas do not have access to adequate
funds to invest in better technologies, machinery and equipment which results in poor quality
agricultural produce.
• Inadequate market in a way that in rural areas there is limited market for products since there is
no motivation for the farmer to produce more if he does not have an easily accessible market
outlet where he can sell his surplus produce.
• Expensive farming equipment for example machines like farm tractors are immensely expensive
they prohibit smaller farms from utilizing them as effectively.
• Limited access to finance caused by high interest rates. This is critical barrier for small holder
farmers to access the other inputs that they need to increase crop yields and income.
• Limited use of fertilizer for example organic fertilizers is still limited. This affects crop
productivity.
• Changing tastes and expectations that is to say changing consumer preferences can affect what
growers produce and how they operate their farms.
• Loss of viable land in a way that loss of agricultural land because as more land is lost it will
become more difficult to produce the amount of food needed to feed the growing human
population.
• Poor farming practices for example monocropping that is the continuous intensive agriculture
has produced several undesirable effects declining supply of land and water from other sectors
thus a decline in its productivity.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTES
• Seasonality of cash flows. Businesses seek to generate long term positive cash flow but because
of seasonality reflects an imbalance in the timing of sales revenue, cash flow can be uneven
creating challenges for how to manage the financials of the firm.
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• Lack of or no financial records this it leads to reduction in people’s willingness to participate in
the stock market.
• Inaccurate financial records can lead to penalties, fines companies may face law suits from
shareholders if they fail to maintain accurate records.
• Assessing credit risk and providing affordable financing options for farmers.
• Developing tailored financial products for the agriculture sector.
• Managing loan repayment risks, especially during challenging market conditions.
• Addressing the unique financial needs of smallholder farmers.
• Collaborating with agricultural stakeholders to understand sector dynamics.
• Developing insurance and risk management products for farmers.
• Facilitating financial literacy and education for farmers.
GOVERNMENT
AGRIBUSINESSES
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• Translating research findings into practical solutions for farmers.
• Collaborating with other stakeholders to disseminate knowledge and best practices.
• Ensuring research is relevant, applicable, and accessible to farmers.
• Addressing the technology and knowledge gap among farmers.
• Attracting and retaining skilled researchers and scientists.
• Promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the agriculture sector.
• Meeting the diverse needs of farmers in terms of quality inputs and availability.
• Addressing price volatility and market fluctuations.
• Ensuring access to efficient distribution networks and logistics.
• Developing innovative and sustainable input solutions.
• Compliance with regulations and standards for product safety.
• Building strong relationships with farmers and understanding their evolving needs.
• Adapting to changing technologies and market trends.
• Providing technical support and training to farmers
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DIGITAL INSTANCES CITATION TYPE OF JUSTIFICATION
TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
2.CONSUMERS They provide consumers with a www.biote Transaction This is because these
platform to engage with the charticles. Processing System mobile applications
farmers in their homes and com are used by
Mobile purchase agricultural goods consumers to make
Applications. E.g. online. Mobile Apps provide a orders and payments
kilimoMart and greater opportunity to cater for to farmers and
AgriMarket the rising demand for healthy market vendors, and
foods. also track payment
and delivery of
products.
3. REGULATORS, Regulators such as NAADS use www.farm Geographical Digital maps contain
CONSULTANTS AND digital maps that provide crop 21.com Information Systems relevant information
ADVISORS yield statistics to know what such as altitude,
crops yield best in specific areas relief and topography
so they can distribute their that regulators use in
Digital Maps seeds to farmers in those areas. the Geographical
Information Systems
to know what crops
yield best in specific
areas.
4. RESEARCHERS Digital technologies enable www.fao.o Executive This is because these
researchers to collect and rg Management data collection and
analyze data related to crop Systems analytics software
germination periods, farming applications help
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Data Collection and conditions, weather, and crop researchers to
Analytics prices and farming practices. analyse, record, store
This can help identify patterns, and update trends of
trends, and potential areas for different farm
intervention or improvement. practices and
qualities to be posted
on the internet for
public use.
5. TRADE UNIONS Trade unions use these stock www.trutr Decision Support The stock market
AND BOARDS market platforms to keep adeafrica. Systems provides data on the
themselves updated on the net prices of different
stock prices of different crops in crops in real time
Crop market stock the international and local helping trade unions
platforms such as market to be able to advise and boards to decide
TruTrade Africa. farmers on the crops to grow at on the crops to buy
the moment. from the farmers to
export.
6. VETERINARY Veterinary doctors use these www.scrib Veterinary The VMIS employs
HEALTH SECTOR technologies to see deep inside d.com Management extensive error
the organs and tissues with Information System trapping routines,
unmatched clarity. (VMIS) operator assistant
Digital Radiography, Digital radiography detects and professional data
ultra sonography fractures, cancers and arthritis, entry screens.
and CT scans. while ultrasound examines the Through the VMIS,
heart, kidney and reproductive the animal that
organs. The veterinary doctor needs immediate
uses a stethoscope to listen to attention will be
sounds with in the body of an served instantly due
animal. to easy way of
finding their records.
7. FUNDERS AND These are used by funders and www.kyne Decision Support This is because they
SPONSERS sponsors to manage and follow tec.com help in generating
up the funds they have invested data to compare two
Predictive analytics in specific farmers to keep or more crops basing
updated about the crops that on algorithms on
produce the best turns over given criteria such as
time. crop prices to
support the best
investment decisions
and generate
accurate projections.
8. FOOD These food processing entities, www.deloi Transaction This is because these
PROCESSING use automated machinery and t.com Processing Systems machinery are used
ENTITIES robotics for processing, to do the lowest level
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preservation and packing of transactions such as
Robotics and foods using agricultural packaging and
automation products as ingredients. branding.
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