Your search found 2 records
1 Mehrabi, Z.; McDowell, M. J.; Ricciardi, V.; Levers, C.; Martinez, J. D.; Mehrabi, N.; Wittman, H.; Ramankutty, N.; Jarvis, A. 2020. The global divide in data-driven farming. Nature Sustainability, 7p. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00631-0]
Agriculture ; Innovation ; Technology ; Mobile phones ; Data management ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Farmland ; Households ; Infrastructure ; Internet / Africa / Asia / Latin America / Caribbean
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050061)
(1.62 MB) (1.62 MB)
Big data and mobile technology are widely claimed to be global disruptive forces in agriculture that benefit small-scale farmers. Yet the access of small-scale farmers to this technology is poorly understood. We show that only 24–37% of farms of <1 ha in size are served by third generation (3G) or 4G services, compared to 74–80% of farms of >200 ha in size. Furthermore, croplands with severe yield gaps, climate-stressed locations and food-insecure populations have poor service coverage. Across many countries in Africa, less than ~40% of farming households have Internet access, and the cost of data remains prohibitive. We recommend a digital inclusion agenda whereby governments, the development community and the private sector focus their efforts to improve access so that data-driven agriculture is available to all farmers globally.
2 Ricciardi, V.; Wane, A.; Sidhu, B. S.; Godde, C.; Solomon, D.; McCullough, E.; Diekmann, F.; Porciello, J.; Jain, M.; Randall, N.; Mehrabi, Z.. 2020. A scoping review of research funding for small-scale farmers in water scarce regions. Nature Sustainability, 3(10):836-844. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00623-0]
Small scale farming ; Research support ; Water scarcity ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Donors ; Income ; Sustainable Development Goals ; Gender ; Livelihoods ; Natural resources ; Environmental impact ; Livestock ; Irrigation
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050033)
(4.47 MB) (4.47 MB)
Water scarcity is a global issue that disproportionately affects small-scale farmers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Through geospatial analysis, we estimated that less than 37% of small-scale farms probably have irrigation in water scarce regions across LMICs, compared with 42% of non-small-scale farms. Through a literature synthesis assisted by machine learning, we then systematically mapped the existing research for on-farm interventions that improve the incomes or yields of small-scale farmers in water scarce regions. We mapped over 888 on-farm interventions used to combat water scarcity from 560 publications and showed a research bias towards yields rather than livelihoods. We found gaps in evidence for many commonly proposed solutions, including livestock management, digital technology and solutions to protect natural resources at the farm-level, such as buffer strips. Our findings can be used to set a funding agenda for research on the geographies that are most at risk of water scarcity and the interventions that most lack evidence.
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