eAgriculture, Smoothtel at 2010 Nairobi Trade Fair

From 27th September to 3rd October 2010, Smoothtel will unveil all its green ICT solutions at the Nairobi International Trade Fair. This is going to be a great occasion where Kenya and the international community will come to appreciate our strength in enhancing the digital economy.

The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in agriculture is increasingly important.

eAgriculture is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, eAgriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. eAgriculture is a relatively new term and we fully expect its scope to change and evolve as our understanding of the area grows.

eAgriculture is one of the action lines identified in the declaration and plan of action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The "Tunis Agenda for the Information Society," published on 18 November 2005, emphasizes the leading facilitating roles that UN agencies need to play in the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been assigned the responsibility of organizing activities related to the action line under C.7 ICT Applications on eAgriculture.

With the theme: Driving Agri-Business In Attaining Food Sufficiency And Vision 2030, Smoothtel will showcase how agritechnology is crucial in realizing this theme to fruition. We have a firm belief that there can be no meaningful agribusiness devoid of technological nuance, more specifically ICT's. We believe an empowered farmer, armed with the soft skills will be an advantage to this economy hemmed on business processing outsourcing.

Farmers operate in a dynamic environment where new technologies are continuously being developed and therefore have to be made available to them at least cost. Farmer-agribusiness linkages have an in-built extension component as part of the relationship. This is an important feature serving both parties positively as it ensures that farmers are producing quality and types required by the market. In the case of internationally traded commodities, this ensures that farmers’ production systems comply with international specifications. In situations where the technologies for production are patented, this ensures that there is no illegal transfer of material to non- contracted members. To achieve this, Smoothtel intends to empower the farmer to embrace technology.

Kenya today is still largely agribased economy. We at Smoothtel still want it to play this role. However, we strongly recommend and will partake as a catalyst to nuance this to technology. We want each farmer to be eLiterate and have a computer connected to the Internet. This tool is crucial in skimming the markets and appreciating the best practices for food security.

Our labour force, we appreciate, can only be productive when it is fed and healthy. Smoothtel will show that ICT is a friend of Agriculture.

We welcome you to our stand.

Sam Ongoro
Business Development & Marketing Manager
Smoothtel.
Your ICT integrator.
The Customer Is Always Right!