Information and Communication Technology for Small-Scale Farmers: Challenges and Opportunities

With the rapid growth in the world population, food production is going to be the biggest challenge for the 21st century. Industrialisation and urbanisation are taking away the available agricultural land and hence there is immense stress on the food production to cater the enormous growth of population. The farming community are struggling to meet the increased demand for food production due to limited agricultural land. Natural calamities, extreme weather events and wider variations in rainfall and temperature, destructing crops and reducing yields, thus affecting farmers’ incomes and livelihoods. Unsustainable agricultural practices further worsen the soil fertility and capacity to retain water, thus result in soil erosion. These problems can be minimised by utilising the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the farming community, especially small-scale farmers. The advances in the agricultural practices and up-to-date weather/climate information, immensely help the farmers to implement the best practices and contribute to sustainable agriculture. This chapter focuses on the need of ICT to provide the best sustainable practices and optimised water management, which can revolutionise farming technology. An assessment of various available technologies based on user-friendliness, affordability and pros and cons are discussed in detail for appraising their applications by the small-scale farmers.