Trends, Challenges and Opportunities for IoT in Smallholder Agriculture Sector: An Evaluation from the Perspective of Good Practices

In addition to being considered as a food pantry by different entities, such as the FAO, the Colombian agriculture industry represents 6.7% of the country’s GDP and 7.4% of total exports. This shows a clear inclination towards agriculture and the urgent demand for technicizing the countryside. Even more when considering the increase of almost 70% in food production, projected for 2050, to provide food for the people who will inhabit the world. However, even with government efforts, work in the small-scale Colombian agricultural sector is rudimentary and traditional. This leads to land degradation and low production, which prevents small farmers from competing in national and international markets on equal terms. This paper proposes a review of the literature using the DANDELION methodology, focused on the use of IoT in agriculture since this technology has proven to have interesting results in increasing food production by optimizing the amount of land, water, and other resources used by the agricultural sector. Evaluating each of the approaches in the context of good practices in IoT in agriculture, by comparing the definitions provided by the ITU, FAO, OECD, and World Bank since they are considered as recognized organizations offering their respective definitions of good practices both in IoT and in the agricultural sector. This work establishes a basis for standardizing the development of IoT solutions in agriculture at the national level and the state of IoT solutions in farming and several challenges to be solved in small-scale agriculture.