Mobiles and eAgriculture: a solution to the food crisis

Dr. Alexander G. Flor, Professor and Dean of the University of the Phillipines, wrote an excellent article on the relation between mobiles in eAgriculture and the current food crisis in the current issue of i4d magazine.
Here are the key points regarding mobile telephony: in the 2008 IAALD Conference held in Atsugi, Japan, the e-Agriculture keynote panel made seven forecasts on the future of e-Agriculture.

1. Mobile phones will make telecentres or community eCentres redundant and the OLPC initiative irrelevant
2. Mobile service providers will or are already solving the first mile/last mile linkage challenge
3. Mobile phone users in agricultural communities will or have already reached a critical mass
4. Mobile phone functionalities will lead to collaboration and networking and will render intermediaries unnecessary
5. Mobile phone content will efficiently address issues such as the language medium, auto-translations, relevance and the lack of local knowledge.
6. Mobile phone handsets will make ICT services affordable to agricultural communities
7. Mobile phone applications will provide the e-Agriculture community with an effective Web2.0 platform.