FAO-ITU E-agriculture In Action: Big Data for Agriculture

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) issued a new publication in the series of E-agriculture in Action under the title Big Data for Agriculture. It investigates the ecosystem required for data-driven agriculture and provides seven case studies from leading organisations related to the use of big data in agriculture. The publication provides three in-depth articles that explore the data challenge and opportunities in agriculture, how big data can unlock more opportunities in agriculture, and the data-driven digital revolution. The study highlights that for digital agricultural transformation to be achieved, digital solutions need to be simple and scalable, connect with stakeholders, and be aligned to data flows. The publication further identifies how various initiatives are leveraging data vis-à-vis agriculture value chains to influence decision making and efficient service delivery and to address key building blocks such as interoperability, data sharing, data security as well as the necessary policies and regulations required to sustain the data ecosystem.