Global Sharing Webinar
Since May 2022 the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services, GFRAS, has been running a participatory research process on digital rural advisory services supported by GIZ’s Sector Project Agriculture.
The research aims to better understand how digital rural advisory services can support the promotion of good agricultural practices and improve farmers’ livelihoods.
Under the guidance of GFRAS Regional Networks four regions participate in the process: Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
During the webinar the main findings from each region will be discussed, viz:
- The current potentials and challenges regarding economically digital rural advisory services and how digital tools are contributing to strengthening the agri-food system and enhance the livelihood of smallholder farmers
- The operational and institutional implications of using such digital advisory services for so-called extension agents and their organizations, for reach, and quality of their services
The regions were tasked with identifying existing digital rural advisory services solutions servicing smallholder farmers and operating at scale (minimum of 20.000 users), meaning digital rural advisory services solutions that are already beyond the start-up phase.
This process further helped identify success and constraint factors in the respective regions; how problems, for example in the development or implementation phases, were or could be overcome and what the actual reality of using digital agriculture services in their regions looked like.
More information
Main findings, methods used, and details from each of the four regions are currently being revised in the form of regional reports. They will be available to the public in July 2023.
Time of Webinar
29 August 2023, 13:00-15:00 CEST
Contact
Diekjuergen@giz.de and Birthe.Lappe@giz.de.
Both are advisors in the Sector Project Agriculture and work on topics such as agricultural production and extension. Diana is also active in the working group on Digital Transformation.
About GFRAS
The Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services is a Switzerland-registered association established in 2010. It comprises a system of platforms at national, regional and global levels bringing together key actors involved in the delivery of rural advisory services to farming communities.
GFRAS aims to enhance the performance of advisory and extension services providers in better-serving farming families and rural producers, thus contributing to improved livelihoods in rural areas and the sustainable reduction of hunger and poverty.
The national platforms contribute to the development and implementation of strategies and programs tackling national-level issues in agricultural development and link these to policies and efforts at the regional and global levels through the GFRAS networks.
Photo credit
Extension worker Ipuk Darmanto explains methods of controlling potato plant diseases by the use of MyAgri to Alo, a farmer in Lembang sub-district of West Bandung District, West Java Province during the RAS-SEA digital RAS Study supported by GFRAS and GIZ. ⎮ © GFRAS and RAS-SEA
