A seminar on "Enhancing Farm Management Efficiency by ICT for Young Farmers" is jointly organized by NARO and the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region (FFTC) at the International Congress Center (Epochal), Tsukuba, Japan on October 3-5, 2017.
Seminar Details
Date: October 3-5, 2017
Venue: International Congress Center (Epochal), Tsukuba, Japan
Fee: No registration fee for observers
Seminar Program: Click here.
Overview
Over the past decade in the Asian and Pacific region, there has been a considerable decrease in the number of young people who were engaged in farming. If this trend continues, countries in the Asian and Pacific region may face serious problems in food production and overall agriculture in the next 10 to 20 years. On the other hand, the advancement of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) has created an opportunity for effective knowledge management and sharing especially for the young generation. They make it possible to deliver virtual information on weather, market prices, disease and pest outbreaks, early warning systems for disaster prevention and control, financial services, traceability of agricultural products, and the availability of services, allowing farmers to make more informed decisions on what to grow and how to improve their farm practices. The culmination of ICT agriculture appears in the "Plant Factory", this takes a lot of costs in terms of facilities and maintenance, and is not expected to be introduced to the small-scale farmers (SSFs) in the Asian and Pacific region. However the key technologies of plant factory are still useful and these technologies still need to be disseminated to the SSFs. These are not for use in well-managed and high tech greenhouses but mainly for the application in the open field with simple facilities which can be easily distributed to the SSFs. Furthermore the utilization of the meteorological data and market demand predictions can make agricultural production systems more efficient and labor-saving and can lead to open the door for the young generation to engage in farming.
Objectives
- Share the information about new agricultural production systems of established ICTs in the Asian countries
- Provide a venue for exchange of ideas, techniques and knowledge related to adaptive technologies of ICT based agriculture production systems to farmers in the Asian and Pacific region
- Construct and disseminate ICT agriculture or smart farming systems which SSFs in the Asian and Pacific region can utilize for open-field cultivation
- Identify approaches and strategies for supporting youth entrepreneurship in agriculture with ICT applications
- Establish closer collaboration and linkages among researchers working on ICT agricultural systems in the Asian and Pacific region
Expected Outputs
- Understood issues related to new agricultural production systems using ICT and other related technologies
- Identified inhibiting factors related to ICT agriculture extension and craft proposal of smart agriculture for young farmers
- Developed proper know-how to create ICT based agricultural production systems in the Asian and Pacific region
- Identified collaboration opportunities for supporting youth entrepreneurship in agriculture with ICT applications and innovations
- Established possible networking platform of cooperation and discuss future research needs in the Asian and Pacific region
Organizing Committee
- Dr. Akio Takenaka, FFTC
- Dr. Akimasa Nakano, NARO
