Boost smallholder phone access for better crop yields

[NAIROBI] Small-scalefarmersacross the globe have low access to mobile networks and internet, the kind ofdata-driven farming that could boost incomes, astudy找到了。

数据驱动的农业涉及在正确的时间使用正确的数据来帮助更好的决策，因此农民可以提高其长期利润。

Researchers say that mobiletechnology大数据正在极大地改变beplay下载官网西西软件，，，，but the extent to which they are helping smallholders is poorly understood.

“Big data is only as useful as the insights it provides, and the decision-making it informs.”

débísíàràbà，非洲绿色革命论坛

The study examined the effect of mobile phone access and internet availability on crop yield gaps and food insecurity.

“We show that only 24–37 per cent of farms of less than one hectare in size are served by third generation or fourth generation mobile services, compared to 74–80 per cent of farms of greater than 200 hectares in size,” says Zia Mehrabi, the lead author and a research associate at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at the Canada-based University of British Columbia.

“此外，具有严重产量差距，气候压力的地点和食品没有安全的种群的农田服务覆盖范围较差。在非洲的许多国家，只有不到40％的农户可以使用互联网，而且数据成本仍然令人难以置信。”

根据这项研究，发表在Nature Sustainabilitythis month (2 November), 2G network services are suitable for voice and short message services whereas 3G and 4G services have high-speed internet connectivity.

梅赫拉比（Mehrabi）补充说，通过儿童发育迟缓的率衡量，全球粮食不安全影响的个人中，有61％由3G服务，而4G为4G服务。

“In Africa, the numbers are particularly low: 52 per cent and 22 per cent for 3G and 4G, respectively,” she tellsscidev.net。

Researchers examined household-level mobile ownership globally with particular emphasis on farming and non-farming households in 70 countries: 38 in Africa, 17 in Latin America and the Caribbean and 15 in Asia. Researchers also examined internet access among farming and non-farming households in 48 countries: 20 in Africa, 17 in Latin America and the Caribbean 11 in Asia.

Mehrabi说，该研究的发现与捐助者有关，governments，，，，national agricultural research services, development organisations, academic institutions and industry start-ups working on and investing in digital agriculture.

“特别是,捐助者、政府和研究organisations lack sufficient understanding of the spatial distribution of data services across farms, and how existing services intersect with farms that have the greatest need for support and areas which contain the most food-insecure populations,” he adds.

总部位于肯尼亚的非洲绿色革命论坛董事总经理Débísí-ràbà表示，这项研究并不一定表明缺乏数据服务是农业生产力的障碍。

“Perhaps including the full suite of mobile services [such as calls, short message services and calls] and their impact on productivity would have provided more context on how widely mobile services are used in the agri-food sector,” he explains.

他补充说，使用大数据来帮助提高对复杂互动和见解的理解，以做出更好的决策，以提高农业食品领域的生产率，这使得投资和分析大数据至关重要。

他说：“大数据仅与它所提供的见解以及它所提供的决策一样有用。”
决策者，，，，according to Àràbà, need to focus on increasing productivity in rural areas because the higher the productivity in the agri-food sector, the greater the demand for enhanced mobile services, which includes high-speed data services.

“生产率提高将刺激创新在解决数据服务的不需要的问题时，”àràbà告诉scidev.net。

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.