The application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture, is a new paradigm of sustainable development in developing economies, as more than 50% of population are still living in rural areas. Old ways of delivering information and services to the farmers are being challenged. This type of applications, also named as E-Agriculture, is one of the action lines identified in the declaration and plan of action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
However such application can only be realized when the basic knowledge and information on ICT have been previously paved among the stakeholders. In other words, the uptake and transfer of advanced information technologies in the domain of agriculture can be effective in the developing economies, only when all the factors such as knowledge base, local economical affordability and local exploitation opportunities are integrally present.
In this perspective of ICT application on agriculture, the E-AGRI project proposes to set up and adapt advanced crop monitoring technologies developed by European institutions, in China and Morocco. These two developing economies have already a relative mature ICT knowledge and earth observation expertise, but are still agriculturally dominant in terms of population. As the exploitability of the European technologies remains to be investigated in the third developing country, Kenya, the project proposes an activity of capacity building to raise the awareness of the local authorities and other stakeholders and to pave the way for further technological transfer in the future.
