PSAf urges Zambia to use ICTs to advance Agric sector

The Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf) has encouraged Zambia to seize opportunities Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) provide for advancements in Agriculture.

The PSAf urging Zambia to do so as it celebrates Farmers’ Day which falls today Monday the 3rd of August.

PSAf Executive Director Lilian Kiefer has told Qfm News in a statement that her organization believes that new ICTs can improve farmers’ ability to seek, receive, store and share information.

Ms. Kiefer says Zambia should draw its encouragement from how ICTs has worked in countries like Kenya and India where farmers use mobile phones and online applications to access information on extension services, the weather and markets among others.

She says even the International organizations like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) present evidence that ICTs are helping millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries to gain better access to information, tools and technology that can transform their livelihoods.

Lilian Kiefer

Ms. Kiefer has observed that ICTs for instance present opportunities for smallholder farming, in among many, accessing markets, access to credit, financial and insurance services, understanding and learning new knowledge.

She notes that records from the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) further show that the use of the internet and mobile telephone has been increasing steadily over the last few years.

The PSAf Executive Director has referred to the ZICTA report for the first quarter of 2015 that shows mobile internet penetration has grown from 379,888 subscribers in 2011 to 4,315,056 subscribers in the first quarter of 2015.

She says this presents a picture that the mobile telephony and mobile internet penetration is growing quickly and that this advancement of digital technology and other ICTs presents an untapped opportunity to propel Zambia toward sustainable development and poverty eradication.