Big Data is the future. But where are the farmers?
Although data is important for all players in the value chain, the primary end-users are the farmers and they are the most novice players in the big data approach, particularly those in developing countries.
Photo by E Quilligan
Feeding 9 billion people by 2050 is a big challenge for the present and future of agriculture.
Given the increasing population and the increasing growth of farms – about 500 million of which are smaller than two hectares – on ever-decreasing land availability, the challenge raises many questions.
Such as:
- How do we match this growth with increased food production?
- How do we drive farming and food production with big data, how do we identify and close the big gap in agriculture with big data?
- How do we cross-match data accessibility, uses and efficiency to different categories of farmers?
- How do we use big data to integrate the next generation of farmers into sustainable agriculture?
- And, finally, what will these big data-driven future farms actually look like?
Agriculture is facing numerous problems, particularly in developing countries, and these problems urgently require solutions that are embedded in technologies such as big data, agricultural machinery, and other modern innovations.
There are some common expressions such as ‘agriculture is life’ and ’data is life’, but the drivers of these are the people – farmers, researchers, policy experts, governments, ICT experts, technologists and other players – who contribute to sustaining this life.
Persistent concerns surrounding the future of agriculture and food security, as raised in the above questions, are answerable by harnessing the potential of big data.
This potential can be used to implement the interventions needed to reverse worrying trends of food insecurity, increase food production, implement sustainable solutions, bring youth into agriculture, combat malnutrition, and also, to strengthen the overall performance of the agricultural sector.
While big data may be the best way to revolutionize the agricultural sector, we have to bridge the gap to better reach and involve the farmers.
First, the agricultural policy must be crafted in a way that enhances the availability of quality data, guides new reforms to help farmers increase productivity and informs proper decision-making in agricultural investments.
Government and its supporting partners, like businesses, the private sector and donor agencies, need to chart the way to support increasingly data-driven and data-enabled agricultural operations. There also needs to be initiatives in place to ensure farmers are able to contribute to the knowledge and adaptability of the process.
The use of technologies such as smart machines, GPS and GIS applications, and sensors on farms are inevitable. But for there to be an effective growth and application the role of data researchers, scientists, technologists and extension workers needs to be considered.
Imagine the growth in farms and the request for information on rainfall pattern, soil diagnosis, weather forecast, pests, diseases, market information and falling commodity prices that such players could facilitate.
Obviously, there are big gaps to cover and these identified players ought to work on driving the farming activities with data and with farmers in the picture. Big data is not complete without the farmer.
Although data is important for all players in the value chain, the primary end-users are the farmers and they are the most novice players in the big data approach, particularly those in developing countries.
The emphasis on data accessibility, dissemination and usability are as important as using collective efforts from different players to incorporate farmers into the ADU (Accessibility, Dissemination, Usability) of big data for efficient agricultural production and practices.
The realization of this lies in the capacity building of the extension agents and farmers and, most importantly, with the farmers who are already able to see the opportunities that big data holds for agriculture.
If we can close the gap between big data and farmers and big data is inevitable in agriculture, only then can we create a sustainable agriculture that is attractive to youths and thus, generations can continuously drive the agricultural sector with big data.
Big data is the inevitable next step for agriculture. But if we are to create a sustainable agriculture that is attractive to youths and therefore future generations who will drive future agriculture processes, we need to close the gap between big data and our farmers.
John Agboola
Farmer, Agricultural Economist and Extensionist, Value Chain Catalyst
Lagos, Nigeria
Blog Competition Entry
This article is published as a part of our publicly open big data blog competition. If you have enjoyed this reading this entry, you can vote by liking, commenting or sharing.
Lovely and inspiring. more knowledge and wisdom
Excellent work. But we should also have an eye on data right
Nice write up.
Good article.
Big data is everywhere. Most people can gather data quite easily with the age of the internet & the smart phone , from weather patterns to commodity prices to difeciency of nutrients/ disease in their crops. That part is easy…remember FUSE technology ( even tractors are doing it) or farm management softwares like AGRIVI.
…the challenge here is who is going to analyze the data, pick up the important in a particular situation and generate accurate and well informed decisions that the farmer, input providers, markets and institutions can reliably depend on, that has been the problem .
Good Job John for continuing the conversation that most people in the industry are avoiding and good article too.
Like you’ve highlighted, creating awareness about the prospects of Big Data cannot be over-emphasized. Great article.
Awesome one you’ve got there
This is an inspiring write up geared towards sustainable agricultural development.
John did a good a job by highlighting the interventions needed to close the data gap and his suggestion in the area of empowering extension agents with the necessary data capturing tools will go a long way.
I could remember when John pointed out the essence of closing the data gap when he saw my post on my EFITA 2017 conference experience in France.
Great article.
I remember having a meeting at NIPC and questions about data on both the value of hive produce and the value in cost of the effect of bee pollination is in Nigeria was asked.
We could not provide verifiable data and that boils down to inability to attract some sort of investment, plan and map out pollination intervention strategies and protocols, it goes on and on and I hope policy makers encourage big data and open data.
Good work Uncle John
Dear Oluwaseun,
I am glad you were able to relate your experience to the current scenario being faced by farmers. Just imagine if an educated farmer like you is struggling with information and data to quantify your operations, how much more the smallholder and the uneducated farmers?… We need a joint approach that creates accessibility and usability of big data by the farmers. This is where policy comes to play.
Thank you once more for sharing your experience and for such a brilliant recommendation.
The innovative and the ideas will bring power to Agricultural and promote it to a greater heights. The genesis of it should be never to forgotten.
I support your movement. More of it and we need people like you to enhance Agriculture in another dimension that will be interested to everyone. Wonderful write up. Keep the fire burning. Thanks for the impartation and information
Dear Ezekiel,
Thank you very much for your kind words. No doubt, the genesis of agriculture is the farmer and thus, the need to place them in the forefront when it comes to big data.
Well written… Thumbs up
Thank you Micheal,
Intelligent!……..Big data and the Future of agriculture, creating a sustainable agriculture attractive to the youth which is the answer to sure economic growth and development……… Keep the passion burning sir!
Dear Adesuwa,
I honestly agreed with you that agriculture as an of economic growth and development is rested on the power of big data and more so, helps in creating a sustainable agriculture that is attractive to the youth.
This is an amazing comment and am glad you picked lessons from the article
Good write-up John, data accessibility is an all inclusive process that brings all stakeholders together
Thank you very much Chinonso. I strongly agreed with you that there is the need for inclusiveness in data accessibility, especially for farmers.
Thank you for your point.
Quite thoughful. Great piece.
Thank you Oluwaseun for picking lessons from the article. Cheers!
Really nice write up John… Bridging the gap between technology and agriculture.. Keep it up..
Dear Ayomide,
Thank you very much for taking time to read the article
Awesome write up
Very well written. Good job!
One thing I picked from extension is that you have to start from where the farmers are.. The information gap has to be bridged… Well written article Mr. John
Dear Dolapo. Honestly, you nailed it all – “start with the farmer by giving them information” and let see if there will not be a drastic change in the agricultural sector. We indeed need big data in the hands of farmers. Thank you very much for your invaluable comment and for translating the lesson from extension into the article.
Cheers!
Awesome, more of this.
Thank you Jerome…We are definitely going to translate this words into action.
Insightful read.
Thank you Carolyne for taking time out to read the article
Great work John! The farmers need access to Information!
Thank you Serah with your valid comment. Information is powerful to transition farmers from just farmer to investors. Inform -ation is a poweful weapon for increasing farmers’ productivity.
Your comment is well appreciated
Very true. With Data , better planning would be carried out.
Thank you Akin. I agreed with your notion – better planning is possible with big data. Thank you for your comment
Great write up. All the critical stakeholders in the agriculture value chain in the developing countries especially Nigeria should be determine to take agriculture to the next level. I am tired of deliberating on problems being faced in this sector. The solutions should kick-off by all the stakeholders and the time is now.
Dear Adenike,
Thank you for agreeing that its time for action with big data and that we need joint efforts from all the stakeholders in achieving this possibility.
We surely need to shoot for solutions beyond problems.
Thank you once more for your invaluable comment
Agriculture as a business in this information age needs big data to take informed decision. Informed decision is one of the core benefit of big data. For agriculture to be sustainable then that’s the way to go especially for developing countries as highlighted in the article.
Dear Eyinade,
I honestly appreciate your well-articulated thoughts as regards the article. No doubt, advancing agriculture as a business “agribusiness” strongly rest on big data and this, in turn, rests on an informed decision. Thank you for this great insights
Intresting and insightful.
Great job.
Thank you Julian for taking time to read through and for your comment
Cheers!
Wow! Great write up, the importance of good government policies cannot be overemphasized as it is key as far as the big data is concerned.
One other aspect that interest me is the use of improved technologies such as GIS, this is a great tool as far as data management is concerned. I learnt a lot from this write-up. Kudos to you.
Dear Olaoluwa,
Thank you very much for pointing out key lessons and for highlighting the importance of GIS and government policies in supporting the big data approach to agriculture. Cheers!
Great stuff. This is really expository and insightful. cheers!
Thank you very much James for your comment
Great piece.
With increasing curiosity in the current age, farmers must form part of this revolution. At the heart of it is Big Data.
Thank you very much Victor for agreeing with the notion that farmers are and must be part of the agricultural big data revolution
Inspiring!
Thank you Ade for reading through
Very insightful. Thank you
Thank you Ivy for taking time to read through the article
This is a great article. Well done
Dear Patrick,
Thank you for picking interest in the article. We surely can do more transformation to our agricultural sector
Interesting read. Keep it up.
Thank you Tolulope for your kind words
Well presented. This is an area am a firm believer and an advocate of.
Wowww!. Thank you Ovie and good to see that you are operating in this area of using big data to transform the green sector. Thank you for taking time to read through
Impressive. Lot of lessons embedded
Thank you for your kind words Tolulope. Am glad you were able to pick lessons from the articles
Great article.
Thank you Dedan for taking time to read through the article
Insightful read
Dear Sharon, thank you for reading through and for your kind words
Greay work. Well-done.
Hi Moyosola,
Thank you for taking time to read the article. Cheers!
Concise and well written. Important points raised here, there is indeed need to bridge the gap between the rural small holder farmers and their engagement with the big data.
Dear Tolulope,
Thank you for highlighting this “there is indeed need to bridge the gap between the rural smallholder farmers and their engagement with the big data”. This is the whole essence of the article – ensuring accessibility and applicability of big data but support is needed to bring farmers to the level of knowledge.
Thank you so much, Tolu for your valuable comment