IT Pakistan: Farmers will now receive online updates

7 million farmers living in Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan will provide customized mobile agricultural advice. In the face of economic pains and threats, this initiative by IT Pakistan will help tremendously with income generation, food security as well as remedial steps. 

Cell phones are available almost universally, and the costs of transmitting information will be low. They are being used, largely successfully, by smallholder farmers in low-income countries to improve markets for their agricultural products. Fabregas et al. review the potential to boost mobile smartphone use to deliver not only market information but also more sophisticated agricultural extension advi 

Agriculture is considered to be a key driving factor in Pakistan’s economy employing 45 percent of the country’s workforce and generating 20 percent of Pakistan’s national GDP Agriculture sector faces numerous challenges, including the failure to implement farm-level agricultural technology, due to the lack of access by farmers to the latest knowledge. 

In the agricultural setting, the mobile phone has allowed farmers to connect on the agricultural trade, knowledge exchange, and purchase and sale of inputs and farm commodities from local to administrative levels.

Through such an initiative from IT Pakistan farmers will get personalized advice at low cost to enhance their techniques that will not only help with quality but also with disease and pest control. In addition to this, the guidance would also help inform farmers on environmental protection as well as market access to increase income generation.