Pages 2021-3.cdr


My dear readers of Journal of Extension Educa�on,

These days, we hear a lot about data-driven farming. Data-driven farming is the use of 

data to augment decision-making in farming systems and thus improve food system 

outcomes such as crop yields, profits, environmental sustainability and food security. Many 

studies (Fabregas et al. 2019) support the percep�on that the future of agriculture depends 

on the adop�on of new technologies that gather, transfer, manage, and analyze data. 

In a recently published paper in Nature Sustainability, Mehrabi et al (2021) had 

reported  that substan�al gaps s�ll exist in the availability of, and access to, data services for 

the world's farming popula�ons, especially the smallholders and have outlined the following 

recommenda�ons for for governments, agricultural development organiza�ons, funders, 

entrepreneurs and academics.

Invest in 'last-mile infrastructure' innova�on:
Closing the coverage gap will require con�nued innova�on in terms of energy, cell 

towers, and other infrastructure -innova�ons such as Google's Loon, Elon Musk's Starlink or 

Greg Wyler's One Web. 

Increase handset affordability:
Business model innova�on will be required to provide handsets that are both 

affordable and capable of a seamless broadband experience, par�cularly for women and 

underserved groups in rural communi�es.

Make data access universal: Innova�on in infrastructure can help to reduce the cost of 

deploying the last-mile infrastructure, to ensure data accessibility to all farmers. 

Iden�fy interim solu�ons: 
The lean front-end, interim solu�ons such as  SMS-based advisories and alerts, and 

interac�ve voice response services that can run on low-end mobile handsets, offer an 

important opportunity for addressing bundled issues of produc�vity, market connec�vity, 

financial transfers, credit access, input use and within-season management, across large 

areas of farming landscapes globally. While espousing the uses of data-driven agriculture, 

experts also cau�on that (Maru et al, 2018), mobile phone 'apps' alone cannot introduce 

digital and data-driven agriculture to farmers. Successful 'apps', therefore, need to use 

localized and specific data to provide localized and specific solu�ons for the farmers. 

This issue of JEE has papers on topics such as factors affec�ng the adop�on of 

silvopastoral system in Zimbabwe and climate change strategies in Bundelkhand, India. Do 

send your feedback on these papers to  editorextension@gmail.com

6631

JEE 33 (3)        
D Puthira Prathap

Chief Editor

mailto:editorextension@gmail.com