A review of

Information and Communication Technologies

for agricultural development

and food value chains

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Summary

Introduction 2

I. What are ICTs? 4

I. 1. An infinite number of technologies and association of technologies 4

I. 2. Different ways of communicating using ICT 6

II. How to apply ICTs in development projects 9

in agriculture and food value chains? 9

II. 1. Case analysis in agricultural development and value chains 9

II. 2. How to choose the best suited technology for your project? 16

II. 3. Information and services for rural farmers 17

III. Challenges, opportunities and future trends 17

III. 1. Challenges 17

III. 2. Opportunities and future trends 17

III. 3. State of ICTs in Latin America 17

Conclusion 17

Introduction

Together the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), Swiss contact, SNV (Netherlands’ Development Organization) and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) have engaged in agricultural rural development. Their project of learning alliances focused on the analysis of food value chains that is, the process and actors involved in production processing, trade and end consumption of food products. In terms of development, value chains offer various opportunities to improve the living and production conditions of the people involved in the value chains. The learning alliance has been working for the analysis and improvement of various supply chains in Latin America and for small farmers’ better integration. This work has led to the identification of key leverage points in the value chain.

In today’s supply chains, companies involve in long-term relationships with their clients and suppliers for competitiveness, superior logistic organization and effective win-win coalition among the partners. In this context, the relationships and integration of all the actors from the farmer to the end