The Use of ICT in Agricultural Value Chains to Improve Food Security -An International Perspective-Leisa Armstrong,Dean Ms Niketa Gandhi

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eAgriculture Stream

The use of ICT in agricultural value chains to improve food security: An

international perspective.

Corresponding Author 1: Leisa Armstrong,

Author 1 Institution: Edith Cowan University, School of Computer and Security

Science, Mt Lawley Campus, 2 Bradford Street Mt Lawley, WA 6060.

Australia

Author 1 Email: [email protected]

Author 1 Phone : +61893706505

Author 1 Fax: +61893706100

Author 2: Dean Diepeveen

Author 2 Institution: Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia

and Adjunct Academic at Edith Cowan University, School of Computer andSecurity Science.

Author 2 Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Author 3: Ms. Niketa Gandhi

Author 3 Institution: University of Mumbai. Department of Computer Science,

mailto:[email protected]















Author 3 Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICT)s have been shown to have an increasing

impact on agricultural sector and on the processes associated with food production (Blurton

2002). This has coincided with great efforts by government and industry in both developing

countries such as India and developed countries such as Australia to improve the

sustainability of agricultural system in order to provide food for an increasing world

population and to improve rural livelihoods. There will be wide-reaching policy implications

as any response to the possible changes in climate, reductions in the availability of water and

the amount of land which is used for agriculture will impact on food security for the world’s

population. The impacts on agricultural production will vary considerably from region to

region and will result in the need to establish new cropping systems and improve the

effectiveness of supply chains from farmer to market (Chattopadhyay 2008). Improved

efficiency in these new farming systems will come about by understanding how to match the

new systems to changing environments and growing conditions (Armstrong et al. 2007) but

also in how to improve all aspects of the value chain.

Value-chains are the sequence of activities that a company undertakes to create value,

including activities such as marketing, sales, and service (Porter 1990). In agriculture, this

generally includes all businesses and processes that are part of manufacturing a finished

product from raw materials to end-users. Material and informational interchanges are

significant parts of the logistical processes (Krugman 1996). Management of value chains

essentially integrates both supply and demand management within and across companies to

minimise non value-adding activities. Some studies have been undertaken to investigate the

issues related to supply chains in various agricultural industries in Australia agriculture and

how these can influence the productivity of the industry (Bryceson 2008, Beamon 1998,Collins and Lim-Camacho 2005, p 22).







Opportunities exist with using ICT for optimisation of such supply chains. In the agricultural

context, ICT generally means harnessing computers, telephone, radio, television, and the

internet to facilitate information and knowledge exchange to all levels of the agricultural

industry. For example developed countries such as Australia are using ICT to add value to

some stages of the grains supply chain which has resulted in greater efficiencies in production

of grain but also the optimisation of value-chains producing grain end-products (Bryceson

2003, 2004, 2008a,b). The impacts of these technologies and processes will depend on

various conditions, both internal and external to the agricultural supply chains. External

conditions relate to environmental, cultural/social, and political conditions effecting the

operations of the agricultural supply chain. Internal conditions relate to direct requirements to

take inputs and produce outputs.

This paper examines the grains value chain in agriculture, and identifies the importance in

developing strategies to improve better strategies to secure food production. Two contrasting

contexts, those of India and Australia will be considered. Further, the paper investigates the

constraints and drivers for the use of ICT in these agricultural value chains by highlighting

examples of successful integration of ICTs in agricultural supply chains. The development of

strategies and a framework to integrate these ICTs into the supply chain will be proposed. It

will be argued that the use of high powered computing for data mining, sensor networks,

mobile communications, and GPS technologies have the revolutionize the efficiency of these

supply chains and therefore improve the food security.




References

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Beamon, B. M. (1998). Supply chain design and analysis: Models and methods. International

Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 281-294, August

Blurton, C., (2002). New directions of ICT-Use in education. Available online

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Brief Biodata of Author: Dr Leisa J Armstrong

Dr Armstrong is a senior lecturer in the School of Computer and Security Science since 2002and the leader of the Edith Cowan University eAgriculture research group. Her research area

relates the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the

sustainability of the agricultural industry sector. These research interests include geospatial

data mining, wireless sensor networks and agricultural information dissemination. She

worked as an agricultural scientist and also as analyst/programmer in Western Australia State

government and has a PhD in Agricultural Science from University of Queensland and a

Master’s of Science (Software Engineering) completed at ECU in 2002.

Brief Biodata of Author: Dr Dean Diepeveen

Mr Diepeveen is an Bachelor of Agricultural Science graduate from the University of

Western Australia and also has completed Graduate Diplomas in Public Health and Business.

Mr Diepeveen has been conducting research for 30 years in both medical and agricultural

areas specializing in data management and statistics. Mr Diepeveen is currently a Researcher

in the "Cereal Breeding and Research" program at the "Department of Agriculture and Food,

Western Australia" and has submitted his PhD for examination in April 2011 at Murdoch

University, Western Australia. Mr Diepeveen's thesis topic is "A bioinformatics framework

for wheat grain quality"




Brief Biodata of Author: Ms Niketa Gandhi

Ms. Niketa Gandhi has worked as a lecturer in Computer Science since 2002. She is currently

working as an Asst. Professor in Department of Computer Science, University of Mumbai.

She has obtained a M.Phil (Computer Science) degree, and will be undertaking a PhD at

University of Mumbai in 2011. Her research interests include data mining, web technologies,

ptimization techniques.

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The Use of ICT in Agricultural Value Chains to Improve Food Security -An International Perspective-Leisa Armstrong,Dean Ms Niketa Gandhi