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8/3/2019 The Use of ICT in Agricultural Value Chains to Improve Food Security -An International Perspective-Leisa Armstrong,…
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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,
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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).
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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.
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References
Armstrong, L, Diepeveen, D and Vagh Y. (2007) Data mining can empower growers’ cropdecision making T2: Technology and Transformation. 3rd Transforming Information and
Learning Conference. Perth, Edith Cowan University, 30 November - 1 December, 2007.
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
http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/dl/edict.pdf;accessed 7 April 2010.
Bryceson, K.P (2003) EBusiness and the dairy and grains industry value chains in Australia.
In: Proceedings of the Farming on the Edge, Int. Conference, August 2003, Perth Australia.
Bryceson, K.P. & Kandampully , J. (2004) The balancing act: “E” issues in the Australian
agri-industry sector. In: Proceedings of the McMaster World Congress on the management of
electronic business, Jan 14-16, 2004, Hamilton, Ontario.
Bryceson KP. (2008a). Value chain analysis of bush tomato and wattle seed products.
DKCRC Research Report 40. Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs
http://desertknowledgecrc.com.au/publications/downloads/DKCRC- Report-40-Value-Chain-
Analysis.pdf . Accessed 1st
July 2010.
Bryceson, K.P. Smith, C. (2008b). Abstraction and modelling of agri-food chains as complex
decision making systems. In: EAAA Series on Systems Dynamics and Innovation in Food
Networks, Vol 2 pp 147-159.
Chattopadhyay N. (2008). Climate change and food security in India. Paper Presented at the
International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia August 25-30,
2008 Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Collins, R. and L. A. Lim-Camacho (2005). Unlocking successful new rural industries: Is
supply chain management the key?: Final report to the Rural Industries Research and
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Development Corporation, Canberra, Australia Rural Industries Research and Development
Corporation Publishing. RIRDC Publication No 05/139. pp88.
Krugman, Paul R. (1996). Does Third World Growth Hurt First World Prosperity? Harvard
Business Review 72, pp. 113-121.
Porter, M.E. (1990). "The Competitive Advantage of Nations", Free Press, New York, 1990.
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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"
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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.