m-Crop: A Mobile Information System for Smallto Medium-Scale Farmers

The agricultural sector is critical in the global
economy for food security and global development. Information
communication technologies (ICT) are being widely used in all
sectors of the economy, including agriculture, but there is still a
clear under-usage of the potential of these technologies in the less
developed communities. In this paper, the author aims to
understand the extent to which ICT is being utilized in the
developing world in the agriculture sector; more specifically for
small- to medium- scale farmers. There is a clear need for this
research and development of tools to assist these farmers; the
need is economical, social and technological. Without the right
technologies farmers aren’t able to reap all possible benefits from
their arable lands. Furthermore, there is great technological
potential that is being left untapped. The author thus proposes an
information system, mCrop, which is to be accessed via mobile
telephones, from the most basic to the most advanced. mCrop’s
development was achieved with the use of expert knowledge
systems and collaborative filtering among other tools. This system
was developed using an incremental system development life cycle
method so as to allow for continuous improvement and easier
user adaptability purposes.