New technologies in agriculture - By farmers for farmers

An interesting and worthwhile video documenting the use of Web 2.0 applications in the development sector such as supporting farmers in Uganda (The Rural Open Source Development Initiative and other various parts of Africa. Farmers are being trained and advised via their mobile phones. At the same time farmers are themselves recording "how to" advice. The recordings are made in English and local languages and then placed on the internet, made into CDs and hard copies so everyone care share the knowledge.

Another project is "WikiForet" which is based in Senegal - "A participative interactive encyclopedia" produced by researchers, farmers, city dwellers and forest dwellers all sharing their experiences.

All these projects show that despite infrastructural limitations, it is very possible to integrate Web 2.0 technologies with development projects both in rural and urban locations. With the Google sponsored satellite internet promised in the near future many of those infrastructure barriers will be removed and thereby broadening access.

Via : Christian Kreutz on Twitter.