Mission

Defining E- Agriculture is a very challenging and complex process which requires extensive contributions and consultations involving the widest possible range of stakeholders. The reason for this is that E-Agriculture goes beyond technology, to promote the integration of technology with multimedia, knowledge and culture, with the aim of improving communication and learning processes between various actors in agriculture locally, regionally and worldwide. Facilitation, support of standards and norms, technical assistance, capacity building, education, and extension are all key components to E-Agriculture. Furthermore, E-Agriculture objectives include improving the effectiveness of traditional communication channels and already existing communication practices.
In the months ahead, FAO will be working to establish mechanisms to actively engage all global stakeholders. Activities will include virtual forums, including email and web based discussions, and other consultative activities. We will be collecting case studies and best practices in E-Agriculture, and make them easily accessible. Our primary focus in this first phase is to realize the exchange of views and sharing of effective practices and resources at regional and international levels, and to provide and share, among all stakeholders, knowledge and know-how, related to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of E-Agriculture and policies.

Objectives

The general Terms of Reference which already exist for this working group include:
1.to guide the planning, monitoring and coordination of the follow-up to the WSIS Action Line on E-Agriculture;
2.to contribute towards the development of policies, guidelines, strategies and priorities related to E-Agriculture; and advocate best practices;
3.to facilitate the development of partnership mechanisms involving all interested stakeholders in E-Agriculture;
4.to contribute any relevant E-Agriculture case studies as part of a stocktaking exercise;
5.to identify stakeholder organizations, groups (e.g. farmers groups etc) and individuals who might wish to take part in E-agriculture follow-up;
6.to identify and engage funding institutions that would support the E-agriculture activities.

Deliverables

The following plan has been agreed by initial working group members:
1.An open survey of all stakeholders' views on E-agriculture to be launched 15 September 2006.
2. A Discussion Forum on definition of E-Agriculture will be made widely available.
3.A virtual workspace including various forums will be established for discussion of issues related to E-agriculture, with links to but distinct from the WSIS website. As part of the virtual workspace, stocktaking of interesting case studies and experiences related to areas of E-Agriculture will be undertaken across a broad field of local, national and regional stakeholders.
4.An E-Agriculture web site portal will be established on a neutral domain, to include the virtual workspaces and highlight, among other items, case studies, resources and best practices. This will also be linked to the Global Alliance Website.
5.A physical meeting of stakeholders will be planned for Rome in 2007.

Lead organization