Background

Agriculture development in Nepali mountain communities can be strengthened through data-driven digital solutions. This requires better collaboration and informed decision making among implementing partners, and ICT-based agricultural extension services and connection across value chain actors need to be readily accessible to farmers.

This workshop – organized by the Resilient Mountain Solutions (RMS) Initiative – will discuss the different prospects and challenges of digital agriculture solutions, provide an introduction to digital tools, and explore the potential to enable different data-driven agriculture services. The workshop will bring together potential government authorities, agriculture experts, extension workers, farmer cooperative, traders, relevant agencies, and service providers to discuss experiences and challenges.

Workshop objectives

• Understand the landscape of multi-scale stakeholders and potential needs of smallholder farmers in the RMS Initiative’s project areas
• Share experiences of successful programmes and initiatives
• Identify and piloting mobile and web-based agriculture solutions to address the needs
• Recognize potential contributing partners, extension workers, and their associated roles and linkages for sustainable adaptation of digital solutions
• Develop broader framework for digital agricultural solutions and a pilot application

Expected outcomes

• Concept advancement: Clear identification of the elements and actions needed to create and launch a digital agriculture platform for improved access and use of data to support better crop productivity and maximize profitability for farmers
• Feedback on envisioned product and services: Gain feedback on planned project designs and their usefulness and priority as well as what additional services should be offered
• Stakeholder mapping and community engagement: Build linkages and liaise with relevant actors and authorities to strengthen and complement each other’s activities, thereby enabling digital solutions