science

Mobile agriculture

Mobile agriculture is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mobile agriculture rather than just read about it. In short: Mobile Agriculture (mAgri) supports actors along the agriculture value chain through the use of mobile technology. Mobile technology covers a broad range of devices and the sub-categories include voice, data, network and connectivity technologies. mAgri is a subset of e-agriculture.

Key takeaways

Mobile agriculture belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mobile agriculture to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mobile agriculture from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mobile Agriculture (mAgri) supports actors along the agriculture value chain through the use of mobile technology. Mobile technology covers a broad range of devices and the sub-categories include voice, data, network and connectivity technologies. mAgri is a subset of e-agriculture. The introduction of mobile technology and portable, wireless devices has led to the creation of innovative services and applications that are used within the agricultural value chain in developed and developing countries. In developed markets where mechanization is more advanced and the agricultural labour force is significantly smaller than that of many developing countries, mobile agriculture applications tend to be implemented further up the value chain, for example with processors or consumers. In developing countries where a large proportion of the workforce is employed in agriculture, mobile technology is more commonly used to deliver services for producers and traders.

Applications The GSMA's Mobile and Development Impact (MDI), an open data portal on mobile and development, has created a standard set of categories that cover applications of mobile technology in agriculture. The MDI categories were created to provide an overview of the mAgri industry and the range of mobile applications in agriculture across the world, with a focus on emerging markets. The categories listed below serve a role in the mAgri industry by providing a common framework and a standardized naming system.

Examples Instances of the technology include:

Market intelligence/information: applications that use mobile technology to deliver or retrieve market information including prices. Trading facilities Weather information Peer to peer learning Data collection Financial services- payments Financial services- loans Financial services- insurance Learning/ advisory/ extension services: applications that use mobile technology to deliver or retrieve agricultural/agronomy information and advice. Geospatial applications: Applications enabling data and information related to geography and space to be managed, processed, and visualized. They contribute to land and water use planning, natural resources utilization, agricultural input supply and commodity marketing, poverty and hunger mapping, etc. Embedded ICT in farm equipment & processes: Applications that enable greater efficiencies in farm equipment and agricultural processes, and traceability in agricultural products’ transport and marketing through mobile technologies such as RFID, wireless Internet, and cellular telephony for labelling, traceability and identity preservation Operations monitoring, quality control, and product tracking Logistics and business processes Agricultural news: applications that provide news on agriculture-related subjects

References

External links GSMA mAgri Programme http://www.gsma.com/magri GSMA M4D Impact portal http://www.m4dimpact.com/data/sectors/mobile-agriculture e-Agriculture Community http://www.e-agriculture.org USAID's ICT and Agriculture Allnet community http://www.ictforag.org InfoDev and WorldBank (2011). ICT in Agriculture Sourcebook https://web.archive.org/web/20130103185142/http://www.ictinagriculture.org/ictinag/node/105 World Bank (2011). Mobile Applications for Agriculture and Rural Development http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/Resources/MobileApplications_for_ARD.pdf USAID Office of Mobile Solutions (2012). Mobile Agriculture: Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Mobile Agriculture Solutions https://web.archive.org/web/20130222001949/https://communities.usaidallnet.gov/ictforag/node/286 ICTupdate web magazine http://ictupdate.cta.int/

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mobile agriculture

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mobile agriculture claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mobile agriculture before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mobile agriculture ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mobile agriculture

In research: Mobile agriculture appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mobile agriculture in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mobile agriculture is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics E-agriculture, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mobile agriculture outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Mobile agriculture” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Mobile agriculture in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mobile agriculture means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mobile agriculture out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mobile agriculture in simple terms?

Why does Mobile agriculture matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mobile agriculture?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mobile agriculture.