The document discusses the e-Agriculture Community of Practice, an international initiative led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The community aims to promote global cooperation on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support agricultural and rural development. It has over 7,000 members from over 150 countries who share resources virtually and through in-person events. Key topics discussed by the community include the role of mobile telephony and public-private partnerships in rural development.

1. The e-Agriculture Community: Sharing Innovative Experiences and Knowledge About the Use of ICT for Rural Development www.e-agriculture.org Gerard Sylvester Knowledge and Information Management Officer Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

2. World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) WSIS Plan of Action – November 2005 – Tunis Action Line (C.7/21): ICT Applications: e-agriculture FAO was assigned lead responsibility for facilitating follow up on e-agriculture (Feb. 2006)

3. About e-Agriculture e-Agriculture is an emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture

5. Face-to-face meetings and events

7. rural service providers

8. development practitioners

9. farmers

10. NGO and CSO staff

11. researchers

12. information and communication specialists in agriculture and rural development. Over 7,000 members, from more than 150 countries

13. The e-Agriculture Community of Practice Community members interact with each other and contribute a range of resources in the form of case studies, good practices and lessons learned, documents, publications, links, learning resources, news and events information. Online Discussion Forums have included: The Role of Public Private Partnerships in e-Agriculture in Asia Mobile Telephony in Rural Areas (in English & Spanish) The Role of ICTs in Agricultural Value Chains (in English & Spanish) Gender, ICTs and Rural Livelihoods

14. KEY TOPICS Important issues identified by the community:1. Mobile telephony in rural development2. Public-private partnerships

16. strengthens social networks and empowers individuals empowered “Mobile telephony is being used to provide information to the farmers ... through SMS and multimedia-supported systems .... through public, private as well as NGO sector initiatives.” Dr. Sapna A. Narula, TERI University,India