This document discusses the potential development of an "AfriFITA" organization to promote information sharing about ICT in agriculture across Africa. It notes that while some regions have organizations like EFITA in Europe and PANAFITA in America, Africa currently lacks a unified platform. The document suggests that interest and volunteers from African countries would be needed to establish such an organization and ensure it is locally led. It provides some upcoming conference opportunities and online discussion platforms that could help facilitate initial discussions about developing an African ICT in agriculture information exchange network called "AfriFITA".

1. Infita, EFITA and “Afrifita”
Karel Charvat
CCSS, WirelessInfo, EFITA

2. Announcement
• Please next few slides are not about Africa,
but they express feeling of people from so
called Central and Eastern Europe some years
ago.
• I took few first slides from my presentation,
which I made some years ago
17/11/2010 2ICT in Agriculture, Entebe, Uganda

3. IT developments in Central &
Eastern Europe, with special focus
on the new EU members from the
region
Karel Charvat
EFITA
Czech Centrum for Science and Society
WirelessInfo

4. Imagination of some people few year ago?
Monkeys
jumping down
from the trees
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5. What is real status?
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6. Back into Cainozoic (before 1989)
• What was real situation?
– Hardware
• COCOM restriction
• Own HW
– based on reveres engineering (mainly IBM360, 370)
– Minicomputers (PDP)
– First like PC (without hard disks, etc.)
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7. Back into Cainozoic (before 1989)
• Examples
– We developed image processing and neural
network simulation on mini computers with 32kB
Operating memory and 5MB hard disk
– On the beginning of Quaternary (1990) we paid
for PC 20x more, then was our salery
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8. More big bang then evolution
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9. For Example
• In 1995 most of farmers in Germany used DOS
• In Czech Republic very often farmers started
use immediately MS Windows
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10. What is Africa today
• Dynamically developed market (not
everywhere probably), which could be in
some cases more clever then so called
developed world
• For example mobile telephony are used often
much more effectively, then in Europe
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11. Using words from Bible
• If Africa need something, it is not obtaining
fishes, but to learn, how to catch these fishiest
• So in other words, Africa can profit from both
positive and negative experience from Europe
(or other part of World), but Africa need to act
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12. What is important
• The important aspect is cooperation and
mainly cooperation inside of Africa
• Experiences of neighboring countries could be
more valuable, then in some cases transfer of
experiences from Europe
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13. Our subject is ICT for Agriculture
• Here is necessary to act
• We heard during last two days a lot of ideas
from Africa
• We saw, that there already exist strategies
• What is till now missing is cooperation
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14. Topic for Discussion
• Need Africa some platform for exchange of
information about ICT in Agriculture
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15. Experiences from other part of world
• In Europe exist EFITA
• In America Panafita
• In Asia and Oceania Afita
• All this organization are covered by INFITA as
world organization
• Africa is missing in this club
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16. Is there need for “AfriFita”
• Does Africa need platform for exchange of
information in this area
• Is there wiliness to do this
• Are there volunteers, who can put effort to
prepare this
• We can advise, but main work has to be done
here. This could run only, if this will be decision of
African peoples. It never can be important, we
can only assist
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17. If yes, how we can continue
• There are events, which could be platform for
this
• ICT Africa conference in May in Botswana
• WCCA congress this year in Praha
• WCCA workshop this year in Namibia
• Ant there is question about organizing WCCA
congress next year in Africa
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18. But there is chance to use also other
tools
• Currently exist Groups on Facebook and
Lingedin for WCCA, where these aspects could
be discussed efectivly
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19. Some possible contact and information
• www.efita.net
• http://www.infita.org/
• http://www.efita2011.cz/
• http://www.ist-
africa.org/Conference2011/default.asp
• http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/WCCA-
2011/126145254102850
• http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=
&gid=3415437
• charvat@ccss.cz
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