Designing ICT for Agriculture (ICT4A) Innovations for Smallholder Farmers

As an increasing number of technology-based systems are developed to aid farmers on crop selection, pest mitigation, and market conditions, there is often little consideration for the actual context of use that farmers in developing countries must face. These conditions range from high illiteracy rates to poor technology infrastructure to a requirement for smartphone-based technology of which few farmers in the developing world can take advantage. In this paper we examine the challenges that providers of information and communication technologies for agriculture (ICT4A) in the developing world currently face as well as some of the HCI designs that can mitigate these challenges. As a case study, we examine Uganda, a country where the need for agricultural information is particularly acute.