The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones for management of crops, livestock, fisheries, forests and other natural resource-based activities represents a new technological frontier and opens up a range of exciting opportunities. The latest issue of ICT Update is dedicated to the use of this technology and associated systems in different parts of the world. This issue - available online and in print format in both English and French has been published in collaboration with Esri. It includes 12 articles, one interview and a section featuring selected online resources on the topic. Articles range from the use of UAVs to design an irrigation scheme in Nigeria, to feeding a locust monitoring scheme, from documenting illegal land occupancy in Panama to assisting smallholder farmers in monitoring their crops in Eastern Africa, and more.

ICT Update is a bimonthly printed and on-line magazine (http://ictupdate.cta.int) and an accompanying e-mail newsletter published by CTA. The 2013 ICT4Ag conference in Rwanda was unique in that it brought together the ICT and agricultural sectors and generated a clear list of action points for the community.

ICT Update is a bimonthly printed and on-line magazine (http://ictupdate.cta.int) and an accompanying e-mail newsletter published by CTA. This issue focuses on CTA international conference ICT4Ag.

ICT Update is a bimonthly printed and on line magazine (http://ictupdate.cta.int) and an accompanying email newsletter published by CTA. This issue focuses on mobile technologies.

Information and communication technology (ICT) has always mattered in agriculture. Ever since people have grown crops, raised livestock, and caught fish, they have sought information from one another. Today, ICT represents a tremendous opportunity for rural populations to improve productivity, to enhance food and nutrition security, to access markets, and to find employment opportunities in a revitalized sector. ICT has unleashed incredible potential to improve agriculture, and it has found a foothold even in poor smallholder farms. ICT in Agriculture, Updated Edition is the revised version of the popular ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook, first launched in 2011 and designed to support practitioners, decision makers, and development partners who work at the intersection of ICT and agriculture. Our hope is that this updated Sourcebook will be a practical guide to understanding current trends, implementing appropriate interventions, and evaluating the impact of ICT interventions in agricultural programs.

An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains.

This interpretative phenomenological research focuses on youth-led companies offering digital services to the agrofood sector in West Africa. Youth is considered as per the African Union definition: individuals aged between 15 and 35 years old. Our research questions were to understand the business models adopted by these start-ups; how their business models and business model innovation lead to business success; other key drivers that can support the achievement of success. With this study, we aim to contribute to the limited existing body of knowledge on this nascent but growing business field in West Africa. Though focused on West Africa, analyses go beyond and are of interest to any stakeholders interested in this subject in Africa in particular.