eAgriculture Stream

The use of ICT in agricultural value chains to improve food security: An international perspective.

Corresponding Author 1: Leisa Armstrong, Author 1 Institution: Edith Cowan University, School of Computer and Security Science, Mt Lawley Campus, 2 Bradford Street Mt Lawley, WA 6060. Australia Author 1 Email: l.armstrong@ecu.edu.au Author 1 Phone : +61893706505 Author 1 Fax: +61893706100

Author 2: Dean Diepeveen Author 2 Institution: Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia and Adjunct Academic at Edith Cowan University, School of Computer and Security Science. Author 2 Email: ddiepeveen@agric.wa.gov.au, ddiepeveen@ecu.edu.au

Author 3: Ms. Niketa Gandhi Author 3 Institution: University of Mumbai. Department of Computer Science,
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Author 3 Email: niketa@gmail.com

Abstract
Information and communication technologies (ICT)s have been shown to have an increasing impact on agricultural sector and on the processes associated with food production (Blurton 2002). This has coincided with great efforts by government and industry in both developing countries such as India and developed countries such as Australia to improve the sustainability of agricultural system in order to provide food for an increasing world population and to improve rural livelihoods. There will be wide-reaching policy implications as any response to the possible changes in climate, reductions in the availability of water and the amount of land which is used for agriculture will impact on food security for the worlds population. The impacts on agricultural production will vary considerably from region to region and will result in the need to establish new cropping systems and improve the effectiveness of supply chains from farmer to market (Chattopadhyay 2008). Improved efficiency in these new farming systems will come about by understanding how to match the new systems to changing environments and growing conditions (Armstrong et al. 2007) but also in how to improve all aspects of the value chain.

Value-chains are the sequence of activities that a company undertakes to create value, including activities such as marketing, sales, and service (Porter 1990). In agriculture, this generally includes all businesses and processes that are part of manufacturing a finished product from raw materials to end-users. Material and informational interchanges are significant parts of the logistical processes (Krugman 1996). Management of value chains essentially integrates both supply and demand management within and across companies to minimise non value-adding activities. Some studies have been undertaken to investigate the issues related to supply chains in various agricultural industries in Australia agriculture and how these can influence the productivity of the industry (Bryceson 2008, Beamon 1998, Collins and Lim-Camacho 2005, p 22).
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Opportunities exist with using ICT for optimisation of such supply chains. In the agricultural context, ICT generally means harnessing computers, telephone, radio, television, and the internet to facilitate information and knowledge exchange to all levels of the agricultural industry. For example developed countries such as Australia are using ICT to add value to some stages of the grains supply chain which has resulted in greater efficiencies in production of grain but also the optimisation of value-chains producing grain end-products (Bryceson 2003, 2004, 2008a,b). The impacts of these technologies and processes will depend on various conditions, both internal and external to the agricultural supply chains. External conditions relate to environmental, cultural/social, and political conditions effecting the operations of the agricultural supply chain. Internal conditions relate to direct requirements to take inputs and produce outputs.

This paper examines the grains value chain in agriculture, and identifies the importance in developing strategies to improve better strategies to secure food production. Two contrasting contexts, those of India and Australia will be considered. Further, the paper investigates the constraints and drivers for the use of ICT in these agricultural value chains by highlighting examples of successful integration of ICTs in agricultural supply chains. The development of strategies and a framework to integrate these ICTs into the supply chain will be proposed. It will be argued that the use of high powered computing for data mining, sensor networks, mobile communications, and GPS technologies have the revolutionize the efficiency of these supply chains and therefore improve the food security.

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References Armstrong, L, Diepeveen, D and Vagh Y. (2007) Data mining can empower growers crop decision making T2: Technology and Transformation. 3rd Transforming Information and Learning Conference. Perth, Edith Cowan University, 30 November - 1 December, 2007. Beamon, B. M. (1998). Supply chain design and analysis: Models and methods. International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 281-294, August Blurton, C., (2002). New directions of ICT-Use in education. Available online http://www.unesco.org/education/educprog/lwf/dl/edict.pdf; accessed 7 April 2010. Bryceson, K.P (2003) EBusiness and the dairy and grains industry value chains in Australia. In: Proceedings of the Farming on the Edge, Int. Conference, August 2003, Perth Australia. Bryceson, K.P. & Kandampully , J. (2004) The balancing act: E issues in the Australian agri-industry sector. In: Proceedings of the McMaster World Congress on the management of electronic business, Jan 14-16, 2004, Hamilton, Ontario.

Bryceson KP. (2008a). Value chain analysis of bush tomato and wattle seed products. DKCRC Research Report 40. Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs http://desertknowledgecrc.com.au/publications/downloads/DKCRC- Report-40-Value-ChainAnalysis.pdf . Accessed 1st July 2010. Bryceson, K.P. Smith, C. (2008b). Abstraction and modelling of agri-food chains as complex decision making systems. In: EAAA Series on Systems Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks, Vol 2 pp 147-159.

Chattopadhyay N. (2008). Climate change and food security in India. Paper Presented at the International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia August 25-30, 2008 Dhaka, Bangladesh. Collins, R. and L. A. Lim-Camacho (2005). Unlocking successful new rural industries: Is supply chain management the key?: Final report to the Rural Industries Research and

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Development Corporation, Canberra, Australia Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Publishing. RIRDC Publication No 05/139. pp88. Krugman, Paul R. (1996). Does Third World Growth Hurt First World Prosperity? Harvard Business Review 72, pp. 113-121. Porter, M.E. (1990). "The Competitive Advantage of Nations", Free Press, New York, 1990.

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Brief Biodata of Author: Dr Leisa J Armstrong Dr Armstrong is a senior lecturer in the School of Computer and Security Science since 2002 and the leader of the Edith Cowan University eAgriculture research group. Her research area relates the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the sustainability of the agricultural industry sector. These research interests include geospatial data mining, wireless sensor networks and agricultural information dissemination. She worked as an agricultural scientist and also as analyst/programmer in Western Australia State government and has a PhD in Agricultural Science from University of Queensland and a Masters of Science (Software Engineering) completed at ECU in 2002.

Brief Biodata of Author: Dr Dean Diepeveen Mr Diepeveen is an Bachelor of Agricultural Science graduate from the University of Western Australia and also has completed Graduate Diplomas in Public Health and Business. Mr Diepeveen has been conducting research for 30 years in both medical and agricultural areas specializing in data management and statistics. Mr Diepeveen is currently a Researcher in the "Cereal Breeding and Research" program at the "Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia" and has submitted his PhD for examination in April 2011 at Murdoch University, Western Australia. Mr Diepeveen's thesis topic is "A bioinformatics framework for wheat grain quality"

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Brief Biodata of Author: Ms Niketa Gandhi Ms. Niketa Gandhi has worked as a lecturer in Computer Science since 2002. She is currently working as an Asst. Professor in Department of Computer Science, University of Mumbai. She has obtained a M.Phil (Computer Science) degree, and will be undertaking a PhD at University of Mumbai in 2011. Her research interests include data mining, web technologies, ptimization techniques.

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