Case studies and lessons learned in the formulation or implementation of ICT for agriculture strategies in the ACP by Edward Addo Dankwa

1. MOFA
CASE STUDIES AND LESSONS LEARNED IN
THE FORMULATION AND/OR IMPLEMENTATION
OF ICT FOR AGRICULTURE STRATEGIES IN THE
ACP
The Ghanaian Case
Eddie Addo-Dankwa
Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate
Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Ghana)

2. MOFA
Content
 Background
 The National ICT4D Policy
 The Agricultural ICT Strategy
 Current Situation
 Lessons Learnt
 Policy Formulation
 Policy Implementation
 Conclusion

3. MOFA
Background
 Realization of the need for a National Policy for ICT (1999/2000)
 The development of the Ghana ICT4AD (2003)
 The development of the Ministerial ICT Policy Statement (2005)

4. MOFA
The National ICT4AD Policy
 Developed through a consultative process in 2003 with an
objective to “engineer an ICT-led socio-economic development
process with the potential to transform Ghana into a middle
income, information-rich, knowledge-based and technology
driven economy and society”
 The Policy was designed to address key developmental
challenges including “an economy that is dominated by an
under-performing agricultural sector a with weak and under-
developed industrial and services sector”.
 The strategic focus was to “target the development of the ICT
sector and industry as well as use ICTs as a broad-based
enabler of developmental goals, with emphasis on the
development, deployment and exploitation of ICTs to aid the
development of all other key sectors of the economy”. Including
Agriculture.

5. MOFA
The Agricultural ICT Strategy
 14 Priority Focus Areas (ICT4AD Pillars)
 Modernization of Agriculture and the Development of an
Agro-Business Industry using ICTs as an enabler
 Key Strategies: Specifically, the policy will seek to:
 Promote the deployment and exploitation of ICTs to support the
activities of the agriculture sector.
 Develop GIS applications to monitor and support sustainable
agricultural development (environment, land and water
management, crops and livestock management, etc.)
 Establish agriculture information systems to provide support for
the planning, production, storage and distribution of crops,
livestock, and fisheries products.

6. MOFA
The Agricultural ICT Strategy
 Commitments:
 Replace paper-based information systems with electronic
systems
 Establish WAN to link MOFA HQ with all regional and district
offices, and other related institutions
 Create online extension services to provide decision support
systems
 Establishment of management information systems
 Develop Interactive websites

7. MOFA
ICTs in Agriculture – A snapshot
 MOFA website www.mofa.gov.gh
 WAN linking MOFA HQ and regional Offices
 eExtension http://e-extensionmofa.com
 Various Databases (SRID, FBOs, etc)
 Market Information Systems for farmers (ESOKO)
 mFarm – for managing farmers, aggregators, inputs, (M&E), etc
 ECOAGRIS
 Agricultural GIS Platform www.gis4ghagric.net

8. MOFA
Lessons Learnt
Policy Formulation
Who owns the policy? (Ownership)
Poor coherence of ICT policy with sector policy
Non involvement of technical policy actors at the
sector
Weak linkage between the sector ministry and the
formulation committee
Inadequate consultations – Who was consulted?

9. MOFA
Lessons Learnt
Policy Implementation
How is the policy implemented? – any
implementation strategy?
Who is responsible for its implementation?
Is the current situation a result of the policy?
How organic is the ICT policy?
How is it responding to changes in the sector
policy

10. MOFA
Going Forward ………
Ownership of the policy is about the most crucial step.
Involvement of the key stakeholders (not only ICT
personnel) is very crucial
The buy-in of implementers should be obtained at
all cost in the formulation stage
The ICT policy should be coherent with the sector
policy
An implementation strategy should be developed to
guide the implementation of the policy
Implementation should be sensitive to the dynamisms
in the sector