A survey of intelligent agro-climate decision support tool for small-scale farmers: An integration of indigenous knowledge, mobile phone technology and smart sensors

Abstract

Food security in Africa and the rest of the globe has come under tremendous threat, meaning that agriculture which is the driving force behind many economies is under threat. Seventy per cent of the food produced in sub-Saharan Africa is produced in the rainfed small-holder agriculture, which in turn is the most devastated by any disasters experienced in the agricultural sector. Although the indigenous knowledge system has been used by many small-scale farmers as the basis for their day-to-day agricultural decision support, climate change and global warming have rendered this knowledge unreliable. Documented limitations on the isolated use of indigenous knowledge and modern scientific systems are the basis of this study. We investigate the effectiveness of the integration of indigenous knowledge interpreted through fuzzy inference systems, mobile phone and smart sensor technology with intelligence, on farmers decision support systems.