How can ICT help smallholder farmers in times of COVID-19 and Beyond?

Smallholder farmers in developing countries and least developed countries are always in the front lines when there is crisis though it is food crisis, war crisis, economic crisis and disease crisis for in stance the current crisis caused by the COVID-19. Smallholder farmers in Cambodia are now facing problems with agricultural technical skills to improve agricultural production to meet market demands while there is increased food demands annually, gap between producers and buyers and many other problems occurred and are being occurred since the start of the crisis till present (August 7th, 2020). In this regard, smallholder farmers needed to get access to sufficient capital (grant/loan), loan with low interest rate 3-5% per anum to invest on their small scale farm, link their produces access to markets regularly, enable them access to contract agreements and water for irrigation on their crops in a year round, especially in dry season (November to April).

The role of farmers’ associations and agricultural cooperatives however it is key not only for agricultural production to meet market demands, but also contributing actively to social economic development, social solidarity and unity as smallholder farmers and rural people contribute largely to the social economic sustainability and peace.

To keep smallholder farmers grown with sustainable economic development, therefore the ICT is very important to ensure the sustainability of farming communities and their farmers’ organisations to continue producing food to feed people. CFAP in the times of COVID-19 has cooperated with several private partners to engage smallholder farmers access to markets (sale of their produces to buyers), agri inputs, knowledge, related information on agricultural technical knowledge and markets and many other related technical advisory support services for smallholder farmers.