Using ICT for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation through Agro-ecology in the Developing World

This paper explores three interconnected issues of relevance to sustainability and climate change: agro-ecological farming, poverty reduction and information and communication technologies (ICT) in developing countries. It collates evidence from different sources pointing to the potential benefits of agroecological farming methods for climate change adaptation and its poverty-reduction possibilities. Despite the importance of on-farm production of organic inputs for farmers practicing climate compatible agriculture, this is unlikely to be sufficient for scaling to a level required for mitigation and adaptation in a timely manner. However, the scaling up of production could speed the expansion of such methods and at the same time create employment opportunities in rural non-farm sectors. This paper points to the important role ICTs can play in this process, and is a working hypothesis calling for action by policy-makers, researchers, donors, and entrepreneurs, including social enterprises, to grasp this opportunity, whether to conduct further research, policy dialogues or pilot implementations.