m-Crop: A Mobile Information System for Smallto Medium-Scale Farmers

• Main Author: Zaqueu, Jéssica Raquel
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2014
• Subjects: T Technology (General)
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/13928/1/Jessica%20Zaqueu_14165_BIS_Thesis_mCrop_v2.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/13928/

The agricultural sector is critical in the global economy for food security and global development. Information communication technologies (ICT) are being widely used in all sectors of the economy, including agriculture, but there is still a clear under-usage of the potential of these technologies in the less developed communities. In this paper, the author aims to understand the extent to which ICT is being utilized in the developing world in the agriculture sector; more specifically for small- to medium- scale farmers. There is a clear need for this research and development of tools to assist these farmers; the need is economical, social and technological. Without the right technologies farmers aren’t able to reap all possible benefits from their arable lands. Furthermore, there is great technological potential that is being left untapped. The author thus proposes an information system, mCrop, which is to be accessed via mobile telephones, from the most basic to the most advanced. mCrop’s development was achieved with the use of expert knowledge systems and collaborative filtering among other tools. This system was developed using an incremental system development life cycle method so as to allow for continuous improvement and easier user adaptability purposes.