VISION FOR THE FUTURE: TRANSITION TO DIGITAL AGRICULTURE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Digital technologies are rapidly changing the way people, businesses, and governments work. They affect entire food systems, everyone involved, and bring significant benefits to agriculture through lower information, transaction, and surveillance costs. While digital technologies can make a significant contribution to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they also pose economic, social, and ethical challenges, in particular with regard to privacy and security, and in terms of the impact they can have on business, employment and markets.

The equity and efficiency of global agri-food systems can greatly benefit from digital technologies, and for that to happen, it requires a coordinated and inclusive promotion of innovative practices, and a balanced policy framework to reduce risks and ensure that no one is left behind.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) harnesses the power of digital technologies to pilot, accelerate and scale innovative ideas with high potential for impact in food and agriculture, transforming digital solutions and services into global public goods. It aims to explore the responsible application and adoption of existing and frontier technologies, design and scale new services, tools and approaches to empower rural households and inspire youth entrepreneurship in food and agriculture.

For the further development of the agricultural sector, the Government of Azerbaijan adopted in 2016 the Strategic Roadmap for the Production and Processing of Agricultural Products in the Republic of Azerbaijan, which foresees the establishment of an integrated electronic information portal with the aim of creating a unified database system. This unified system includes the basic principles of data management to form a comprehensive agricultural information database. In 2019, the Government launched the website eagro.az as an online platform of Azerbaijan’s Electronic Agricultural Information System to be closer to farmers. This is an innovative initiative that combines the principles of proximity, good governance and innovation to farmers and ensures access to agricultural services and transparency in the provision of these services.

The main objective of this Conference is to bring together various stakeholders to share global experiences, visions, and developments in the area of agricultural and digital rural transformation, as well as present the Azerbaijani model and discuss further ways to improve the system and its possible replication in other countries.