Telefónica and FAO launch LatAm water efficiency pilots

Telefónica and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have completed preliminary studies to determine priority crops and geographical zones to be targeted for the development of water efficiency solutions in Latin America.

Having discussed the options with the agriculture ministries in each country, the partners have settled on nine pilot projects, mostly featuring a different crop and location in each case, the FAO's CALA region partnerships director Dulclair Sternadt told BNamericas.

READ OUR LATEST INTELLIGENCE SERIES REPORT: Jump-Starting the Agtech Scene in Latin America

The first four relate to crops of cucumber, bell peppers, papaya and tomato in different districts of El Salvador, and were launched in September.

This will be followed by two cotton projects in Peru, and a potato project in Colombia during October. And finally, in November the FAO and Telefónica will launch projects focused on avocado and plantain in Colombia.

The pilots will run at least until end-2019 so that results can be compared from one year to the next, although some crops can be repeated twice a year or more. The FAO's partnership with Telefónica consists of a first phase running through 2021.

Telefónica has claimed 20% savings in water and power for irrigation as a result of AI technology developed at its R&D center in Chile.

OTHER PROJECTS, OTHER PARTNERS

The partners are also running projects relating to IoT, advanced data analysis and digital education in Ecuador, Chile and Colombia that are expected to produce results before the end of 2018.

The digital education project relates to a content channel being developed by FAO, while the big data stream began with a study into climate-induced population movement in Colombia's Tolima and Huila departments.

Sternadt noted that the private sector has been fundamental in transforming the food and agriculture sector globally, in terms of technology, shared knowledge, financial resources and administration, adding that the FAO is open to partners other than Telefónica in these kinds of projects.

In that vein, Telefónica is committed to sharing the results of these pilots with international organizations like the GSMA, IDB and World Bank, all of which already run their own Agtech programs. In this way, the projects can be scaled up or even replicated in other locations.

For its part Telefónica will endeavor to recruit local partners for these projects to help build a smart-agro ecosystem in the region.

BNamericas contacted the FAO as part of its research into its latest ICT Intelligence Series report, covering Agtech adoption in Latin America.