A Cloud Computing Model for Augmenting Agricultural Activities in Marginalized Rural Areas in Developing Countries

摘要

Marginalised Rural Areas (MRAs) practice farming as their main source of food, employment and income yet in most cases they lack basic resources and skills to improve yields. In developing countries that are often challenged by rapidly growing urban populations, crime and unemployment, farming could have offered solutions to improve food security and employment opportunities though this is not the case. In this study, we proposed the development of the cloud computing model that augments the use of ICT to improve agriculture in MRAs. In the preliminary exploratory survey conducted in Pongola in South Africa, we established that mobile devices are commonly used with 94% of farmers owning mobile devices. Of these, 59% of the mobile devices had access to the internet and could as well take pictures. Based on this understanding, this study has developed mobile-based application in Java using NetBeans and MySQL database. The developed model includes cloud architecture, used by farmers to share farming related information. We have evaluated the performance of the application by conducting usability testing and the results indicated that 90% of the participants found the application user friendly, 61% found it is easy to learn and 83% said is of the expected standard as they could share information easily.