The Big Data Gap

Big Data is needed most by farmers who can least afford it.Major corporations are investing heavily in Big Data for agriculture, and start-ups in the space are proliferating, supported by the increasing availability of venture capital. But all this market-driven activity does little to help poor, developing areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, where productivity is very low by U.S. standards and where virtually all of the world's population growth is predicted to take place in the coming decades.

Increased productivity in the developed world can help to feed people in these areas, "but it is impractical to think the U.S. and South America are going to produce the food for everyone," says Carrington. "It is much more realistic to work on the assumption that Africa, Asia, Central America and parts of South America are going to have to do better in the future and be more productive. This is where science and technology really have to special focus. Ironically, it's where the least amount of investment is."

But numerous groups are working to bring relevant technology to these areas. With primary funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, scientists at the Danforth Center, for example, are developing virus-resistant, highly nutritious varieties of cassava, an orphan crop that is important in much of Africa but has no commercial appeal to seed companies (it doesn't even produce seeds).

New agricultural cell phone and tablet applications are also being developed for Africa, where there are now more mobile phones than in the U.S. or Europe and where there has been a 20-fold increase in Internet bandwidth since 2008. These apps are connecting farmers to financing, market information, agricultural expertise and sometimes simply to each other so they can share information and best practices.

The applications vary depending on local needs. According to "Unlocking Africa's Agricultural Potential," a report by the World Bank, "Information and communication technology (ICT) applications for agriculture and rural development have generally not followed any generic blueprint. They are usually designed locally and for specific target markets, with localized content specific to languages, crop types, and farming methods."

The common thread running through all these efforts is the need to make vital data of all types available without charge to everyone. In a recent speech at the G-8 Conference on Open Data for Agriculture, Bill Gates urged incentives for scientists and organizations to share data and the development of common data standards, easing the exchange of information between organizations and individuals.

"To reap the benefits of Big Data, it's important to ensure this is publicly available and shared with research and development partners," Gates said. "Only then will we be able to a rich data ecosystem to support the knowledge-intensive and location-specific enterprise of agriculture. This is especially important in developing countries."

Please read the article above and answer question:

What is the Big Data Gap? What in your opinion should be done to fill the gap?