Outlook of the agricultural extension mobile application – Abu Dhabi case study

The repercussions, the rapid global changes, and the huge volume of renewable agricultural data and information require the presence of more rapid and effective tools in communicating with farmers. In addition to the requirements of farmers in terms of accuracy of information and the speed of providing correct extension information. Digital communication tools are very useful tools in agricultural extension. It is not just a tool for reaching a large audience, but also, an opportunity to develop relationships with farmers. In fact, virtual meetings were common long before the pandemic including web presence and engaging social media platforms. Abu Dhabi Agriculture & Food Safety Authority implemented the agriculture extension using a mobile application, in which a consultancy, technical information, and trainings were provided via online meetings using Microsoft Teams Program. The mobile application includes more than 125 topics in agriculture and machine learning to identify pests and plant diseases automatically. In the coronavirus pandemic like situation, when physical interactions became extremely restricted, the E-Extension played a key role in disseminating valuable technical information. In late 2020, a survey was carried out in randomly selected farmers in Abu Dhabi to measure the most important technical requirement that farmers wish to obtain, the best way to provide these services, and farmers satisfaction after applying the E-Extension. The results showed that providing the agriculture extension using mobile application, compared to the typical extension, showed increase of farmers satisfaction level of 54.3% within between 2019 and 2021 and increased the percentage of farmers engagement dramatically by 160.7%. In addition, the application proves its economic value and lowered the cost by 86%.