The SolarSPELL Agriculture Library Collection offers educational resources for adults working in the agriculture industry — particularly rural farmers, agricultural extension workers and agricultural students at the university level. This particular collection serves a wide variety of adult audiences and covers general agricultural topics relevant to a global, non-U.S. audience. Some topics included in the general agricultural library include Conservation Agriculture; information on various crops, pests and diseases; coffee farming; livestock care and management; and rural income generation practices. This library collection provides training materials for agricultural extension workers to help teach farmers, basic practical guides and videos for rural farmers; and research articles and technical manuals for extension workers and agriculture university students.
Climate change threatens the livelihoods of the 60% of the world's population that relies on farming to survive; in order to adapt, they need the latest information on climate-smart and Conservation Agriculture techniques. The SolarSPELL Agriculture Library Collection serves the extension agents who support rural farmers, providing localized farming information aimed at increasing food security and agricultural productivity.
What's in our Agriculture Collection?
General topics
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Animal husbandry resources on fodder production, poultry, rodents, pigs, bovines, beekeeping, fisheries and paravet training
Informational resources on the characteristics of coffee, coffee plant nurseries, pests and disease control, production practices, patio drying and wet mill
Resources on using the SolarSPELL library, digital literacy, news literacy, using technology and Peace Corps training materials
Resources on agroforestry, climate-smart practices, irrigation and water conservation, gardening practices and soil fertility management
Informational materials on food production, storage and nutrition, as well as resources in local languages
Community health resources on COVID-19, disabilities, disaster preparedness, hygiene and food safety, infectious and non-infectious diseases, and first aid
Resources on maize production practices, pests and diseases
Resources on characteristics and needs of different crops, as well as pest and disease identification and control
Resources on business management, marketable crop products, microfinance, entrepreneurial management, women in agriculture and postharvest practices
Featured learning modules
Agriculture extension agents and farmers can also access a series of interactive learning modules to further advance their skills. By using Kiwix software to make online content available offline, we’re able to provide multimedia educational content from our partners at Infonet Biovision, e-Hinga and Foundations for Farming that looks and feels like being online.
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e-Hinga
The e-Hinga module is a comprehensive agricultural extension information system that is designed to offer up-to-date information regarding various crops grown across Sub-Saharan Africa. This module provides highly synthesized crop profiles in both English and Kinyarwanda, designed for easy access by farmers and other users.
Foundations for Farming
This module contains learning materials and interactive lessons covering Foundations for Farming’s world renowned Conservation Agriculture curriculum.
Infonet Biovision
Infonet, a channel of the Biovision Farmer Communication Programme (FCP), provides scientific, practical, validated information and knowledge related to plant, animal, human and environmental health. The resource gives farmers, trainers, students and extension workers quick access to up-to-date and locally relevant agricultural information and related topics.
Related projects
SolarSENSE
The SolarSENSE project brings big data insights to smallholder farmers to provide them with real-time soil health data quickly, simply, and cost effectively. SolarSENSE harnesses data from both satellite imaging and from off-grid soil sensors to capture crucial information relevant to local agricultural production. The SolarSENSE approach uses a solar powered data collection hub to capture in-field sensor data, processes it, and present results to a farmer on a smartphone, with links to actionable (localized) content in an offline agricultural digital library–which is housed in the same data collection hub that processes the in-field data (the SolarSPELL agricultural library).
By providing real-time data from solar powered soil sensors within the farmer’s field and pairing it with SolarSPELL’s offline digital Agriculture Library Collection, farmers will have access to relevant information regarding climate-smart agricultural interventions. This information can be contextually applied to increase crop yield, reduce farmer vulnerability, and mitigate climate impacts.
Featured content partners
