Can you imagine farmers in the field putting down their sickles, and picking up their smart phones?

It’s happening. Mobile phones, internet cafés and sophisticated satellite devices are now literally everywhere. Communication technology is unlocking the food security puzzle – improving yields, productivity and incomes for farmers around the world.

Most of us are familiar with remote switches from using a TV remote to turn on the set from the couch across the room. Nano Ganesh works in a similar way. It allows farmers across India to use their mobile phones to remotely switch irrigation pumps on and off. This means that farmers do not have to travel for miles just to turn on a water pump, nor do they have to stay on the farm for hours until irrigation is complete.

Ever been on eBay? If so, you know how easy it is to sell things online. eChoupal kiosks are based on a similar concept. More than 6,500 of these kiosks have been set up throughout rural India, each with a computer and internet access. Farmers can find the latest market information and directly negotiate the sale of their crops online. This eliminates the middlemen who often use unscientific means to judge the price of a product and take an unfair share of the profits for themselves.

The rapid spread of modern communication technology isn’t happening just in India, it’s a reality throughout the rest of the world as well.

In Mongolia, a rural communications infrastructure allows herders to better manage their livestock via cell phones, satellite telephones, and broadband internet centres.  In Sri Lanka, the mobile phone application, eDairy, allows dairy farmers to share information to better manage their herds.

Modernizing agriculture can be as simple as a mobile phone application,or a text message announcing the daily weather forecast. Do you have an idea for a mobile app, or another way to make agriculture easier, more profitable or less risky for the rural poor? Talk to us on Twitter, and post your ideas on our Facebook page.