FAO said in a news release that the speed of communication and accuracy of the global positioning system (GPS) function integrated on mobile phones is of great advantage for farmers who are increasingly using this technology.

“FAO and partners are piggy-backing on this enormous uptake of mobile phone technology for uses in reporting animal disease outbreaks, tracking vaccination campaigns and the delivery of veterinary treatments, such as de-worming animals,” said FAO’s Assistant Representative for Programme Implementation in the country, Robert Allport.

Three out of four people have a mobile phone in Kenya and while only a third of Kenyans have access to the Internet, 99 per cent of this comes from mobile phones.

Mr. Allport said the widespread adoption of this technology has revolutionized the livestock sector, as up until five years ago veterinarians had to travel to remote locations to record data and then again to process the paperwork.

“Cellular phones eliminate delays in receiving field data, since all the information is relayed via the mobile network,” Mr. Allport said.

FAO recently partnered with the Royal Veterinary College and Vetaid, local non-governmental organization, to support the testing of EpiCollect, a mobile phone application that helps track animal vaccination and treatment campaigns.

The application would allow users to access and monitor vaccination data in real-time, and could potentially be made available not just to veterinarians but to animal health workers and village elders.

FAO has also developed an information system to display data on disease outbreaks that would allow for an early warning system to isolate infected animals and prevent the death of tens of thousands of livestock. The system, known as EMPRES-i will be tested in Uganda this year.

“The FAO EMPRES-i system is truly a global public good, and our reporting and response times are being constantly improved, now thanks to incredible technology,” said Juan Lubroth, FAO’s Chief Veterinary Officer. “Prevention, preparedness and early response are powerful concepts that when translated into tools can be effectively used against infectious diseases, thereby safeguard people’s livelihoods, fend off hunger and, in some cases, human illness,” he added.

In addition, FAO has partnered with Oxfam and Nokia to monitor water points in pastoralist areas as an early warning indicator for drought in Kenya and Ethiopia, and is assessing how mobile technology can be used to better link livestock producers with markets and livestock traders.

“Traders won’t travel to a remote area to purchase animals unless they have a guarantee that they will be able to buy a minimum number of animals. Otherwise, the expense of making the trip isn’t worthwhile,” Mr. Allport said. “But if sellers at market can relay information to a central point about how many animals they have, where and at what price, then the market functions more efficiently and pricing becomes more transparent. They can also collectively bargain for better prices.”

The number of mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, both pre-paid and post-paid, has grown from fewer than 1 billion in 2000 to over 6 billion now, of which nearly 5 billion are in developing countries. Ownership of multiple subscriptions is becoming increasingly common, suggesting that their number will soon exceed that of the human population.

The report, Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile, says more than 30 billion mobile applications, or “apps,” were downloaded in 2011 – software that extends the capabilities of phones, for instance to become mobile wallets, navigational aids or price comparison tools.

This trend is also benefiting developing countries where people are increasingly using mobile phones to create new livelihoods and enhance their lifestyles, while governments are using them to improve service delivery and citizen feedback mechanisms.

“Mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human and economic development – from providing basic access to health information to making cash payments, spurring job creation, and stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes,” says World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.

She adds that the challenge now is “to enable people, businesses, and governments in developing countries to develop their own locally-relevant mobile applications so they can take full advantage of these opportunities.”

This new report, the third in the World Bank’s series on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development, analyzes the growth and evolution of mobile telephony, and the rise of data-based services, including apps, delivered to handheld devices.

The report explores the consequences for development of the emerging “app economy,” especially in agriculture, health, financial services and government, and how it is changing approaches to entrepreneurship and employment.

For Tim Kelly, lead ICT policy specialist at the World Bank and one of the authors of the report, “The mobile revolution is right at the start of its growth curve: mobile devices are becoming cheaper and more powerful while networks are doubling in bandwidth roughly every 18 months and expanding into rural areas.”

“We have included the latest available data and indicators for the mobile sector for more than 150 economies in the report,” explains Shaida Badiee, director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group, adding that, “the spread of mobile phones means we now have data that can be used for cross-country comparisons.”

The report emphasizes the role of governments in enabling mobile application development. In the agriculture sector, for instance, many of the mobile services that are being developed – such as information services for Senegalese farmers or a traceability scheme for coffee-growers in Colombia – are reliant on public funding and are still in pilot stages.

“Government support is needed to develop sound business models, foster ICT skills, and ensure that the infrastructure is in place and affordable,” explains Kelly.

The study also highlights how mobile innovation labs – shared spaces for training developers and incubating start-ups – can help bring new apps to market. For instance, infoDev, in collaboration with the Government of Finland and Nokia, has established five regional mobile innovation labs (mLabs) in Armenia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam.

As the government continues to ban many forms of social media and foreign reporters from entering Syria, the people of Syria still find ways to get their stories out. The mobile phone has proven highly effective in fueling the Syrian uprising. In a repressive country like Syria, cell phones can enable protesters to communicate, rally support for uprisings and film events of the revolution making its users what are often referred to as citizen journalists.

Many still remember the 1982 Hama massacre, when there was no such a thing as citizen journalism and social media networks, the government killed 10.000-40,000 according to Amnesty international in a few weeks. It also managed to hide the massacre from the world for a long period of time.

But this is no longer possible. It’s been almost ten months since the “Arab Spring” fever hit Syria and the same government is reported to have killed more than 5,250 people, a number far lower than the 1982 death toll. They carried forward the rallying cry into Syria last March, using mobiles to document their own protests and inspire an ever-growing number of Syrians to join the movement. In Syria’s case the mobile might indeed be mightier than the gun; only the process seems bloodier.

Through the use of mobile phones Syrians have risked their lives to film crackdowns on protesters by the government’s armed and security forces. The images of tortured and mutilated bodies have undoubtedly made their contribution in heavily censored Syria as they provide some of the only images of the struggle there. These videos are uploaded on websites such as Facebook and YouTube to keep the world informed of events during this difficult time in many parts of the country. In fact, according to a study conducted by the World Bank mobile phones appear as the most predominant and most rapidly growing form of communication in developing economies throughout the world. This is mainly due to its vast network, its ubiquity and to inexpensive mobile service in emerging countries.

And while smartphones like the iPhone may be another hot topic, they are out of the economic reach of most due to their high cost. The Syrian opposition has launched an iPhone app called Souria Wa Bas which roughly translates to Syria and that’s all to disseminate news and information according to Mobile online Portal. This application broadcasts breaking news, videos, photos and even jokes about the incumbent regime. This application is not likely meant to reach only the people in Syria but also people abroad. Shortly after this application was released, the German Association Press reported that the Syrian government had banned the use and import of iPhones in Syria.

Mobile technology is providing opposition groups a unique and unprecedented opportunity to disseminate news and propaganda about their cause, something that previously would have been crushed by government censors.