"This study has identified myriad potential benefits of AI and automation solutions in agri-food systems, with the largest being significant enhancements in agricultural productivity and outputs. Data collected from sensors, satellites, or drones can help SSPs prepare and use their available land op
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timally. Data-generated insights can identify which farm areas are most suited to which crops, and automated input provision like automated irrigation systems can optimize resource use. AI and automation solutions can also improve extension advisory services, resulting in better, more contextualized and real-time advice for farmers, improving yields. Other solutions can predict, identify and mitigate against pests and diseases to reduce spoilage. Enhancing the improved productivity of SSPs is critical for global food security, and the economic and social empowerment of SSPs and the communities in which they live." (Executive summary, page 8)
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"A study commissioned and funded by the South African Department of Arts and Culture. It comprises an investigation of the factors that affect the cost of books in South Africa, conducted in order to identify possible ways in which government, industry members and other stakeholders can work togethe
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r to reduce the cost of books and make books more accessible. The factors that affect the cost of books are dealt with by examining each of the five principal segments of the book value chain separately, namely paper, printing, publishing, distribution, and bookselling, and by furthermore investigating the sector-specific drivers of cost in the following three book market segments: (1) Educational books, comprising books used in primary and secondary education, i.e. books for [South African] Grades 1 - 12; (2) Academic books aimed at the tertiary education sector; and, (3) Trade books, which include both fiction and non-fiction books aimed at the general market." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 1076)
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