While addressing the forum participants - mainly farmers of the Sanaga Maritime, at the opening ceremony, 22 August 2018, ANTIC's Director General, Dr Ebot Ebot Enaw, underlined that the forum provides an opportunity for farmers and start-ups to share experiences with the objective to put in place a digital platform for the development of agriculture with solutions adapted to the realities on the field. It will also enable farmers to transform their activities and boost productivity by using ICTs, he added. He noted that by doing so, they will be valorising and encouraging young developers of innovative digital platforms to create and build businesses in the agricultural sector.

Discussions on the fifteen innovative solutions being explored at the forum are guided by the following themes:

• Drones for improving agriculture;
• Agricultural challenges in urban and semi-urban areas;
• Agricultural performance and web 2.0;
• Digital marketing opportunities for farmers;
• Innovative business models in agriculture;
• Agriculture and artificial intelligence.

In consonant with the forum's theme - "Start-ups at the service of precision agriculture", the technological tools being presented seek to optimise the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural production by providing information on the degree of soil humidity, detection and treatment of farm areas infested by parasites, labour and market opportunities.

With agriculture being the bedrock of Cameroon’s economy, ANTIC is encouraging farmers to exploit these latest ICT innovations in a bid to improve the sector's productivity and meet the increasing needs of food consumers.