Africa needs digital innovation to transform agric, rural areas – report

Africa needs digital innovations to transform its rural areas and agriculture to tackle youth unemployment, food insecurity and drive economic growth, says a new report

The report on’ Policy Innovation for Transforming Africa’s Food System with Digital Technologies,’ says that around 60 percent of African population is under the age of 24 and that one in four Africans remains food insecure – the highest rate globally.

“These conditions present a perfect opportunity for digital agriculture to scale up across rural Africa,” Joachim von Braun, a professor and co-chair of the Malabo Montpellier Panel study said.

“It is the many emerging digital tools targeting agriculture and services that will generate attractive jobs on the continent in coming decades,” he said.

The report calls for investments in infrastructure to bridge the urban-rural digital divide, including connections to the electrical grid, reliable telecommunications and internet connection.

It also recommends the establishment of digital innovation hubs as well as fiscal incentives, including lower import duties initially, to facilitate market entry and the import of technologies until local markets are developed. These include long-term finance, affordable (mobile) internet, fair competition standards, and lower overall prices for consumers.

 The report urges African leaders to place digitalization at the core of national agricultural development policies and public investment plans.

Also, the report called for a transparent regulatory environment to promote further adoption of digital technologies and services while balancing the free-flow of data and information with privacy policies.

 “Digitalization done smartly and at scale offers the opportunity for African countries to overcome the many infrastructural, institutional and technological obstacles that have hampered growth and transformation of the agricultural and rural economy,” said Ousmane Badiane, another co-chair of the Malabo Montpellier Panel.

“It would otherwise take generations and substantial investments to overcome the above obstacles – time and money that countries do not have.”

“Digital technologies can be deployed to upgrade skills, deliver services, connect business to reach a critical mass of operators across widely dispersed geographic areas in much shorter time and at lower cost,” Badiane added.

One area that the report flagged as lacking in digital innovation is post-harvest losses. This is a crucial issue in Africa’s agricultural value chain, which the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates at as high as 37 per cent of total production.

The report also warns that Africa needs to tackle the IT skills and digital literacy gap, especially amongst farmers, extension agents and e-agriculture entrepreneurs. If not addressed, these could limit the region’s efforts to contributing to or leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution at the expense of the agriculture sector.

Benefits of digitalization are already being seen across much of the agricultural value chain, from providing access to information and other services including finance all the way to improving links to markets, the report said.

It added that the technologies can include blockchain, Big Data, robotics, and the Internet of Things, as well as more low-tech and frugal innovations.

Josephine Okojie