- Availability of mobile phones, internet increasing agriculture digitization.
- Smallholder farmers still lag in adapting digital solutions in farming.
- Policymakers urged to prioritize digitalization interventions for smallholder farmers.
Across Africa, a new era of agriculture is unfolding, driven by the rise of farming AI (artificial intelligence)—a powerful tool that promises to revolutionize food production and meet the demands of a growing population. Increasingly, farming Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ‘future present’ of agriculture development as rising number of smallholder farmers in Africa adopt various digital solutions to increase productivity.
In a recent research that looked into rural farmers’ experiences and attitudes toward digital tools and services in Africa, the findings show that the trend is less than promising, comparatively speaking.
“We like to look at how the adoption and application of digital services, and digital solutions directly and/or indirectly to agricultural processes and how farmers are fairing, if at all,” explains Abdul-Rahim Abdulai a researcher and co-author of the report “Is agricultural digitization a reality among smallholder farmers in Africa?“
The research looks at farmers’ adaptation of all and any form of digital technology, that is hardware, software, data and so on.
The experts note that agriculture digitalization includes direct or indirect use of simple digital devices such as phones, computers, radios, and tablets among others. “Agricultural digitalization also includes use of more advanced digital hardware like drone, satellite/GIS, field sensors, machinery sensors as well as portable soil/crop/input diagnostics precision systems,” Abdulai details.
He said agriculture digitization includes leveraging simple as well as more advanced digital hardware and software the likes of data capture tools, field agent management tools, data analytics tools, and blockchain platforms.
“It also involves the use of data like farmer registries, farmer transactions, soil maps, weather, pest and disease surveillance that are used to create solutions/services that enhance agri-food processes,” the research notes.
With increasing availability of mobile phones, the internet, ″and emerging technologies such as big data analytics, blockchain, drones, satellite imagery, AI, machine learning, and remote sensing means that these new tools can and should be integrated into farming systems.”
With this definition, the report poses the question, are African smallholder farmers adopting agricultural digital solutions/services? Other than this overarching study objective, the research looked to answer key digital uptake questions?
- What are the characteristics of farmers who use digital agricultural services
- How do these farmers interact with digital agricultural services?
- What digital hardware/tools are the smallholder farmers using?
- What are the characteristics of the farmers who use these tools?
- How do smallholder farmers perceive digitalization? And so on.
By pursuing these questions, the research revealed a worrying state of affairs. For instance, it established that; “farmer engagements with digitalization are minimal and driven mainly by NGOs rather than the deliberate drive of farmers.”
The survey sought to gain insight “which will allow policymakers to situate digitalization discourses and interventions within the context of smallholder farmers.” It also sheds light to a silver lining “the trend is only expected to grow as access to the internet, and mobile technologies continue to develop.”
Another positive aspect that was revealed is that; “about 96.2 per cent (of farmers) believed digitalization was good for smallholder agriculture and 81 per cent believed digital solutions and services could be the way forward and the future of farming in the area.”
“Ultimately, 91.69 per cent of farmers indicated their readiness to join digital services if the necessary conditions were favourable,” the report notes.
However, it points out that these positive perceptions are in direct contrast to the low usage of available digital solutions/services. Overall, the research calls for the sensitivity of digitalization efforts to the realities of rural farmers and African people, report author Abdulai states.
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Farming AI: Helping African farmers go digital
As highlighted by the report, digitalization of agriculture encompasses applying digital tools and systems to aid agriculture practices and processes. These innovations are applied directly and/or indirectly to agriculture production systems.
It gives examples such as the use of drones for spraying chemicals, adoption of blockchain-driven traceability solutions and application of mobile weather advisories. For instance, mobile phone usage remains one of the commonest forms of smallholders’ engagement in the digital space.
“Majority of the farmers used feature phones because these are the cheapest, easiest to operate at their skill levels, and they are also easily accessible in the African market,” states co-author Philip Tetteh Quarshie.
While there is considerably fast growth in access to smartphones and internet penetration, Quarshie says; “Poor networks in communities explained why Wi-Fi usage was almost non-existent beyond a few educated and affluent farmers who settled in rural areas after spending time in urban areas.”
Also, worth noting, when it comes to use of mobile phones (features and smartphones) for farming activities, according to the report, here are the numbers: Female farmers (81.5 per cent), farmers aged 25–40 years (81.9 per cent), farmers with less than five acres (82.5 per cent), subsistence farmers (79.3 per cent), mixed farmers (89.3 per cent), farmers associated with farmer groups (85.7 per cent) and have access to extension (86.4 per cent).
“The typical farmer who uses digital technologies is a male aged between 25 and 40 years with incomplete basic education and practices mixed farming at a subsistence level,” the report reveals.
It also describes this farmer as one who is likely to be associated with a community/farm group and also has access to extension services.
“The common purpose of using mobile phones was to conduct mobile money transactions,” the report says.
Other uses included connection with extension agents, sourcing weather information, inquiries on prices and selling of farm produce.
“Likewise, the sourcing of weather information was essential to many farmers with concerns about climatic changes in recent times, the report says.
It should also be noted that, even with ownership of mobile phones, “farmers in the rural communities held strong connections with peers and constantly connected with them via face-to-face interactions since communities are closely knitted,” the report says.
It reveals several reasons informing the low uptake of digital solutions by African farmers, including:
- Low competencies,
- High cost of services,
- Poor network in their communities,
- Lack of interest in trying anything new,
- Skepticism surrounding service providers, and
- Farmers lack of participation in community group activities.
In conclusion, the report says “the results showed that most smallholders could not even access the Internet or smartphones nor have the essential digital competencies to use such systems.”
It also uncovers a grave misconception; “Remarkably, the literature promoting digital agriculture grossly overestimates farmers’ readiness,” says the report.
“The basic building blocks, which include access to digital tools, enabling digital infrastructure, supporting social infrastructure, digital literacy among farmers and extension officers, are too lacking at present for any meaningful engagement nor transformative impacts,” the researchers conclude.
