The Food and Agriculture sector is going through a major transition as it focuses on developing food systems fit for the future and as the industry shifts from producing more food to better food.
In this shift from volumes to values, technology will play a critical role. However, technology needs to be considered in a broader context as a means to an end rather than the next shiny object. There are many applications for technology, especially in a sector like agri-business which has been lagging in terms of technology adoption.
It is therefore fundamental to understand the problems we are trying to solve to identify the right solutions and create them for the right price.
There are high expectations around blockchain. Its capabilities in terms of security and trustworthiness make it an ideal technology to develop certain solutions, for instance in traceability and data-protection through the supply chain.
On the other hand, there are several other technologies that can create real solutions; from self-sovereign identities (SSI) to develop digital IDs for farmers; from AI to manage trade flows to elaborate satellite imagery to monitor crops; and from Machine Learning to support lending decisions to web-based solutions providing price transparency to farmers.
In a recent panel organized by the ITC on how digital technologies empower African agri-business Stefano Rettore highlighted that one thing farmers have in common is that they are quick to adopt technology when the benefits are tangible. It is therefore critical to stay close to farmers and understand that their needs are different depending on their business model – it is not the same to develop a solution for a large-scale farmer in Mato Grosso, Brazil, or for a small-holder farmer in Pune, India.
As he put it “there needs to be a customer intimacy at a business development level”.
African agriculture can expand significantly by adopting technologies that facilitate the ability to deliver information about farming best practices (more yields, less inputs) or to create more price transparency (disintermediation, more income) while blockchain can be the technology for certain commodities such as the coffee supply chain where consumers are requiring more and more visibility of the sourcing of the product.
Most importantly small-holder farmers in Africa can get significant benefits from getting access to connectivity. However, limited access and high data costs are a major impediment to truly leverage the power of technology.
Applying tech in the right way will help large farmers stay competitive and meet sustainability requirements as well as supporting smallholder farmers in the move from subsistence to commercial farming, while also enabling the transition from more to better food.