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How emerging technologies can boost Africa’s agriculture and agribusiness

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Editor's note:

This commentary is part of the Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution blog series. Read the related book on Africa’s 4IR here.

Today, Botswana is just one example of the many African countries that have set out detailed plans for their economic future centered around the implementation of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies and their potential to improve agricultural yields and open up new industries to move value chains onto the continent.

Partnering with E-Space Africa, Botswana is forging ahead in the agricultural industry, leveraging E-Space’s low Earth orbit and Smart-Internet of Things (IoT) applications to gain real-time data. These data help farmers manage and monitor their crops and advance digital farming innovations. In partnership with the International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) and the Bulgarian space company EnduroSat, Botswana has plans to launch its first satellite in 2025, which will use advanced software and imaging technologies to provide soil and ground data for the country’s mining and agricultural industries.

Current context

In recent years, many African regions have reported unprecedented droughts (Zambia experienced its worst drought in 40 years in 2023, and Southern Africa received less than half of its typical rainfall at the beginning of 2024), extreme weather (exceptional rainfall in Sudan and South Sudan), recurring crop disease, inadequate infrastructure, and extreme temperatures (Africa is warming at a faster rate than the global average). Developing specific blueprints for climate mitigation could help counteract these challenges and reduce impact on agriculture yield. One example is a new climate-smart bean being developed in Kenya, which matures more quickly than traditional bean varieties, making it possible to harvest more per season and avoid losing out on production due to a lack of rain. Between 9-12 bags of beans can be harvested per acre of land, compared to 5-7 with traditional beans, significantly helping Kenya meet annual demand.

Beyond climate change challenges, Africa needs to rapidly ramp up its agricultural production to keep up with its increasing population growth. One in five people in Africa faced hunger in 2023, compared to one in 11 worldwide. By 2030, Africa will be home to one-fifth of the world’s population, and FAO estimates that if current trends continue, Africa will be home to half of the world’s 582 million chronically undernourished people. Africa currently imports $55 billion worth of food annually, which could double to $110 billion by 2030 if agricultural productivity remains the same.

However, 4IR technologies offer an unprecedented opportunity for Africa to overcome these challenges and meet local demand with local production—and ultimately to become a net food exporter, which could bring transformative economic benefits. The African Development Bank recently estimated that Africa’s food and agribusiness industry will be worth an estimated $1 trillion by 2030. In my book, Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution, I argue that African countries can lead the way in the agricultural industry by leveraging 4IR technologies to transform food production and agricultural innovations. 

The transformative impact of 4IR technologies

Artificial intelligence (AI) can play a powerful role in Africa’s agriculture industry, from identifying diseases and pests and reducing costs to analyzing the most efficient way to allocate resources including water, diesel, and fertilizer. Combined with drone technology, AI can help farmers scan vast amounts of land to compile aggregate big data that can be analyzed using AI and IoT,  all of which can reduce costs and inputs while maximizing yields. For example, a South African start-up called Aerobotics allows farmers to receive personalized assistance for optimizing resources and reducing costs. In Botswana, a deep learning agritech solution using drones, satellites, and cameras has been employed to identify pests, detect diseases, and predict soil organic carbon levels.

In East Africa, there are opportunities to use 4IR technologies to leapfrog to new food production methods that minimize the consequences of increasing agricultural inputs such as soil degradation and biodiversity loss, according to Didier Toubia’s article for the World Economic Forum. This can be done by investing in new protein production techniques, including precision fermentation, cellular agriculture, and algal production. The transformative impact of 4IR technologies within the agriculture sector can also reach beyond farmers: Insurance companies can provide better services to farmers through IoT weather tracking, irrigation and water services can use drone images to improve water management systems, and warehouses can use digital records to better track crop storage.

Challenges and strategies

Despite such opportunities for African countries to enhance productivity, advance new industries, and meet local demand with local production by leveraging 4IR technologies, the African agricultural industry faces numerous challenges. High informality in the sector and high rates of small-scale farming make coordinating policies or programs difficult, while infrastructure and human capital deficits limit the impact and spread of innovations within the sector. To overcome these challenges, African countries must focus on a few key actions and strategies for structural transformation to help maximize the impact of 4IR technologies in agriculture.

Forward-looking government strategies should invest in key 4IR enablers and complements such as infrastructure, public agriculture R&D, and supportive regulatory frameworks. If leveraged strategically, 4IR technologies can facilitate the policies, programs, and services needed to overcome challenges in the agriculture industry related to insecure land tenure, for example by using GPS systems or blockchain to register land. 4IR strategies at the national level and enabling regulatory environments should be comprehensive, and should focus on concerns related to the agricultural sector specifically. For example, governments can play a role in reducing the costs of on-farm technology such as sensors and drones, which in turn can help create incentives for future tools to be developed using African data.

As 4IR technologies spread, African countries must cultivate the human capital needed to drive these solutions by promoting open education and collaborative research. Governments should focus their investments on specific fields such as bioprocessing and public health to make sure that countries are ready when new production methods, driven by technological advances, become more cost-effective. Addressing both the supply and demand sides of Africa’s young and growing workforce will be key, including by investing in productive labor, capital, and job creation for small and medium enterprises in the agricultural industry, and investing in jobs further along the agricultural value chain such as processing, logistics, storage, and retail.

African governments should prioritize facilitating partnerships between governments, technology companies, and farmers to promote AI integration, whether through innovation hubs or training and connections for farmers. Specifically, partnerships with remote-sensing experts and agronomists could help guide future training or mentorship opportunities with farmers. Private sector engagement in the industry is still low across Africa, but there is potential to promote new financing opportunities and incentives to bring in private investors. By focusing on including farmers in every step—from initial research to cybersecurity, African governments can make sure that 4IR technologies are embedded within local contexts.

Forward-looking government strategies, human capital, and strategic partnerships are among some of the key components that can make Africa a “science-based agricultural powerhouse” and propel it to the forefront of agricultural exportation while enabling key development outcomes through a strong local food production system. This will not only help Africa overcome its food insecurity challenges and achieve self-reliance, but turn the continent into the world’s breadbasket.

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