Embracing technology for reshaping agriculture across Africa

Technology is not just confined to ICT services, it is interlinked with something that can act as a game changer to outplay the traditional tools employed in the sector.

Agriculture is the backbone of the African economy and is a critical factor to accomplish sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Africa, most particularly poverty and hunger. At present, farming accounts for about 60 percent of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa and is also a driver of inclusive and sustainable growth.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that the world population will reach 9.1 billion by 2050, and to feed that number of people, global food production will need to grow by 70 percent. In Africa, to have a population of about two billion people by then, farm productivity needs to be accelerated at a faster rate than the global average to avoid continued mass hunger.

Technology has a vast untapped potential to revolutionize and improve the efficiency of agricultural production in the continent. Technology is not just confined to ICT services, but it's interlinked with something that can act as a game changer to outplay the traditional tools employed in the sector.

It is interesting to see how the latest technological advancements are being leveraged upon to reshape the agricultural landscape in Africa.

Nuru, an innovative talking app developed and launched by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization and Pennsylvania State University, helps African farmers in recognizing the Fall Armyworm so that they can take immediate steps to destroy it and curb its spread. The app uses cutting-edge technologies involving machine learning and artificial intelligence. It runs on a standard Android platform with offline working as well. African farmers are often unable to recognize the Fall Armyworm which causes substantial crop losses in Sub Saharan Africa. Nuru immediately confirms the damage to crops by holding an android phone with App installed next to an infested plant.

(Video Credit: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

m-Omulimisa provides real-time farming information and solutions using local languages to farmers, agricultural extension officers, agricultural enterprises, and initiatives in Uganda.

Selina Wamucii, a mobile-driven business to business sourcing platform for fresh produce from African farmers, has been designed by a Nairobi based company. This platform uses technology to shorten and transform the supply chain and makes sourcing of fresh produce from smallholder farmers profitable by meeting the market demand.

Esoko, a mobile and web-based tool for data collection tool, provides an information and communication service platform for agricultural markets in Africa. It is an SMS/voice-based communication platform for farmer management with an electronic mobile extension and web app.

Wefarm, being free peer-to-peer service, enables farmers to share information via SMS, without the internet fetching crowd-sourced answers from other farmers around the world.

Zenvus, as an intelligent electronics sensor, measures, and analyses soil data such as temperature, nutrients and vegetative health to help farmers apply the right fertilizer and optimally irrigate their farms.

(Video Credit: Zenvus)

UjuziKilimo designed by a Kenyan start-up uses sensor technology with big data analytics capabilities to transform farmers into a knowledge-based community, with the goal of improving productivity through precision insights.

M-Farm provides pricing data to remove price asymmetry between farmers and buyers, making it possible for farmers to earn more. It connects smallholder African farmers with urban and export markets via SMS and a web-enabled marketplace.

Farmerline and AgroCenta utilize mobile and web technologies that bring farming advice, weather forecasts, market information, and financial tips to farmers, who are traditionally out of reach, due to barriers in connectivity, literacy, or language. It provides real-time market information across major markets to smallholder farmers through SMS.

Sokopepe uses messaging services and web tools to offer market information and farm record management services to farmers.

Farmdrive uses mobile phones, alternative data and machine learning to close the critical data gap that prevents financial institutions from lending to creditworthy smallholder farmers.

CoCo, a standalone application from Digital Green, allows users to collect and visualize crucial insights anytime, anywhere, on any device regardless of network connectivity.

AgroSpaces, an information system platform, links farmers and agriculture stakeholders to ease the sharing of agricultural techniques, advice, and tips. It uses artificial intelligence to help farmers sell in a smart way by matching their products based on buyers' interest and a chatbot using machine learning to help farmers access to weather and market information.

SunCulture, designed by a Nairobi based company, is an entirely solar-powered drip irrigation system. The kit combines solar water pumping technology with high-efficiency drip irrigation and has developed a novel and unique product that simplifies farming and increases crop yields.

(Video Credit: SunCulture)

Hello Tractor, a farm equipment sharing application used by farmers and tractor owners, provides tractor management and service booking solution for smarter, better maintained, and more profitable tractors.

Drone technology or the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being tested or used on a local scale for agriculture. For instance, the EU-funded Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA with 79 countries across Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and EU Member states has supported activities related to use of Agricultural drones allowing farmers to detect weeds and diseased crops, gauge post-disaster damage, and estimate how much fertilizer they need to use.

Further, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations launched four new apps in 2017 available in local contents to help farmers have better agricultural services. These Apps are:

• Cure and Feed your Livestock app that provides real-time on animal disease and feeding strategies.
• e-Nutrifood provides information on the production, conservation, and consumption of nutritious foods.
• Weather and Crop Calendar combines information about weather forecasts and crop calendars, providing users with potential risks in and help increase farmer's resilience.
• AgriMarketplace connects producers and traders to facilitate price access and ease of trades.

Despite challenges faced by agriculture in Africa, technology offers a huge potential to bring about a new era of African agriculture. Africa has begun the race for a technology-led transformation of the agriculture sector and as technology improves and availability increases, disruption in agriculture will open up new possibilities for farmers across the continent.