Agriculture is a vital aspect of human civilisation that profoundly influences societies, economies, and cultures globally.
Agricultural practices have significantly advanced throughout history owing to improved tools and techniques, irrigation systems, and crop rotation knowledge.
Consequently, over time, agriculture has evolved with modern farming practices, technology, and education in soil science and smart agriculture, aiming to increase food production.
Today, the agricultural sector is highly diverse and dynamic, adapting to changing environments, economic factors, and social factors to effectively meet the needs of the rapidly growing population.
Africa’s agritech potential is immense. Agriculture can help solve various issues, including food security, poverty reduction, and economic transformation. However, technology is needed to revolutionise agriculture and solve farming and agricultural challenges.
Revolutionising Africa’s agritech potential
Agricultural technology encompasses various advanced solutions that leverage cutting-edge science and innovative engineering to optimise crop yields, reduce waste, and enhance sustainability across the agricultural value chain.
In Africa, agritech is a potent catalyst for the continent’s agricultural transformation. Today, Agritech solutions are helping farmers across Africa gain greater control over crop health, make informed decisions, reduce waste, increase productivity, access new markets, obtain financing, and build climate resilience.
Agritech provides real-time data, predictive analytics, and actionable insights to create a more efficient, sustainable, and profitable agricultural system. Thus, the need to adopt new agricultural technologies and trends is high.
Agriculture in Africa is witnessing a paradigm shift propelled by a growing appetite for innovation among farmers and stakeholders. This shift is evident in adopting precision agriculture practices, empowered by increasing access to technology and digital solutions.
Thus, agritech has experienced intense growth due to the increasing demand for food and the scarcity of agricultural resources.
Moreover, the continent is experiencing a surge in public-private partnerships and investments in agritech startups, fostering an ecosystem conducive to growth and innovation.
There’s also a notable emphasis on sustainability and resilience, with technology playing a pivotal role in easing the impacts of climate change and enhancing productivity.
Collaborations between governments, tech companies, and agricultural organizations facilitate developing and deploying innovative solutions tailored to address local challenges.
The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have played a crucial role in driving agritech innovation in Africa.
Can Africa one day help feed the world’s growing population?
Challenges facing agritech in Africa
A report by the World Bank indicates that 60 per cent of the global productive land is in Africa, which is a clear indicator of the continent’s agricultural potential.
However, despite the evident potential, the sector faces challenges ranging from outdated farming techniques to policy and regulatory hurdles, high production costs, and overreliance on food importation.
Africa is poised to become the global center of agri-tech solutions. But the market still needs to be tapped. Agritech startups in Africa have been active for about a decade, although many agricultural subsectors are yet to experience technological transformation.
African agritech has struggled to catch up with other sectors like fintech and commerce. The gap is attributed to farmers’ age, digital literacy, and intense competition from brokers.
Additionally, innovation and the application of technology to improve production, from field monitoring to supply chain, in horticulture and aquaculture yield, efficiency, and profitability have stunted growth.
Language barriers, energy, and cost of adopting agritech
Many small-scale farmers living in rural areas mostly speak their native language, which challenges agritech instructors and trainers who cannot understand those languages. A bigger problem occurs when the training is large-scale and incorporates people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Getting a fixer is usually the alternative, which can be tedious, time-consuming, and expensive.
A report by the African Development Bank (AFDB) shows that 640 million Africans have limited access to power. Many small-scale farmers live in areas where there is limited or no energy at all. Agritech machinery like cold storage units, drones, and automated irrigation all require access to energy. With no energy to power this machinery, farmers are not likely to have any interest in their adoption. Solar power is gaining great traction in Africa. However, since it has not been widespread, its purchase can be expensive for a small-scale farmer.
Another reason for their low adoption rate is the high cost of some agritech products and services. Compared to fintech, ed-tech, or even insure-tech, the agritech space is not highly funded. Many African agritech startups are embryonic and require adequate funding to scale their production.
Additionally, Perishable agricultural products require cold storage units, warehousing, delivery services, and a lot of capital, which most African farmers lack.
Conclusion
The rise of Agritech solutions in Africa has opened significant approaches to transforming agricultural systems and addressing long-standing food security challenges to enhancing economic productivity.
Joint efforts involving African governments, farmers, and Agritech innovators are crucial to effectively expanding these promising yet new agritech solutions. Scaling these solutions requires establishing comprehensive digital infrastructure and development partners to prioritize investments in digital solutions tailored to ease the market and financial problems small-scale farmers face.
Encouraging growth in Africa’s agricultural sector depends on the effectiveness of millions of small-scale farmers in adopting and implementing new technologies.
Additionally, the digital revolution can help Agritech solutions reach small-scale farmers and establish environments conducive to Agritech companies’ thriving, thereby contributing to economic advancement and prosperity.
