One of the agreements reached at the World Economic Forum annual meetings held in Davos recently, was the need for governments across the world to take agriculture seriously to ensure sustainable supply of food for the growing mass of people in the world.
Majority of the poor people in the world reside in rural areas, with agriculture as their main source of livelihood. For instance, In Africa, over 80 per cent of our farmers are smallholders and they produce 70 per cent of the continent’s food.
Developing the potential through technology to increase the productivity and incomes for smallholders crop production systems will be the basis to achieving global food security in the coming years as traditional methods of farming continually proves insufficient to meet this increased demand for food.
Here are five technologies with potentials to connect smallholder farmers to new resources, information, knowledge and markets.
- The Internet
Internet is today one of the most important parts our daily life. The internet does not only make our tasks easier but also saves a lot of time. A United Nations report reveals that 55 per cent of the world’s people remain offline and are unable to take advantage of the enormous economic and social benefits the internet can offer. Also large majority of smallholder farmers live in remote areas, where good, fast internet connectivity reaches less than 30 per cent of the population.
Increased internet connectivity will help farmers access vital information on how to operate more efficiently , equipment purchases, ensure high crop yields, soil mapping, plant health and effective farm animal management.
- Mobile devices and platforms
It is becoming increasingly apparent that cash payment schemes are archaic in the 21st century. Mobile payment to farmers can be economically viable for value chains with expected and high volume transactional activity. Through mobile devices and platforms, farmers would have greater safety and security because they would no longer have to carry large amounts of cash after selling their harvest.
More so, majority of smallholder farmers especially those in the rural areas are illiterates and unaccustomed with the numerous forms required to open bank accounts, which most times are not even located close to them. When these farmers are properly trained on how to make use of mobile financial services, it would serve the entire financial needs for them including expenses for agricultural inputs which would later lead to high productivity.
- Electricity
According to the World Bank, there about 1.3 billion people without reliable power sources globally, most of them in Africa and Asia. This translates into 600 million people – 70 percent of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa – without electricity, which is critical in powering water supplies, telecommunication services amongst others. Electricity is central to the broader development of agriculture anywhere in the world. Without stable electricity, it is unlikely for the agricultural sector to experience a significant development.
With constant electricity supply, smallholder farmers can run cleaner irrigation systems, use processing machines, improved efficiencies in land preparation, planting and harvesting. All of these would massive increase their yields and income.
- Unique identifiers
A unique identifier (UID) is a numeric or alphanumeric string that is associated with a single entity within a given system.
UIDs are already in use in developed countries and it plays a vital role in the lives of people. For example, when you log on to Amazon.com, the site knows who you are and what you have bought before. Unique identifiers, along with satellite imaging technology, would enable relevant agricultural agencies to collect data about farmers; where they live, how much land they cultivate, what they grow, what inputs they use, how much they yield, etc. For instance, the eWallet system in Nigeria has enabled the government to identify and deliver input subsidies directly to farmers based on personal and biometric information provided by smallholder farmers.
For unique identifiers to improve farmers’ lives, data systems must be able to guarantee that data remains anonymous for the privacy and security of individuals. And with more than 40 million transactions through the mobile wallet system in just two years, it’s clear that smallholder farmers anywhere can adopt digital financial services more broadly.
- Geospatial analysis
It is a farming concept that utilizes geographical information to determine field variability to ensure optimal use of inputs and maximize the output from a farm. Large tracts of land usually have spatial variations of soils types, moisture content, and nutrient availability and so on.
If smallholders farmers adopt the use of Geospatial analysis, it would enable them generate up to date aerial and satellite photographs of their farm during different periods of the year or seasons. With this information, the farmer is able to determine the productivity of different management zones. At the same time, the growth and yield patterns of different zones within the farm can also be identified.
Although some of these technologies are still relatively new and may be alien to smallholder farmers, it is therefore imperative for government, and relevant agencies to ensure they are not left behind in this global trend. This is necessary, as digital infrastructure remains a crucial tool for smallholder farmers to access and create tools that empower them to make decisions about their farms and businesses.
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