I’ve written numerous times over the past few years about the significant digital innovation unfolding in the agricultural sector. From drones to big data, exponents promise to transform the sector, making it more efficient and sustainable. As with other sectors, however, new research from the University of British Columbia highlights how the digital transformation of agriculture is far from evenly spread across the sector.
The research highlights that many of the 500 million smallholder farmers around the world still adopt largely analog methods, and therefore miss out on the potential benefits digital technology can bring them, whether in terms of identifying and eradicating pests, getting accurate weather forecasts, or negotiating better prices in the market.
The researchers suggest that poor or inconsistent network coverage is often the reason. For instance, in Mexico, they highlight that just 25% of farming households even have internet access. In sub-Saharan Africa, this figure is below 40%.
“There’s an assumption that we’re going to be able to target everyone with these new technologies and everyone is going to be able to benefit,” the researchers explain.
Digital divide
This digital divide also existed according to the size of the farm. For instance, just 24-37% of farms smaller than one hectare had network connectivity globally, versus 80% for farms greater than 200 hectares.
The researchers found that getting connected for many poor rural farmers could consume the majority of their household budget, which makes any kind of digital investments prohibitive.
“The study points to the need not only to expand coverage but vastly reduce the costs to make it affordable,” the researchers say. “We need to consider digital connectedness as a basic need, and design next-generation innovations to work in every corner of Africa.”
Coverage gaps
The study also revealed clear coverage gaps in areas that suffered from low yields and operated in arid environments. The researchers believe such areas would significantly benefit from a more data-driven approach, but such methods are beyond them due to technology shortages. Similar gaps appeared in areas beset by food insecurity and diseases such as malaria, which highlights the vulnerability of those in most risk.
“This lack of coverage for at-risk populations poses serious concern for responding to food security and health impacts of emerging diseases including COVID-19. This lack of coverage is more problematic today than ever before,” the researchers explain.
As such, they urge governments, businesses, and development agencies to work to close the digital divide and ensure that farmers of all kinds have the digital infrastructure they need to work as effectively as possible.
“There’s a lot of 5G coming online. If access is not addressed at lower-end technologies, this is only going to aggravate the divide and create more inequality,” they conclude.
