Agriculture
How Tech and Agriculture can Help Africa’s Pandemic Recovery By Quartz Africa
AGRICULTURE IS A PILLAR of Africa’s economy, with the continent heavily dependent on the sector. It contributes 23% of the continent’s GDP and 49% of employment in the continent. But the covid-19 pandemic has disrupted agricultural activity in the continent with considerable effect, as smallholder farmers, who contribute most of the food supply, face movement restrictions, reductions in people’s purchasing power, and other factors. The pandemic has strained Africa’s food systems and economies at large. A new report concludes that youth engagement in agriculture will be essential to the continent recovering from the economic impacts of the pandemic. It highlights the need for investments to stimulate access to innovations to encourage young Africans to embrace agriculture to generate jobs and repair food systems hit by the pandemic. The report is by the US-based nonprofit Heifer International, which works to eradicate poverty and hunger through agriculture. Researchers surveyed 29,900 youth, 299 smallholder farmers, and 110 agriculture technology startups, innovation hubs, and technology organizations across 11 African countries. The Heifer International survey found that 40% of agriculture organizations in the research were forced to close at least temporarily due to the pandemic, 38% experienced a reduction in average purchase amount per customer, and 36% still do not have the financial capital to grow back their businesses. Fourteen percent of respondents said technology barriers have had a detrimental effect on farmer productivity. But the report finds hope in the youth and tech as the survey found that many entrepreneurs are 40
November-December 2021
developing useful agri-tech tools and services for smallholder farmers in the continent. They are using artificial intelligence, remote sensing, geographic information software, virtual reality, drones, application programming interfaces es and other technology gy to boost agricultural al productivity and profits. Africa has a burgeoning g agri-tech scene. Agri-tech h startups raised $60 million n in 2020, representing g 8.6% of the total funding g secured by tech startupss in the continent last year, according to Disrupt Africa, a website that provides startup funding data. Hello Tractor, an example of an agritech company in the continent, provides an application that enables farmers to book tractors and another for remote fleet management. The company operates in 13 African countries. ounttri ries es. “The vision is to continue to support our growers earn higher yields, higher productivity through mechanization,” its founder, Jehiel Oliver, told Quartz. “And ultimately, we wanna see Africa and all the countries become thriving economies built on its most important industry, which is agriculture.” DAWN
www.africabusinessassociation.org
