THINK SMALL

How Agri-Tech can bridge the gap between subsistence and commercial farming in Iraq?

By Imtiaz Shams, Edited by Skye Pathore

The Covid-19 pandemic shook many long-held complacencies – including proving that oil isn’t a panacea. Oil-rich yet import-heavy countries, such as Iraq, took a hit as wave after wave of global lockdowns led to reduced demand for oil, and a subsequent drop in oil prices and national income. Dips in global trade and supply also shone a light on the importance of food security and self-sufficiency.

Iraq is not the only country stuck between this rock and hard place, but the risks of doing nothing – of not changing to meet this ‘new normal’ – are arguably the greatest. After decades of political conflict, violence, and economic disruption, food poverty is at an all-time high, and vulnerable to further volatility.

Several millennia ago, in the ‘Fertile Crescent’ that stretches in an arc from Mesopotamia in the East to Egypt in the West, humans took their first steps in seed cultivation and developed early farming techniques – making Iraq the birthplace of agriculture. The land produced a bountiful harvest of grains, pulses, dates and vegetables. Today, however, the land does not reflect its rich past. Plagued by war, Iraq’s agriculture and natural environment have been severely damaged. Since 1980, there has been continuous use of damaging military techniques that cause harm indiscriminately and degrade the environment entirely. Agriculture was further stifled by ISIS’s “scorched-earth tactics”. They devastated many rural communities by sabotaging irrigation wells, burning down orchards, laying landmines and destroying agricultural equipment and structures. Now, Covid-19 restrictions and impacts have brought farming to its knees. It contributes 5% of national GDP yet employs 20% of the population – the largest source of employment in the country; yet afflicted by low productivity and low incomes. As with other sectors of the Iraqi economy, agriculture has enjoyed only limited modernisation and automation. Yet, the global surge in agri-tech (or agricultural technology) inventions, innovations, and investment is immense. It’s no longer an emerging trend; companies such as AppHarvest and AeroFarms have gone public and received multi-million or -billion-dollar valuations. The efficacy, availability and affordability of agri-tech has never been greater – so why are Western countries reaping most of the benefits? Where, when and how will these new technologies be used to address the challenges faced by Iraqi farmers?

Before I get into what might be possible - a little about me. I’ve been involved in ‘deep-tech’ for the last 10 years; basically a fancy word for ‘disruptive’. I’ve been involved in building two agri-tech businesses, Earth Rover and FLOX, the latter of which I am now CEO. I’ve seen firsthand how difficult agri-tech can be to commercialise and deploy, even in ‘easy’ markets. In this piece, I hope to identify some challenges in ‘digitalising’ Iraqi farming, and some solutions that are just as unique as its land, recent history and culture.

The first issue is one of scope and scalability. Most agri-tech is designed (and priced) not for smallholders, but massive companies in developed countries with evolved agriculture sectors. Most venture capital funding is directed at the same. Developing nations like Iraq, with a mix of commercial and subsistence farming, are missing out on this boom. How can this be fixed? What could an Iraqi agritech revolution look like? And can it be homegrown – and not, like the food it’s supposed to produce for its own people, imported? Secondly, Iraq’s lack of legacy infrastructure is both a blessing and a curse. While existing infrastructure makes it difficult and costly to bring agriculture from the industrial age to the digital one in the West, Iraq provides a ‘clean slate’. So much of its ag-infrastructure has been destroyed: the perfect opportunity to rebuild, and better.

The building blocks for an agri-tech revolution in Iraq are all there – a population of many skilled IT workers and programmers, and commoditised technologies (especially sensors) available from websites like AliExpress that are inexpensive and easy to deploy, use and maintain. This is key – countries like Iraq need to start small to create a positive feedback loop where agri-tech creates immediate value to farmers; before offerings get any more complex. For example, understanding how local weather affects harvests using a combination of sensors1 placed in the field, may give farmers more confidence about harvests and enable better planning. While these technologies are well-deployed in many developed countries, their relative lack in Iraq presents tremendous opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

Successfully deploying these ‘lowest hanging fruits’ achieves three things. Firstly, farmers can validate the impact of these low-cost first-generation technologies on their bottom line, which means the technologist can make early sales while convincing the farmers that agri-tech makes a tangible difference (in markets such as Iraq, word-of-mouth and social proof is paramount). Secondly, revenues give technologists the confidence to invest more money in product development, or convince investors to do so. This improves the variety, complexity and value of agri-tech product offerings. Thirdly, the improved technologies, while costing more than the first-generation technologies, deliver greater ROI over a longer period of time, and a feedback loop of further development and investment.

The key here is starting small, and ideally staying away from technologies with long research, development and sales cycles – such as custom hardware. And while commoditised technologies can be bought cheaply, they are incredibly valuable when built and deployed with the end user in mind. This is where a local’s knowledge of Iraqi history, culture and farming can give her or him a competitive edge.

All it takes is one success story to kickstart an innovation boom. Consider the growth and later sale of Skype (partly founded in Estonia), and what it did for Estonia’s startup scene – even with a population of just 1.3M. Iraq can follow in its footsteps by combining its tech talent with commoditised technologies already being used elsewhere for decades on farms, and directing them at problems faced by local Iraqi farmers. After all, it only takes one big (or many small) successes to build a sustainable ecosystem of agri-tech innovation.