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Experts in climate adaptation techniques proposed the application of digital climate-smart solutions, including communication and information systems, to boost agricultural production and marketing on the continent.
They say continued reliance on rain-fed agriculture in Africa was unsustainable, hence the need for governments to invest in digital infrastructure to support smallholder farmers to increase their production amid pressing climate challenges.
They made the proposal in separate interviews at the opening of a two-day training on digital climate advisory services in West Africa in Accra on Thursday, December 8, 2022.
The training was organized by the Global Center for Adaptation (GCA), within the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).
The intention is to build the capacities of interested parties in the region to implement digital climate adaptation solutions for farmers.
Dr. Oluiede Ajaii, Program Leader, Food Security and Rural Wellbeing, Global Center for Adaptation (GCA), said there are existing solutions to address the impact of climate change on farmers’ activities, but connecting those interventions with farmers has always been a challenge.
He said digital tools such as climate information and advisory services could provide early warning systems to farmers to enable them to plan their activities.
Dr. Ajayi said there are digital platforms that can also support farmers to gain quick access to post-harvest markets to reduce post-harvest losses.
“These are fools that can give farmers real-time information so that they can make an informed decision in farm operations. For example, the tools can inform farmers that there will be heavy rain in the next three days and in that case, the farmer would not have to to apply so much fertilizer,” he said.
Professor Wole Fantunbi, Senior Technical Cluster Leader and Innovation Systems Specialist, FARA said that until the continent embraces digital climate solutions, smallholder farmers in the region will continue to be at the mercy of the weather.
He said farmers in the region are not realizing the impact of available digital tools due to a lack of “robust investment” in infrastructure that improves access and use of digital devices in the agriculture sector.
“One area of agriculture where digitization is very useful is remote sensing, which helps you pinpoint exactly what you need to do at the right time.” Drones are becoming very useful.
“Efforts must be made to develop technologies and infrastructure that make drones available… If we have a small remotely operated grass machine that can work in a farmer’s field, the cost of labor and production would be reduced,” Prof. Fantunbi said.
Ms Ejerusalem Fasika, Country Manager of the African Development Bank, said that while existing technologies such as improved seeds would be critical to meeting food demand in Africa, farmers would need additional new tools to improve yields and market their goods.
She said digital climate-smart technologies ensure efficiency and support the scaling of interventions and can increase productivity by between 40 and 70 percent.
“…it is important to design multi-stakeholder partnerships between government, academia and the private sector to support smallholder farmers across the entire agricultural value chain,” she said.
Mr. John Osei Frimpong, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, said farmers are experiencing a yield gap due to the inability to access advanced technologies.
“We all need to put the right mechanisms in place to ensure that investments (in technology) translate quickly into measurable development results even in the short term,” he said.
With the weather becoming less favorable, farmers in the region who depend heavily on rain to cultivate their farms are struggling with extreme weather conditions such as droughts, floods and wind storms.
Somalia, for example, is experiencing its worst drought in 40 years with 7.8 million people facing acute food insecurity. The United Nations has stated that between January and June 2022, at least 200 children are already
died as a result of malnutrition.
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