There is a growing need for deployment of digital solutions that complement innovations in agriculture to increase productivity and sustain resilience in food systems and nutrition security across Africa.
The technologies developed to increase productivity for various staple crops on the continent include hybrid seeds, climate-smart varieties, agricultural mechanisation, digital solutions and data management systems.
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The experts from across the globe spoke at the Harnessing Agricultural Technologies for Resilient Food Systems side event jointly organised by AATF, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, on the side lines of the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF 2022) held in Kigali.
Addressing the panel, Mr Yves Iradukunda, Permanent Secretary in Rwanda’s Ministry of Innovation and ICT, underscored the need to build the capacity of farmers to understand and use the technologies to break the barriers in knowledge transfer.
“The Rwandan Government has made deliberates effort to position technology at the centre of economic transformation, with clear success stories in the agriculture sector,” said Mr Iradukunda.
Dr Canisius Kanangire, Executive Director of AATF who moderated the discussions, observed that population growth and climate-related shocks are major threats to agricultural productivity in Africa.
“The agricultural technologies we showcase today have great potential to transform and enhance the resilience of African food systems. But Africa’s food systems are vulnerable to many shocks. Without a sustainable enabling environment, science and innovations may not deliver the desired benefits and impact to farmers,” Dr Kanangire said.
Another panelist, Dr Emmanuel Okogbenin, Director of Programme Development and Commercialisation at AATF, noted that digital technologies are crucial to enhancing critical mass reach to farmers and end users for impact. Dr Okogbenin shared AATF’s experience in deploying innovative agricultural technologies and cited three hybrid rice varieties recently released in Kenya, which are giving farmers over 10 tonnes per hectare under irrigation, compared with four tonnes that commercially available hybrid varieties are offering.
“Digital agri-tech is a strategic complement for product development and deployment that has proven to maximise on-farm productivity in diverse production ecologies,” Dr Okogbenin stated.
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