Ready To Go Digital Assessing The Digital Readiness Of Young Agripreneurs In East Africa

Food and Agricultural Organization’s Integrated Country Approach for boosting decent jobs for youth in agrifood systems carried out a digital readiness assessment of youth in agribusiness in partnership with the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation and youth-led organizations in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Over 360 young male and female entrepreneurs engaged through an online survey and virtual focus group discussions that generated insights on their interaction with digital technologies, either as entrepreneurs, service providers, or members of youth organizations. This summary note presents key findings on the following topics: agribusiness information flows, youth digital access and preferences, information technology use for business including e-commerce, e-learning, online mentoring, and online activities of rural youth networks.

Digitalization is a potential game-changer to boost youth engagement and leadership in agrifood systems. Digital engagement can increase youth access to timely information, training, or marketing opportunities while providing more venues for peer learning, networking, and participation in policy dialogues. Yet, the transformative power of digital technologies also entails the risk of widening existing divides. As we seek to engage youth in the digital space, we must consider a series of interrelated factors that influence their online experiences ranging from digital access, use, and literacy, to overall information flows, offline communication resources, social interactions, and the norms shaping them. These methodological guidelines will be a useful resource for development professionals who wish to leverage communication and digital technologies in their work with and for youth. The document provides an analytical framework and practical orientation to conduct age-specific and gender-responsive research on digital readiness and the overall communication ecosystem of young people in order to inform inclusive engagement strategies and youth-centred digital services. Section 1 explains the rationale behind investing time and resources in appraising the existing communication ecosystem before designing any initiative aimed at engaging youth in agrifood systems and in rural areas. Section 2 outlines an analytical framework to unpack the digital readiness and the communication ecosystem of young rural women and men along major investigation areas: digital access, use and skills; information flows; offline communication resources; and social capital and social norms. Section 3 describes how to conduct hands-on research combining the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Section 4 summarizes final considerations and take-home messages. The Annexes provide two examples of data collection tools, namely a mobile survey questionnaire and a focus group discussion guide, while the Field Stories present real-life examples testifying to the multiple and varied applications of the methodology within the scope of FAO’s Integrated Country Approach (ICA) for Boosting Decent Jobs for Youth in the Agrifood System project.

Young people are key agents of change, with enormous innovation potential. FAO recognizes that youth are already at the frontline to build more sustainable agrifood systems and are best placed to rejuvenate the sector, acquire the knowledge and skills needed to innovate, uptake new technologies, and spearhead the digital transformation. The Organization provides support to countries to develop more youth-inclusive policies, strategies, investments and programmes, in order to enhance the overall well-being of young women and men. This compendium of good practices brings together snapshots of selected FAO's youth-specific projects, activities and products in support of the Rural Youth Action Plan (RYAP) first biennium of implementation (2021–2022).

The rapid and ongoing digital transformation of government, economic, and social sectors holds immense potential to improve outcomes across the SDGs for smallholder farmers and rural communities more generally. [Author] However, it is also widely recognized that digitalization alone does not guarantee inclusion. [Author] Rural residents and marginalized groups have the most to gain from digitalization but are also the most at risk of falling further behind due to digital divides. [Author] The resulting paradox may leave rural development actors unsure about how to best approach rural digital transformation. [Author] This report helps rural development practitioners and decision-makers work through this paradox. [Author] It does so by highlighting the factors that lead to digital exclusion, providing evidence regarding how digital divides play out, and providing recommendations on how to improve digital inclusion for rural areas and marginalized groups. [Author]

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is spearheading efforts to leverage digitalization for sustainable agrifood systems. This publication provides a roadmap for accelerating the adoption of impactful digital solutions across the Africa region. With Wageningen University and Research (WUR), the publication offers an in-depth exploration of the current landscape of FAO’s digital agriculture interventions across sub-Saharan Africa, dissecting key projects and their impact on crop production, risk reduction, and value chain enhancement. Through an extensive survey and analysis of 72 projects spanning various agricultural subsectors, the publication sheds light on the prevalence of digital tools in enhancing crop production and livestock management, and on the disparities in digital adoption across different subregions. The publication underscores the critical role of digital literacy and infrastructure in driving the success of digital agriculture initiatives, emphasizing the imperative of inclusivity. It also highlights the need for fostering awareness, building capacity, and advocating for improved digital access and governance to unlock the full potential of digital solutions for Africa. Among the key findings are the predominant use of simpler digital technologies such as mobile applications and SMS services, signalling the importance of user-friendly solutions tailored to the needs of farmers. However, it also underscores the necessity of embracing more advanced technologies to address complex challenges such as climate resilience and supply chain management.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer unprecedented opportunities to transform agriculture in Africa. ICT innovations are opening up exciting opportunities for young entrepreneurs to engage at various stages of the agricultural value chain, from developing solutions that make the agri-food sector more productive to setting up services that facilitate market access for smallholder producers. The stories told here show that ICTs are enabling farmers to access information about everything from the weather to market prices, from agricultural best practice to controlling pests and diseases. Mobile platforms are also helping farmers to gain access to credit and therefore the means to improve their productivity and incomes. In short, ICTs are helping to make agriculture more profitable and sustainable.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched an initiative to assess the existing impediments for scaling innovation and technology in food and agriculture (AgTech) and to identify options to improve the enabling environment for AgTech-focused businesses. The initiative offers a tool for decision makers to promote the uptake of AgTech, investment and entrepreneurship in Africa, ultimately to advance agricultural productivity and food security. The first cohort evaluates the AgTech ecosystems in three East African countries: Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. Presenting rigorous and original research, this volume offers key insights into the historical, cultural, social, economic and political forces at play in the creation of world-class ICT innovations in Kenya. Following the arrival of fiber-optic cables in 2009, Digital Kenya examines why the initial entrepreneurial spirit and digital revolution has begun to falter despite support from motivated entrepreneurs, international investors, policy experts and others. Written by engaged scholars and professionals in the field, the book offers 15 eye-opening chapters and 14 one-on-one conversations with entrepreneurs and investors to ask why establishing ICT start-ups on a continental and global scale remains a challenge on the “Silicon Savannah”. The authors present evidence-based recommendations to help Kenya to continue producing globally impactful ICT innovations that improve the lives of those still waiting on the side-lines, and to inspire other nations to do the same.