Scaling Up Disruptive Agricultural Technologies In Africa

This study—which includes a pilot intervention in Kenya—aims to further the state of knowledge about the emerging trend of disruptive agricultural technologies (DATs) in Africa, with a focus on supply-side dynamics. The first part of the study is a stocktaking analysis to assess the number, scope, trend, and characteristics of scalable disruptive technology innovators in agriculture in Africa. From a database of 434 existing DAT operations, the analysis identified 194 as scalable. The second part of the study is a comparative case study of Africa’s two most successful DAT ecosystems in Kenya and Nigeria, which together account for half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s active DATs. The objective of these two case studies is to understand the successes, challenges, and opportunities faced by each country in fostering a conducive innovation ecosystem for scaling up DATs. The case study analysis focuses on six dimensions of the innovation ecosystem in Kenya and Nigeria: finance, regulatory environment, culture, density, human capital, and infrastructure. The third part of the study is based on the interactions and learnings from a pilot event to boost the innovation ecosystem in Kenya. The Disruptive Agricultural Technology Innovation Knowledge and Challenge Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, brought together more than 300 key stakeholders from large technology companies, agribusiness companies, and public agencies; government representatives and experts from research and academic institutions; and representatives from financial institutions, foundations, donors, and venture capitalists. Scaling Up Disruptive Agricultural Technologies in Africa concludes by establishing that DATs are demonstrating early indications of a positive impact in addressing food system constraints. It offers potential entry points and policy recommendations to facilitate the broader adoption of DATs and improve the overall food system.

This book provides a unique account of cross-sectoral innovations through efficient partnerships based on the hands-on experience of internationally renowned contributors specialised in the field of Science of Delivery. The challenges and lessons learned from large development initiatives based in Asia, and from the work undertaken by international research institutions, such as the FAO, are brought together in this book to benefit development agencies, policy makers, corporates, post graduate students, farmers’ organizations, and those involved in supplying agricultural inputs and/or buying agricultural produce, particularly in developing countries within Asia and Africa. Through a number of case studies the book describes how the consortium approach of capacity building for equitable and efficient benefits, collective action, and convergence, will benefit millions of small farm-holders in different regions of Asia

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.

The African Development Bank (AfDB), in commissioning this report to be prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), highlighted the need for a comprehensive, evidenced-based review of agricultural biotechnology in order to better understand its current status, issues, constraints, and opportunities for Africa. Agricultural biotechnology comprises several scientific techniques (genetic engineering, molecular marker-assisted breeding, the use of molecular diagnostics and vaccines, and tissue cul­ture) that are used to improve plants, animals, and microorganisms. However, in prepar­ing this desktop analysis, IFPRI has focused on genetic modification (GM) technologies in particular and on the agricultural context in which they are being applied, because GM technologies are at the center of the controversy about biotechnology’s role in Africa. In addition, because we have attempted to focus our review on peer-reviewed evidence and documented examples, the preponderance of data presented in the report is focused on genetically modified (also abbreviated GM) crops in use and under development, although we recognize the potential of the technology for livestock, fisheries, and forestry.

This paper reviews different studies on technology adoption in sub-Saharan Africa to understand the determinants of low adoption of improved technologies, with a special focus on Malawi. This will in turn help explain why there is a gap between awareness and adoption of agriculture technologies. As evidenced from the results of the FGDs conducted in Malawi in 2018, despite the visible benefits of the new technologies, farmers often do not adopt or take a long time to adopt them. This creates a gap between awareness of agriculture technologies and their adoption. The existing literature from sub-Saharan Saharan Africa, demonstrates that adoption, as a decision-making process, is affected by farmers’ access to information, their financial and human capital, incentives and external programs, plus farmers’ attitude to risk.

Over the next ten years, the African rural space will be the theatre of profound changes as the activities envisaged for agricultural transformation are drastically scaled up. Increased food demand and changing consumption habits driven by demographic factors, such as population growth and urbanization, are already leading to a rapid increase of net food imports, opening a huge opportunity for the agribusiness sector of many African countries. Against this backdrop and in line with its mission to spur sustainable economic development and social progress, the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 2016 launched Feed Africa, a strategy that is intended to contribute substantially to the transformation of African agriculture by 2025, and to reverse Africa's dependence on imported foods. As part of this strategy, AfDB is promoting the concept of staple crops processing zones (SCPZs), which are agrobased spatial development initiatives, designed to concentrate agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential to boost productivity and integrate the production, processing and marketing of selected commodities. As essential components, SCPZs include an agro-processing hub, a number of agricultural transformation centres (ATCs) and agricultural production areas. The ATCs are designed to link smallholder farmers to the agro-processing hub and are strategically located in high production areas, with the aim of serving as aggregation points to accumulate products from the community to supply the hub for further value addition, or to send them to centres of great demand for distribution and retail to consumers. This study has attempted to assess the feasibility and applicability of the ATC concept to selected regions in Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire and the United Republic of Tanzania. Findings from the field have demonstrated the potential of ATCs to address community needs and constraints for a range of selected value chains, and have helped to identify different ATC models that could work in each specific context.