By ASNS
NAIROBI, Oct.28—The future of digital farming in Africa in the light of shrinking external funding was a key highlight of discussions at the 10th AgriFin Learning event(ALE), that took place in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital on Tuesday
Convened by Prosper Global AgriFin, formerly Mercy Corps, and partners, the one-day event was attended by senior policymakers, innovators, funders and lobby groups representing smallholder farmers, ending with a clarion call for Africa to explore new funding streams to accelerate a transition to digital, climate smart and resilient farming practices, as donor funding decrease rapidly.
The forum ran under the theme of “Leveraging Evidence for Connected, Scalable and Inclusive Digital Agriculture,” and featured thematic discussions around finance, technology and partnerships to revitalize digital agriculture in Africa.
Melaku Yirga, the vice president, Africa at Prosper Global AgriFin said since its inception one decade ago, the AgriFin Learning Event has provided a template for guiding future funding and investments towards the continent’s digital farming agenda.
“For more than a decade, AgriFin Learning Event has answered some of the complex questions of our time, how do we get the right financial, climate and market service into the hands of smallholder farmers, that is affordable and reliable,” Yirga said.
A partnership with governments, technology companies, mobile service providers, and not for profit organizations has managed to scale up access to digital tools among small-holder farmers in the continent, including mobile payments and Artificial Intelligence(AI), said Yirga.
He acknowledged that reliance on external funding threatens the sustainability of digital farming in Africa, while the long-term solution lies in domestic resource mobilization, policy and regulatory incentives to attract blended finance into that space.
Partnership with the local private sector will also be key to rolling out inclusive and resilient digital services for African small-holders, currently reeling from multiple shocks like climate disasters, pests, diseases, market volatility, prohibitive cost of farm inputs like fertilizer and hybrid seeds, said Yirga.
In a video message, Amath Pathe Sene, the Managing Director, Africa Food Systems Forum, said the 10th AgriFin Learning Event should answer difficult questions like whether digital farming solutions in the continent can stand on their own upon the conclusion of a funding cycle.
Once deployed at scale, digital tools like AI could help African farmers access lucrative markets, credit, and weather information while improving their knowledge about sound agronomic practices, Sene said.
Sieka Gatabaki, the program director, Prosper Global AgriFin stressed the need to incentivize Africa’s subsistence farmers to adopt digital tools like mobile money in order to ease cross-border trade in agricultural commodities.
Gatabaki added that building trust in new farming technologies will boost their uptake by African subsistence farmers, already reeling from myriad challenges like climatic shocks, pests, diseases, declining soil health and post-harvest losses.