CCARDESA to Assess the Status of Digitalization in the Agricultural Systems across SADC

The Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) is embarking on a program of stocktaking and assessing the status of digitalization in the agricultural systems of the SADC region with special interest in the areas of agricultural research for development, agriculture education, agriculture extension and market linkages.

The assessment will cover 13 of the 16 SADC Member States and is being conducted under the Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa (APPSA), a World Bank funded program being regionally coordinated by CCARDESA.  APPSA was initially implemented in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia from 2013 to 2019. Lesotho and Angola have joined the program while other SADC Member States are working on joining the regional program.

Significant changes in agricultural systems, productivity and sustainability are possible owing to emerging digital technologies which have the potential to change farming systems and value chains. However, there is little information on the level of availability of digital technologies in each of the SADC Member States or the stage at which these technologies are accessible to farmers. The outcome of the digitalisation survey on the agricultural systems within the SADC region is meant to support CCARDESA and SADC Member States to take the AR4D agenda forward by ensuring that Agricultural Transformation embraces digitalization.

This systematic assessment coordinated by CCARDESA is imperative to better gauge the level of availability and potential for scalability of various agricultural digital technologies in the SADC region.  The digitalisation survey is expected to yield several outputs of immediate value to the agricultural sector. It will help CCARDESA and stakeholders to develop a good understanding of the current status of agricultural digitalisation in the SADC region. The survey will also identify the opportunities that need to be exploited and gaps that need to be addressed if the SADC region is to take full advantage of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

In this assessment, CCARDESA will collect both qualitative and quantitative data from primary and secondary sources. The assessment will adopt a consultative and participatory approach, engaging public or private research and /or training institutions, farmers’ organisations, agribusiness (supply or service provision) organisations and NGOs working in the digitalization space in the SADC region.

The assessment is expected, among other deliverables, to capture the following:

• Available digital technologies;
• Gaps that exist in the digital space to facilitate digitalization of the agriculture sector;
• Solutions (public policies, public and private investments related to agriculture Research and Development, Agriculture education and agriculture extension) to fast-track promotion of digital technologies; 
• Pathways to facilitate youth, women and other vulnerable groups to become digital entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector; and
• Key actors in the public and private sector at each stage of technological development.