JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 6 April 2022 -/African Media Agency/-Case studies across Africa demonstrate the positive impact that access to even the most basic mobile technology can offer smallholder farmers. This underscores the importance of driving inclusive access to digital technology, especially mobile-based, to help the continent’s farmers mitigate the impact of climate change.
This assertion is championed by Vodacom, Vodafone, Safaricom, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund in their co-authored report,. The paper is the third in a six-part series, published as part of the Africa.Connected campaign, established to help close digital divides hindering sustainable progress in Africa’s key economic sectors, like agriculture.
“Sustainably increasing farming productivity is imperative, and technology has a great role to play as a developmental tool. There is anecdotal evidence of this development in the markets in which Vodacom operates within the continent where smartphone penetration is still low but small scale farmers are not outpaced,” says Takalani Netshitenzhe, External Affairs Director for Vodacom South Africa.
Inclusion for all also requires tailor-making products and services for each market segment and where smartphone penetration is still low, creating and making available, innovative solutions that are not data driven to pivot the developmental agenda. For instance, URL and USSD-based platforms that enable access to financial services and farming opportunities are able to easily connect small scale framers to the agricultural value chain.