Alex Rose-Innes
Before COVID-19, one out of every nine people across the globe went to bed hungry. With the pandemic in full swing, the African continent had seen increased poverty and the rise of food insecurity. This gave rise to the question of smallholder farmers being either the problem or the solution
African rural people had for a long time been seen as not educated and competent enough to address an increasing hunger crisis on the continent as the population had exponentially increased. But this changed as a new generation embraced the concept of greening Africa as technological innovation brought information to its furthest outskirts. Africa’s rural farmers, with new information at their fingertips, suddenly became the answer to the continent’s future as technology connected the world.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had brought innovative digital technology to African farmers, who, with education and the latest techniques available on their cell phones, had turned small plots of arable land into sustainable economic opportunities to combat food scarcity.
Innovation had reshaped global thinking from first world countries to a water-and food scarce Africa as the world’s governments embraced a sustainable and “green” future.
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Until now, it had been very hard to get information to or from smallholders, preventing their efficient integration into the broader economy, but mobile communications shattered this isolation and enabled the creation of a new food system suited to contemporary needs – Kofi Annan
Emerging technologies, especially adapted to the needs of African farmers, are now considered to be the future of the continent and the answer to poverty reuction. The internet of things (IoT), analytics and block chain, continually being improved, together with advancement across processes and infrastructure along the “farm-to-fork” activity chain, are considered a more sustainable way of producing and consuming food and that by 2030, hunger could be a problem of the past.
Innovation in science and technology are seeing farmers and scientists working together from different parts of the world, sharing plant genetic resources, research and indigenous knowledge.
At World Food Program USA, a list of seven tech innovations are successfully addressing the global and African, hunger challenge. Here we look at one of these innovations.
Applying data from five years of research among WFP’s food security experts and scientists, African farmers can select a time — present day, 2050’s or 2080’s — and get a future look at how the fight against hunger would look like compared to today, including tracking greening Africa adaptation efforts and levels of emissions. It is but one of the tools to aid policymakers, governments and small holder farmers across Africa to understand how today’s decisions would impact the possibilities for tomorrow.
