Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Economy at the African Union Commission, Josefa Leonel Correla Sacko.
Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Economy at the African Union Commission, Josefa Leonel Correla Sacko, has advocated for increased education for smallholder farmers on the use of technology.
The move, she said, would enable African countries use digital technology to promote market linkages, market goods and services, ensure efficient food production, serve as an instrument for integration and make agricultural sector more “sexy and attractive”.
Speaking at the 2019 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Accra themed: “Grow Digital: Leveraging Digital Transformation to Drive Sustainable Food Systems in Africa,” Ms. Sacko said if Africa truly wants to transform its agricultural sector, it was important to leverage on digital technology and innovation.
She said using digital technology in agriculture has vast opportunities for farmers as it enabled them to gather accurate data on farm practices, facilitate fertilizer application, conduct soil testing to verify nutrient efficiency, management irrigation system more effectively and undertake topographical survey.
Explaining some support the AU Commission had been offering to member countries to leverage on digital technology, Ms. Sacko said the Commission had developed a Continental Digital Strategy to drive the digitization agenda.
The strategy, she said, was anchored on three major pillars, including creating conducive environment for digital agriculture, improving rural digital infrastructure and developing agribusiness finance services for agripreneurs and small-and-medium scale enterprises as well as empowering women to use ICT to enhance productivity.
Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, (AGRA), the Convener of AGRF, said AGRF will be leveraging on digital technology to leapfrog Africa’s agricultural development, dealing with climate change challenges on agriculture and striking partnerships between entrepreneurs through new business deals to achieve the African green revolution agenda.
She underlined the need for all stakeholders to make the next decade Africa’s green revolution agenda a reality through the use of digital tools and the promotion of social inclusion by involving women in the digital revolution drive.
AGRF is the world’s premier forum for African agriculture, pulling together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to discuss and commit policies, programmes and investments to achieve an inclusive and sustainable agricultural transformation across Africa.
The forum has attracted about 2,300 delegates from 79 countries in Africa and across the globe, including Heads of State, Ministers of Agriculture, Central Bank Governors, captains of industry, development partners, representatives of farmer organizations, youth entrepreneurs and other critical stakeholders.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri