Delivery of Agricultural Technology to Resource‐poor Farmers in Africa

Abstract

Recent developments in agricultural science and technology have the potential to transform the agricultural sector in the developing world. These technological advances constitute key drivers of economic growth and hold great promise for poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Agricultural research and development in Africa is undergoing a major paradigm shift. Until recently, public-sector institutions in Africa worked in isolation to create and disseminate agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers. However, they need access to improved proprietary technologies developed for the most part by the private sector in developed countries. These technologies are currently concentrated in the hands of a few large corporations and are protected by intellectual property rights. The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is a new initiative addressing the challenges associated with the access, development, and deployment of agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers in SSA. This article describes the AATF model of facilitating the creation of partnership alliances dedicated to promote and support collaboration among a wide variety of public-and private-sector organizations around shared agricultural research and development goals for the public good. It explains AATF's public-private partnership framework for technology delivery in the light of market failures, institutional constraints, and systemic weaknesses, which impede public-sector organizations from accessing and delivering pro-poor knowledge and technology to farmers. The article provides policy makers, research managers, and business decision makers with an understanding of how access to, and delivery of, proprietary technologies could contribute to food security and the improvement of farmers' livelihoods in Africa.Key words: agricultural technology; biosafety regulation; freedom to operate; intellectual property management; public-private partnership; research for development; rural poverty African Agriculture and Constraints to Agricultural ProductivityAfrica has an estimated land area of about 30 million km 2 , second only to that of the Asian continent. The population, which stood at 200 million 30 years ago, has increased more than fourfold to the current estimate of 930 million. At the current growth rate of 3.1%, the highest population growth rate in the world, it is projected that there will be 1.7 billion people living in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Agriculture h.mignouna@aatf-africa.org remains the backbone of many African economies, representing an estimated 57% of total employment and 17% of the gross domestic product. 1 Despite the importance of this sector, agricultural productivity of the continent is low, barely exceeding 1% annual growth.SSA is the only region of the world where per capita food grain output has declined over the past four decades, requiring the continent to import 25% of its food grain requirements.2,3 Cereal crop yields in SSA have stagnated and remain at an average of about 1 ton per hectare (ha)...

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Study on the influence mechanism of adoption of smart agriculture technology behavior

“…In social group interactions, cotton farmers often deal with villages or regiments and agricultural dealers, and government promotion efforts have an impact on the probability of technology adoption and the degree of adoption by cotton farmers 17 . The government has made cotton farmers more enthusiastic about adopting new technologies through unified learning by heavily promoting SA technology and organising training on the technology 18 . At the same time, the price subsidy policy granted by the government will stimulate cotton farmers’ willingness to adopt the technology.…”

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Study on the Influence Mechanism of Adoption of Smart Agriculture Technology Behavior

“…The current research on SA mainly includes the de nition of the concept and characteristics of SA, the development status of SA, problems and countermeasures and suggestions [13][14][15] . The core technologies in SA are explored in depth, mainly focusing on the application of agricultural production as well as operation and management 16 , such as the analysis of the application of SA technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data and satellite remote sensing technology [17][18][19] , as well as typical development models and practices of SA at home and abroad 20 .…”

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