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Business Reporter
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) says the continent should take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to transform agricultural value chains through digitalisation.

Key supply chains have been interrupted, markets closed and movement restricted, resulting in agricultural labour shortages and in some parts of Africa and the world at large farmers have missed planting seasons, while agribusinesses are facing liquidity constraints. 

For instance, AfDB said demand for catering has dwindled and consumer preferences have shifted away from highly perishable foods, like fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, to ones with longer shelf-lives.

The bank’s director of agriculture and agro-industries Mr Martin Fregene was also quoted saying: “We must also use this wave of interest to build digital platforms that facilitate linkages between value chain actors at much-reduced transaction costs.”

Following the outbreak of the pandemic, the rest of the world has restricted the movement of goods and cargo as part of measures to contain the spread of the deadly infectious disease. 

In a statement, AfDB said during the first part of its recent four-part series meeting on transforming agriculture in Africa, delegates agreed on the need for the continent to transform the agriculture sector through digitalisation. 

“Africa must seize the opportunity of the Covid-19 pandemic to deepen the digitalisation of agricultural value chains and transform the sector,” it said. The webinar was jointly hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Investment Centre and AfDB.

The virtual meeting explored digital responses that can be quickly deployed to address the disruptions to food systems caused by Covid-19. 

“It also examined the requirements for digital transformation in agriculture on the continent.

“Nearly 500 people, representing agri-tech, telecommunication, government agency implementers, policymakers, farmers and development partners, participated,” said AfDB. 

The delegates identified potential investments for the digital transformation of African agriculture during and after Covid-19, ranging from digital profiling of value chain actors to mobile payments and e-commerce. 

The participants also discussed the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks for inclusiveness, scalability and viability, including for data governance and protection, digital financial products, e-contracts and e-extension services.

The regional financial institution said the meeting proposed the bundling of digital services, agri-tech innovation challenges and open systems to help build financially viable supply capacity.

“Efforts need to be catalysed on both the policy and investment fronts for digitalization to help make agri-food systems more productive, more inclusive and more sustainable in the future,”  FAO investment centre director, Mr Mohamed Manssouri, was quoted as saying. 

He said prior to the Covid-19 crisis, digital technologies were changing the global economy, and agri-food systems were part of that transformation. 

“With Covid-19, this trend has accelerated,” Mr Manssouri noted.

Across the globe, the spread of Covid-19 has disrupted agri-food systems. 

AfDB launched its digital agriculture flagship initiative at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in August last year, with the aim of helping to create an enabling environment to unlock digital solutions across Africa.