Agriculture is the most important industry for most economies in Africa and the world.
Food is the most important basic human need. Because of this, the cultivation business is steady and will not fade away anytime soon.
As Africa turns to agriculture in the long term, the world is also showing interest in Africa for global food supply and production. By the year 2050, international observers expect that Africa will become the world’s food source.
How is that? Some would ask that agriculture in Africa has not yet taken center stage as it should with such a large supply.
Microsoft says this can be achieved through better financing structures, easier access to markets, better education and more training – all supported by technology.
In other words, the world’s leading technology company points out that Africa is up to the challenge of accommodating the world’s food supply once finance, hiring a generation of young farmers, training/acquisition of modern farming skills and the introduction of technology are available. The continent is already exuding a tendency to increase agricultural yields with technology.
How Africa can feed the world by 2050
1. Funding
Although youth has been credited as the main pilots of this plan, much of the projected realization of agricultural independence in Africa revolves around many financial factors.
Lack of finance is the biggest setback in starting independent businesses in Africa. As the majority of African farmers are older and typically non-tech savvy, obtaining credit from financial institutions is often a problem.
Most African farmers engage in subsistence farming. Also, there are few large farms that attract investment. African governments can help by supporting and empowering this group of farmers.
In addition to the funding hurdle, Microsoft reports the ingenious approach of Felix Musau, a Kenyan smallholder. The inventor has developed an app that can be used to introduce small farmers who need a loan.
The cloud-based app AGIN, powered by the Microsoft 4Africa initiative, hosted on Microsoft Azure, will collect information from these farmers and share it with local banks. This has the advantage that the chances for potential, as yet unknown farmers to obtain credit for their business increase.
2. Recruitment of more young farmers
Today’s African youth are the future of Africa. If a larger proportion of African farmers are elderly, the future of agriculture in Africa is threatened. For this reason, the government should provide many forms of motivation for the youth.
Some African countries have already started making plans to avoid this futuristic threat. For example, Nigeria is considering using the annual NYSC program to improve the country’s agricultural sector. Kenya is following suit.
3. Technology
Gradually the awareness of returning to our fields has started to manifest itself in the business world. But before the agricultural revolution fully takes off, Africa needs more farmers and better technology than before.
Acceptance of technology in Africa would mean more encouragement for youth to pursue farming careers, Microsoft said.
Microsoft says better technology will lure more youth into farming careers. Stating the facts, the tech giant says the average age of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa is 60, which paints a poor image of the business in young people’s minds.
Technology is being introduced in all facets of agriculture. From financing and procurement to clearing the land to planting, irrigating and harvesting, technology is shaping the face of African agriculture. And technology would also mean more young hands in the business.
According to Microsoft
Digital technology is likely to be a key driver for the development of African agriculture.
The tech company likes to call African countriesSudan, which uses satellite imagery in Gezira irrigation to convey information about plant growth moisture and nutrient requirements; and Nigeria, where drones are being used to map the potential for expanding rice cultivation.
Once the above factors are taken into account, farming will improve for the benefit of the continent and the world at large.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), there will be around 9.1 billion people in the world by 2050; This corresponds to an increase of 30% of the current world population. With the increase, the demand for food, including basic equipment, is also increasing. As the global food supply is threatened by climate change,
Food production needs to grow by a staggering 70 percent to keep hunger in check on a global scale; according to Microsoft. In this way, the needs of a growing urban population can be met and the effects of climate change can be counteracted.
Africa is said to be home to 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land with approximately 600 million hectares.