The adoption of digital tools to improve service delivery is significant. This shift has been driven by development initiatives that integrate digital agriculture as a core strategy to improve agricultural production, public-private partnerships (PPPs), availability of digital AESA information resources. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this development and even broadened the use of ICT.  

Digital EAS bring new opportunities:

(1) improved accessibility, delivery, transparency, scope and impacts of information and services for smallholder farmers, including rural youth, rural women and other vulnerable groups to services, and in general to smallholders in geographically remote areas;

(2) bridging the information gaps among different value chain actors;

(3) contributing to fair trade;

(4) market accessibility;

(5) social and financial inclusion. 

Broad range of services exist: advisory services, market linkages, financial access, supply-chain management, agricultural intelligence and various kinds of bundled services. 

Challenges that smallholder farmers are facing:

(1) low digital literacy, lack of tools and affordable internet services,

(2) insufficient digital human capital development and infrastructure investments in rural areas constrain access and effective use of its potential (radio is still the most common device used by farmers in Kenya (84%) and Uganda (76%), and mobile phones are used by 36% and 32% respectively; computers almost none; 

Recommendation

• More commitment from governments to strengthening human capital and infrastructure development and farmer education on digital literacy, with the support of public policy and private sectors

• Empowerment of smallholder farmers to access digital AEAS through enabling policies and institutional supports. Extension agencies integrate farmer education on digital literacy into their mandate as the essential service provided to meet smallholder farmers’ practical needs. EAS providers’ digital performance to be monitored and evaluated, design digital AES systems based on the most recent digital innovations and successful digital business models;

• Empowerment of smallholder farmers to access digital AEAS through farmer education on digital literacy

• Empowerment of smallholder farmers to access digital AEAS through coordinated joint actions (joint planning and decision-making taking needs, local conditions into account, engage different actors)

Empowerment of smallholder farmers to access digital AEAS should be concretised in explicit political commitments and concrete actions. For example, engage them actively through planning, designing, monitoring and evaluating (M&E) digital AEAS. Besides, enable them to exchange, share and provide feedback on digital AEAS through multiple interactions of farmer-to-extension, farmer-to-farmer, farmer-to-private sector, etc.