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By Winnie Kamau
Nairobi, Kenya: Even as Africa adopts artificial intelligence and digital innovations to modernize agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) cautions that a pronounced digital gap could marginalize millions of small-scale farmers.
Although AI tools are increasingly utilized to guide decisions regarding farm operations, weather conditions, crop management, and market pricing, less than 10% of African farmers currently have access to digital agritech solutions.
The warning comes as digital technologies rapidly reshape agriculture across the continent, with tools ranging from mobile applications and e-commerce platforms to remote sensors, drones, satellite imagery and AI-powered advisory systems increasingly being deployed to improve productivity.
But Access Remains Highly Unequal
Poor internet connectivity, inadequate rural infrastructure, limited access to electricity, high costs and gaps in digital skills continue to prevent many farmers, particularly smallholders from benefiting from the digital transformation.
The report shows the Coastal countries benefit from fast internet, thanks to undersea cables, and 4G mobile networks are expanding rapidly across the continent. Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is referred to as the “Silicon Savannah” of Africa because of its buzzing digital economy.
The magnitude of this issue is underscored in “Status of Digital Agriculture in 47 Sub-Saharan African Countries,” a joint study by the FAO and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Despite these success stories, vast areas of sub-Saharan Africa lack connectivity: nearly a third of the population cannot access mobile broadband, and a mere 28% uses the internet.
These challenges directly impact local farming, an area where adopting modern digital tools including e-commerce, sensors, drones, and accurate weather forecasting could substantially elevate productivity.
The implications for agriculture are profound: digital technology can enable farmers to track crops, get real-time weather updates, reach markets, secure financial services, and optimize their production choices. However, reaping these advantages hinges on ensuring that farmers possess the fundamental connectivity, hardware, training, and support necessary to participate.
AI could connect the dots
The report indicates that artificial intelligence could become a powerful tool for agricultural transformation because it can bring together information that is often scattered across different systems.
The FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa Dr. Abebe Haile-Gabriel highlighted the potential of generative AI to aggregate complex streams of agricultural data and turn them into practical information for farmers and extension workers.
“AI can combine information from irrigation systems, remote sensors and satellites, allowing large volumes of data to be processed rapidly and converted into timely guidance for extension officers working directly with farmers” says Dr. Abebe.
Adding “But technology alone will not close the gap” he says.
The FAO and ITU report identifies limited rural infrastructure, insufficient agricultural financing and inadequate investment in research and development, agro-innovation and agricultural entrepreneurship among the barriers that must be addressed.
The “last mile” is the Biggest Challenge
The digital divide is particularly pronounced in rural areas, where many smallholder farmers live and work.
ITU Regional Director for Africa Anne-Rachel Inné called for greater investment in rural connectivity to ensure that digital agriculture does not become another source of inequality.
“There is an urgent need to invest in last mile connectivity to strengthen digital infrastructure generally and enable the development of inclusive digital agriculture strategies to advance agricultural transformation in Africa” noted Inné.
That investment will be critical as African countries seek to use AI not simply as a technological innovation, but as a tool for improving livelihoods and food security.
Africa has an Opportunity but must build the Foundations
The continent possesses significant agricultural potential. Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s largest area of arable uncultivated land and one of the world’s youngest populations, with almost 60% of its population below the age of 25.
The FAO argues that these assets could position the region to substantially increase agricultural productivity but only if digital transformation reaches rural communities.
FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa Dr. Abebe described digitalization as an important pathway toward agricultural modernization and rural transformation.
“Digitalization helps maximize the benefits digital technologies can bring in transforming societies, improving livelihoods through better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind” said Abebe.
The FAO-ITU report therefore calls for governments to develop national digital agriculture strategies, create a more enabling environment for investment and strengthen collaboration among governments, international organizations and the private sector.
It also recommends developing inclusive digital public goods for agriculture that can be sustained and scaled across countries.
For Africa’s farmers, the question is increasingly no longer whether AI will enter agriculture. It is whether farmers will have the connectivity, skills, data and affordable tools to shape and benefit from the AI-powered agricultural future.
The continent’s digital agriculture revolution may be accelerating, but without investment in the last mile, Africa risks building a smart agricultural system that many of its farmers cannot access.
