COVID-19: Accelerating the use of digital agriculture

COVID-19 has revealed the vulnerability of agricultural and food policies in low- and middle-income nations. Up to 70 to 80 percent of smallholder farmers, the backbone of rural markets, has reported that they are more severe than they were at the onset of the pandemic.

As the pandemic continues, digital agriculture enables smallholders to receive agricultural advisory, acquire much-needed financing, receive inputs for their farms, and recognize new demands for their products.

Mid-April 2020 and February 2021, the GSMA AgriTech program conducted the primary investigation and a detailed review of existing data to learn which digital agriculture use cases have improved uptake during the pandemic.

This report gives agritech businesses and mobile network operators (MNOs) and the investors and contributors that support them with insights into the determination of digital agriculture and how it can be accelerated in light of the hurdles posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.