Digitalization for transformative urbanization, climate change adaptation, and sustainable farming in Africa: trend, opportunities, and challenges

Figures & data

Table 1. Case studies of digitalization in farming in non-African countries.

Location	Technology	Benefits	Challenges
Tacheng,Xinjiang, China.	AGRAS MG-1 drone	Cover up to 10 acres of farmland in one hour. Spray more than 3,295 acres of tomato farm in 20 days, a cost-saving of USD 275.19 per acre. Spray 26 acres of cotton farmland in 4.5 hours, causing farmers to get USD 244.62 profit. Captures videos and images that accurately show the development stages of crops and identify underdeveloped areas and areas in need of fertilizer (Shafi et al. 2019). Reduce pesticide use by 50%, water use by nearly 90%, and material and labour costs by 70% (Trendov et al. 2019).	Drones face airspeed and endurance limitations which lower the total area a single flight can cover. It takes several flights, battery replacement and logistics to cover a 1 km^2 in-flight inspection (Trendov et al. 2019).
Epirus, Arta Plain, Greece	Internet-based Irrigation Management System (IRMA_SYS)	Provide intelligence about irrigation system Optimize energy and water use, and save labour and cost Collect, store, and process required data from meteorological stations and convert them to maps covering the whole farmland. Provide information about soil capacity for water storage and the water requirement of each crop. Hardware usage is not necessary in the field (Trendov et al. 2019).	Lack of sufficient technologies and essential infrastructures such as access to networks and basic technology needed to sustain the IRMA_SYS and related systems (Ojha et al., 2016; Trendov et al. 2019).
Florida, USA	Robotic system	Collecting on-farm data to manage operations and increase yields. Pesticides and fertilizers application and weeding, which reduce the need for herbicides. Harvesting, packing, and transporting farm products such as strawberries. Calculating, mapping, and enhancing water use in irrigation (Trendov et al. 2019).	Lack of affordability and access to robotic systems as well as a technical aid for farmers (Hajjaj & Sahari, 2016; Trendov et al. 2019). Lack of appropriate wireless network infrastructure to operate agricultural robots (Amer et al., 2015).
Santa Rosa de Cabal,Columbia	Wireless sensors network provided by Libelium technology	General farm supervision. Promote sustainable crop production. Promote environmental sustainability. Sustainable management of organic waste. Trace and monitor crops conditions. Provide safety of the farm products. (Enterprise IoT Insights, 2017)	Implementing technology is expensive as it requires machineries and equipment which are capital-intensive (Trendov et al. 2019) The wireless sensors network nodes are error-prone, which as a result affects the overall performance of the network (Younis et al., 2014) Network failures in harsh climatic conditions (Misra et al., 2014).
Minnipa, South Australia	VRT application automated system	Irrigation scheduling Increases yield and reduce workload Reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides Reduce risk by identifying poor and good yield areas. Lower greenhouse gases emissions by reducing water and energy use (Zhao et al., 2018).	Lack of infrastructure. Lack of access to loans. Lack of adequate skills and knowledge.

Figure 1. Methodology flow chart.

Table 2. Summary of case studies on digital farming in Africa.

Location	Climate Change impacts	Digital Technology	Benefits of digitalization	Challenges to digitalization
Nairobi, Kenya	Drought, floods, heat stress, and disease, irregular precipitation variation, and increase in temperature/warming (Kamau and Mwaura 2013; Kogo et al. 2021)	Farmforce: a cloud-based mobile program	Access to real-time farming information from everywhere via mobile. Accurate farmland mapping to automatically calculate its size, the correct input needed (e.g. fertilizer), and damaged crops. Real-time notification of the application of farm input or implementing recommended practices Recording, monitoring, and identifying field staff and their routine activities.	Shortage of mobile-friendly and locally appropriate digital content (Torero, 2013). Poor mobile infrastructure resulting in poor network signals, poor connectivity, and poor electricity supply Affordability problems as most mobile apps belong to a particular research project (Trendov et al. 2019).
Tare, Rwanda	Temperature rise, drought, water quality and quantity, landslides increase flood and erosion, increase in new diseases and pests (Beuel et al. 2016; Gaspard et al. 2019)	FAO-based mobile App	Timely information about crops, climatic change, rainfall distribution, livestock, and plant/animal diseases. Recommend types of crops to grow based on the existing climatic conditions. Access to market to sell farm products. (Ingabire et al., 2017).	Lack of internet affordability Lack of good internet speed (Chair and De Lannoy, 2018). Lack of adequate mobile infrastructure (Torero, 2013).
Oyo State, Nigeria	Irregular rainfall intensity and pattern, pest and disease outbreak, flood and erosion, food shortage, reduction in farm yield (Akinbile et al. 2018; Tella and Balogun 2020)	Farmforce cloud-based mobile program	Clear tracking information about visiting schedules of field officers providing agronomic training. Automated recording and printing of farm input/output details such as weights. Automatic calculations of expenditure required to complete crop cultivation. Digital records of farmers’ crops and loan information to tackle the problems of defaulting (Farmforce).	Expensive internet and the company’s customized mobile apps Dearth of mobile- welcoming and suitable digital content (Torero, 2013). Slow internet speed and inadequate mobile network infrastructure Absence of native language content (Chair and De Lannoy, 2018)
Western Cape, South Africa	Drought, warming, food security, water resources (Otto et al. 2018; Ziervogel et al. 2014)	FruitLookTechnology	Provides real-time data on plants growth, water use efficiency, and nitrogen level It provides actual and deficits of evapotranspiration information. It provides data on biomass production, leaf area index, and vegetation index. It increases the quality and quantity of farm products (Fanadzo et al. 2021).	Less viable for small-scale farmers Farmers experience limited consultations during the design processes (Aguera et al., 2020).
Iringa, Tanzania	Pests and diseases outbreak, flood, reduction in precipitation amount, drought (Kassian et al. 2016)	Chameleon Sensor and FullStop detector	Management of fertilizer and soil nutrients Reduced water consumption and labour force Increases crop yield (Fanadzo et al. 2021).	Expensive and short supply of the devices (Fanadzo et al. 2021).
Kampala, Uganda	Increased temperature, decreased precipitation, rise in exposure to flooding, drought (Markandya et al. 2015; Sridharan et al. 2019)	Farmer’s Friend Mobile App	Search for farming guidelines via text message database Real-time information on crops, livestock, disease, and pest control, crops planting, harvesting and storage guidelines, and weather forecasts (Torero, 2013).	High smartphone and Internet costs (Andres and Woodard, 2013). Poor internet speed and low e-literacy (Torero, 2013).
Mozambique	Drought, floods, heat stress, and disease, hurricane (AgroClimate 2021; Arndt and Thurlow 2015; Chinowsky et al. 2015)	Agroclimate	Weather forecast Climate summaries and statistics optimal planting dates (AgroClimate 2021)	Lack of historical climate and weather data Sustained funding (AgroClimate 2021)

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Data availability statement

Data sharing does not apply to this article as no primary data were collected or analyzed in this study