Agriculture in Africa: the emerging role of artificial intelligence.

Adebola, Titilayo; Ibeke, Ebuka

Abstract

This chapter critically considers the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to agriculture in Africa. It contends that, while African countries can utilise AI to address agricultural challenges, realising the full potential of AI in agriculture requires the judicious adaptation of pervasive AI technologies to serve African interests. Africa's young, vibrant population along with the movement of people, goods and services around the continent, promoted under the African Union's (AU) Agenda 2063 provide a fecund platform for AI-driven agricultural transformation. This is pivotal because of the multilayered agricultural paradoxes on the continent. For instance, Africa is endowed with an abundance of uncultivated arable land and diverse agro-ecological zones, from rain-forest vegetation to dry and arid vegetation, which engender the growth of wide-ranging food and cash crops, yet it suffers an alarming increase in food insecurity. An AU, United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO) Report on Food Security and Nutrition in Africa confirmed that 281.6 million people on the continent, comprising one-fifth of the population, faced hunger in 2020; 346.4 million Africans suffered from severe food insecurity while 452 million suffered from moderate food insecurity in the same year.

Citation

ADEBOLA, T. and IBEKE, E. 2023. Agriculture in Africa: the emerging role of artificial intelligence. In Ncube, C., Oriakhogba, D., Rutenberg, I. and Schonwetter, T. (eds.) Artificial intelligence and the law in Africa. Johannesburg: Lexis Nexis [online], Chapter 14. Available from: https://myacademic.co.za/product/artificial-intelligence-and-the-law-in-africa/

• Online Publication Date: Dec 31, 2023
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 12, 2024
• Publisher: LexisNexis Butterworths
• Book Title: Artificial intelligence and the law in Africa
• Chapter Number: Chapter 14
• ISBN: 9781776174324
• Keywords: Artificial intelligence (AI); Agriculture; Africa; Food insecurity; Climate change
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2211319
• Publisher URL: https://myacademic.co.za/product/artificial-intelligence-and-the-law-in-africa/