By Duncan Mboyah
Africa can achieve its food security status through investment in scalable technologies, data governance and institutional capacity, a report says.
The Annual Trends and Outlook report that is published by AKADEMIYA2063 through the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) highlights greater opportunities for integration, interoperability, and adaptation to African realities.
Dr. Ousmane Badiane, Executive Chairperson of AKADEMIYA2063 said that the report demonstrates that the ‘technology frontier’ is not a single breakthrough, but rather the integration of biological, digital, engineering, ecological, and institutional innovations within a supportive political economy.
Dr. Badiane noted that the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)’s ambitions can be achieved through sustainably raising productivity, cutting costs, and boosting capacity for product and process innovation along agrifood system chains.
According to Moses Vilakati, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment, African Union Commission (AUC-DARBE), the report provides timely evidence on how frontier technologies can be governed and scaled to deliver food security, inclusive growth, and climate adaptation across the continent.
He added that the report will serve as a strategic reference for policymakers, planners, investors, researchers, and practitioners, and contribute meaningfully to building more productive, resilient, and equitable agrifood systems across Africa.
The report observes that there is a need for coordinated interventions to strengthen the system-wide application of existing technologies and enable their widespread and efficient use.
It notes that Africa’s agrifood future will be shaped not only by the technologies that exist, but also by how effectively they are governed, financed, adapted, and embedded in inclusive institutions.
With strategic investment in science and digital infrastructure, empowered producer organizations, climate-resilient innovation pathways, and strong accountability systems,
The Annual Trends and Outlook report states that Africa can move beyond technology adoption toward technology leadership, helping shape global responses to climate change, food insecurity, and sustainable development through strategic investment in science and digital infrastructure.
The researchers who lead the study, reviewed the use of emerging technologies in Africa’s agrifood sector such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), geospatial tools, biotechnology, mechanization, irrigation, livestock, insect-based systems, and aquaponics.
They noted that digital farming, precision agriculture, remote sensing, AI, biotechnology, and organizational innovations can not only reduce transaction costs, strengthen efficiency, and support climate-smart productivity gains, but also enable innovative complementary institutions and governmental processes.
They observed that supportive institutions, coherent regulatory frameworks, predictable policy environments, and well-organized diffusion pathways can lead to successful adoption and scaling.
In its “Untapped Potential Index (UPI)”, South Africa and Botswana lead in AI and geospatial technology deployment within the agrifood sector, while Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, and Mali are approaching readiness.
South Sudan, Niger, and Zambia have the highest UPI values, reflecting high transformation needs and adequate enabling conditions combined with low current adoption of AI and geospatial tools, significant yield gaps, and high hunger level.
South Sudan, Niger, and Zambia possess decent readiness infrastructure, but low current adoption of AI and geospatial tools.
The report highlights opportunities for broader use of small-scale irrigation, water harvesting, and resource-efficient technologies.
It notes that insect farming, circular-economy solutions, aquaponics, organic-waste valorization, and integrated nutrient management, reshaping resource-use and production systems, can help in creating new economic opportunities, especially for youth and small enterprises.
