Digital agriculture to fulfil the shortage of horticultural data and achieve food security in sub-Saharan Africa

Sarron Julien, Beillouin Damien, Huat Joël, Koffi Jean-Mathias, Diatta Jeanne, Malézieux Eric, Faye Emile. 2022. Digital agriculture to fulfil the shortage of horticultural data and achieve food security in sub-Saharan Africa. In : Proceedings of the IV All Africa Horticultural Congress - AAHC2021: transformative innovations in horticulture. Diarra, K. (ed.), Hannweg K. (ed.), Aiyelaagbe I.O.O. (ed.). ISHS. Louvain : ISHS, 239-246. (Acta Horticulturae, 1348) ISBN 978-94-62613-47-8 All Africa Horticultural Congress (AAHC 2021). 4, Dakar, Sénégal, 29 Mars 2021/31 Mars 2021.

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1348.33

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Résumé : In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), agricultural data are often scarce, irregular, unreliable, and inaccessible. Agricultural data, when existing, relate almost exclusively to yields and cultivated areas at the national level and SSA suffers a significant lack of information at sub-national levels describing the agricultural systems (area, production quality and quantity, management practices, agrobiodiversity). This study focused on horticultural crops (fruits and vegetables) for which the situation of data are worse than for annual staple crops because: i) fewer studies are carried out on horticultural crops; and ii) the complexity of horticultural systems hampering the development of accurate assessment methods. Despite the importance of fruits and vegetables for food security, it is acknowledged that the lack of horticultural data in SSA affects all stakeholders of the value chains – from farmers to the national and international institutions. We focused on digital agriculture, which relies on technologies, as one of the pathways for data improvement in SSA by supporting data acquisition, standardisation, availability, and sharing between stakeholders. For instance, data acquired by participative monitoring using smartphones might increase the availability of accurate information on yields at the field scale. Other examples have shown that remotely sensed data from drones or satellites allow to accurately map and monitor horticultural systems, including agroforests. By overcoming the lack of data, digital agriculture can help to better characterise and evaluate horticultural systems to improve food security. The robustness of these tools and their adoption by farmers are discussed to upscale digital agriculture to address food security issues in SSA.

Mots-clés libres : Digital technologies, Remote Sensing, Data collection, Smartphone applications

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