The increasing use of agricultural technologies in Africa, as reported in a survey of 25 large agricultural companies, can dramatically improve yields, food security and product quality, as well as provide raw materials for new products in new markets, says PwC Africa Agribusiness industry leader Frans Weilbach.

Increased precision farming, artificial-intelligence-supported farming and precision farming equipment, including automated drones and sensors, will allow for higher yields within constraining limits, with water as the overarching constraint.

“Technological innovation will act as a catalyst in lifting agribusiness in Africa, and 58.8% of agricultural companies consider investment in Africa as an opportunity to expand their businesses,” he says.

Africa also holds the most unused arable land in the world, and about 60% of Nigeria’s arable land is underused or unused. Further, agriculture accounts for 24.18% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), while oil contributes only 17% of its GDP, notes PwC Nigeria partner Rasheed Rahji.

The disproportionate focus on export commodities, mainly oil, is slowly changing, with the Nigerian government putting in place policies to support the development of agricultural technologies, specifically mechanised farming, to farm the available arable land. Agricultural processing and storage facilities are also receiving significant focus to enable agriculture to drive development, he adds.

Agriculture contributes 29% to the GDP of Kenya – one of the fastest-growing economies on the continent. The country is also one of the top tea-exporting nations and there has been significant development of privately owned tea factories, says PwC Kenya director Edward Kerich.

“The contribution of the tea industry to the Kenyan economy is expected to continue growing, and the benefits realised will be enhanced as some factories move towards using cheaper renewable-energy sources, such as hydropower, solar power and geothermal.”

The growth of the agriculture sector, especially the tea industry, is partly as a result of the increasing use of mechanisation in the industry. This dramatically improves the rate of picking, but does displace jobs.

However, the pickers who are made redundant through mechanisation are absorbed in the growing horticulture sector, typically developed by the same farms on which they work or by the same companies, says Kerich.

Meanwhile, increased pressure on the profitability of farming and agricultural business activities is forcing the sector to be an early adopter of new technologies to improve productivity and profitability. Agribusinesses play an important role in developing and supporting primary production, owing to their position in the upstream value chain.

For example, the use of drones in farming is increasing and expected to develop further, specifically to conduct soil and field analyses, health assessments of crops and to do precise crop spraying that reduces the amount of excess chemical runoff.

These changes are necessary, as about 795-million people worldwide go hungry every day. A second green revolution (the first occurred after the second World War) will occur not from using new farming techniques but from using new farming technologies.

“About 88.2% of agricultural businesses are considering technology-related projects in the next year. Additionally, partnerships and data sharing among a large range of agricultural value-chain stakeholders will be required to improve the quality of crop production, and provide analytics and artificial intelligence systems with information that will allow for more efficient and effective agricultural production,” concludes Weilbach.