TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICUTURAL TRANSFORMATION AND FOOD SECURITY:HOW WELL HAS AFRICA DONE?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/aasd.vol4no1.112Keywords:
Technology, Agricultural Transformation, Food SecurityAbstract
Technology plays essential roles in economic transformation of nations. Africa had long known the central role of technology in sectoral and overall economic transformation of nations. In article 51: Science and Technology of Organization of African Unity (OAU) Charter, member states agreed to strengthen their scientific and technological capabilities to improve the quality of life of their population and ensure the proper application of technology in the development of agriculture, and other sectors of their economies. The study, therefore, sought to examine the progress Africa has made in the application of technology in its agricultural transformation; and the consequent effects of the application on food security in the region. The approach used in examining the subject matter is comparative analytics. Findings make it obvious that agriculture in Africa is not technology – driven, thus, it could not produce more food to reduce food insecurity. So, agriculture in Africa needs some state-of-the-art agricultural technologies for effective transformation. These technologies are: (i) Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) & Advanced Biotechnology- Gene editing. This technology stabilizes food supplies in areas hit hardest by climate change, and reduces the use of pesticides. (ii) Adaptive laser - weeding. Adaptive Laser-Weeding Machines reduce use of herbicides, and prevents the chemical runoff hat changes soil health, and (iii) IoT – Driven precision irrigation - a smart agricultural method which uses networked sensors, cloud computing, and automated controls to deliver exact amount of water to crops.
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