1 min
The 21st century comes with different challenges for the agricultural sector. Climate change issues, low productivity, unprecedented inflation, farmer-herder conflict amongst other rising issues. These have impacted negatively on the food supply chain.
Over the years, innovations and technologies have been introduced to proffer solutions to some of these challenges, yet the issues still persist due to low adoption of these technologies by the farmers.
It is important to note that addressing the challenges of the farmers in the 21st century requires understanding their behavioral patterns. Technologies can be a good game changer but if it is not appropriate for the farmers, adoption might be very low or discontinuity can be very high. For instance, introducing technology (seeds) that increases the yield of crops where accessing the market is still a challenge would mostly likely be discontinued or not adopted. In the same vein, technologies that help to access the market but require a good Internet connectivity would mostly not be adopted in some agrarian communities. Therefore, to develop technologies for the farmers, one needs to understand their needs, level of education, vested interests, their culture and their concerns amongst others. Not all technologies can address our food security issues but appropriate technologies would easily solve these problems.
We need to involve more farmers in the development stage of technologies, especially during the problem identification; to fully understand the problems rather than solving symptoms. In addition, we need to incorporate extension services as a strategy for technology distribution. A simple extension system delivery is a good fit to ensure access to relevant information about the technologies from the farmers. If our technologies are not appropriate to solve our food supply chain issues then food insecurity becomes our reality. Let it be appropriate for our food, the farmers, the consumers and the environment.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
It is important to note that addressing the challenges of the farmers in the 21st century requires understanding their behavioral patterns. Technologies can be a good game changer but if it is not appropriate for the farmers, adoption might be very low or discontinuity can be very high. For instance, introducing technology (seeds) that increases the yield of crops where accessing the market is still a challenge would mostly likely be discontinued or not adopted. In the same vein, technologies that help to access the market but require a good Internet connectivity would mostly not be adopted in some agrarian communities. Therefore, to develop technologies for the farmers, one needs to understand their needs, level of education, vested interests, their culture and their concerns amongst others. Not all technologies can address our food security issues but appropriate technologies would easily solve these problems.
We need to involve more farmers in the development stage of technologies, especially during the problem identification; to fully understand the problems rather than solving symptoms. In addition, we need to incorporate extension services as a strategy for technology distribution. A simple extension system delivery is a good fit to ensure access to relevant information about the technologies from the farmers. If our technologies are not appropriate to solve our food supply chain issues then food insecurity becomes our reality. Let it be appropriate for our food, the farmers, the consumers and the environment.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
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