Let a hundred crops grow

After two decades of progress the fight against hunger has gone into reverse. Globally, about 783 million people – 1 in 10 of the world’s population – are facing chronic hunger, according to the World Food Programme. 

The reasons are well-documented and can be summarized under the letter C: Conflict, Climate and COVID-19. A much less frequently mentioned fact is that a large part of the progress was due to massive improvements in China and India. 

Both countries have unleashed the productive power of their national economies since the 1990s, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty and vastly improving living standards. This sustained progress was helped by technological advances and innovative methods and tools, also in the production of basic supplies. “Digitalization is revolutionizing agriculture by transforming traditional farming, agrifood supply chains and markets,” summed up Daniela Di Gianantonio, Head of Digital Agriculture at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.

She was one of many experts from a range of partner organizations invited to the OPEC Fund’s first Knowledge Series event, held in late November and which focused on “Digital Technologies to Improve Food Security Outcomes”. Participants agreed on the enormous potential of innovation. “Digital technologies, with their transformative potential, offer a unique opportunity for global food systems,” underlined Ijeoma Emenanjo, OPEC Fund Country Manager, West and Central Africa. 

From precision agriculture and data-driven insights to artificial intelligence, blockchain-enabled supply chains and mobile financial services, the wide array of digital tools holds the promise of empowering farmers, enhancing productivity and ensuring equitable access to nutritious food for all. Further developments including in robotics, synthetic biology, gene editing, the Internet of Things, 3D printing and many more are allowing for greater yields, higher efficiency, less waste and an optimized use of – increasingly scarce – resources at a time when more and more soil is exhausted, water resources are drying up and the impact of climate change poses unprecedented threats. 

However, the road from the high-tech lab to the field remains long and winding. While the new technology holds great promise, it certainly does not come cheaply. “We need US$100 billion per year to reach the scale that we need to transform the agriculture sector and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” warned Brenda Gunde, Global Lead, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). 

Given the huge amounts of money required experts warned of the danger that not everyone will benefit from the new opportunities in equal manner. “The dominance of small, fragmented landholdings hinders the scalability of digital solutions, together with limited availability, adaptability and affordability of digital tools for smallholder farmers,” said FAO’s Di Gianantonio. 

But the “digital divide” also exists in other forms: In many countries the infrastructure is insufficient. Then there is an even more fundamental obstacle, most often affecting women: “It’s what we call the triple divide: They’re rural, they’re women and they’re illiterate,” said Gunde. 

And then there is access to finance: “One of the major challenges that we have in terms of finances for smallholder farmers is that they’re not bankable,” Ani Ghosh, Senior Scientist, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, pointed out. Addressing this challenge Safaricom created the digital payment platform M-PESA which today is a leading service provider across Africa. 

Participants agreed on the special role of multilateral development banks to overcome these challenges: “A lot of financing needs to be channeled into digitalization in the agriculture sector and small and medium-sized enterprises,” said IFAD’s Gunde. “We need to come together and say, what are those solutions that have been proven to be working? Not just piloting, but finding out how we can scale-up.” 

A key requirement for the successful introduction of new technologies and innovation is being adapted to local circumstances. While digitalization goes hand in hand with certain levels of standardization, which is, for instance, indispensable for open data exchange, a one-size-fits-all approach is not a silver bullet. Gunde advocated “local-grown solutions, not South-South or Triangular solutions adopted from other countries. Localization is an important aspect in digital transformation.” IFAD Associate Vice-President Guoqi Wu added: “Solutions must be adaptable, applicable and affordable, aligned with global standards, but tailored to local needs.” 

The best technology and largest amount of money, however, will not deliver the desired results in a hostile environment: The main reason for hunger in the world today is war, as Arif Husain, Chief Economist of the World Food Programme reminded the panel: “Obviously you have to save lives when people are in trouble. But then there is a bigger problem. That problem is essentially about changing people’s lives.” 

The Dark Matter: Our Knowledge Corner 

Successful development work is more than providing financial support. While money matters, making a real impact also requires the creation of an environment in which projects can succeed. Knowledge creation, management and sharing is one of the most important aspects of development cooperation. 

To strengthen its activities in this field as a go-to organization the OPEC Fund has recently launched the Knowledge Series, a regular set of events, publications and other engagements and outputs. The Knowledge Series will explore innovation systems and their application, drawing on input from external partners and internal stakeholders across the OPEC Fund. 

We report on the first event under this new initiative below and given the importance of the subject we are introducing a new feature in our magazine. Under the title The Dark Matter we will publish articles focused on innovation, science, research and technology – as well as their possible applications in development cooperation. 

We have named this section The Dark Matter because it aims to shed light on complex subjects which sometimes exist slightly in the shadows of our perception of the world, in keeping with NASA’s definition that “dark matter and dark energy are mysterious substances that affect and shape the cosmos.”