Digital agriculture, ICT, e-agriculture, e-commerce, digital finance, agriculture, digital IDs, literacy, gender, digital divide

1. Digital Technologies to Improve
Value Chain Efficiency
21st May 2020
Asian Development Bank

2. Snapshot of SDG progress in 2019 in the Asia-Pacific region
Every year, the world loses or waste
about a third of the food it produces
Average age of farmers is increasing
The number of hungry people has
barely changed during the past 2 years
Increasingly impacted by climatic
shocks
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC SDG PROGRESS REPORT 2020

3. Access to quality inputs & finance
Availability of extension and advisory services
Capacity for value-addition
Resources to participate in emerging markets
Inefficient linkages with markets
Vulnerability to climatic shocks, disasters
3
CHALLENGES IN AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS
from a producer’s view point

4. HOLISTIC APPROACH NEEDED TO ADDRESING CHALLENGES
Data-driven policies
Innovation ecosystem
Process reengineering
Capacity Development
Effective partnerships

6. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN AGRICULTURE
Artificial
Intelligence
Only about 4.1 billion online
(ITU 2019)

7. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: DIGITIZATION
GSMA Toolkit for the Digitisation of Agricultural Value Chains
CTA’s The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report
Read
o Digitization of agri value chain, actors, transactions (pre-condition
for digital solution implementation)
o Data 4 Services ecosystem; linear to circular model
o Data Governance – privacy, security & big data (& small data)
analysis capabilities, digital inclusion policies
o Incentive framework for sharing data
o Reuse building blocks
o Capacity development at all levels

8. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: BIG DATA ANALYTICS
• Big data analytics to strengthen government service identification,
delivery, strategy, planning & monitoring
• Digital identification, yield prediction, credit profiling, supply chain
bottlenecks; aligning polices on food prices, market forecasts
• Data as a Service (DaaS) ecosystem building; various engagement
models
• Data governance
• Ability to tap into non-traditional data sources
See
FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKON7YWWXUI
E-agriculture in Action: Big Data for Agriculture
http://www.fao.org/3/ca5427en/ca5427en.pdf
Read

9. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES
• Preference for cash -> Value creation by DFS
• Capacity | Next mile connectivity
• Innovative & relevant financing models – peer-to-peer lending
• Supports building agri-services (subsidies, insurance, logistics,
mechanization)
• Managing diverse partnerships; opportunities for newer actors
providing financial services
• Regulations, KYC, AML
Read
UNCDF Global Strategy: Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era
ITU Focus Group on Digital Financial Services
Globally, value chain actors
provide 44% of the total supply
of financing across all financing
needs of farmers (GSMA)

10. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: DIGITAL AGRICULTURE EXTENSION+
• Digital content creation – RLOs
• Support extension actors - Facilitating two-way, peer-to-peer knowledge
sharing
• Target multiple delivery medium - SMS, call centers, IVRs, videos, television,
radio, social networks
• Village Knowledge Centres - Built trusts, creates rural entrepreneurs
• Access to digital and facilitated digital services to be improved
• Actionable, hyper-local advisories – data harmonization
• Build on and strengthen existing rural linkages
Read FAO’s Extension and advisory services: at the frontline
of the response to COVID-19 to ensure food security

11. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: INFRASTRUCTURE & REGULATIONS
• Hard Infrastructure
Connectivity (Mobile-networks, IoTs service providers)
Data collection, storage, insights and dissemination
• Soft Infrastructure
E-Government frameworks & services
Regulatory framework for improved data governance
Interoperability (platform, data & application)
Incentives for improve participation in the digital ecosystem
Open data
• Public-Private partnerships (ex: MNOs)
• Economies of scale & scope
• Handling regulatory uncertainties

12. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: MARKET LINKAGES
• Agile e-commerce
Direct 2 Consumer, B2C, B2B | social media | order aggregation | delivery points
• Traceability; food safety; value addition
• Hyper-local supply chains
New value chain actors; role of existing value-chain actors
• Addressing pain points
Payment & logistics; legal
• Sustainability

13. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: INDICATIVE TIMELINE
Effort
Time frame
Farmer
Registration
Big Data
Analytics
E-voucher for
Social
Protection
Knowledge
Repository
Regulatory
Framework
Short term
(6-12 month)
Incentive
Framework
Building blocks
(3-6 month)
Digital
Literacy
Medium term
(1-2 year)
E-payments
Rural
Connectivity Digital
Labour
Platform
B2C E-
commerce
Financial
Services
Public
Sector
PPP
Smart
Contracting
Food
Traceability
Private
sector
B2B E-
commerce
Digital
Extension+
An indicative timeline to begin development during COVID-like situation

14. BUILDING BLOCKS TO IMPROVE VALUE CHAIN EFFICIENCY
Building blocks needed to sustain a digital ecosystems
This framework is used to assist countries to identify, design and develop sustainable ICT
solutions/services to overcome challenges faced in agriculture or to accelerate achieving
national agricultural goals.
Read FAO-ITU E-agriculture Strategy Guide http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5564e.pdf

15. DIGITAL PATHWAYS: KEY CONSIDERATIONS
• Leverage existing systems & linkages
• User-centric design
• Support to incubators, accelerators
• Focus on literacy and digital literacy
• Gender and gender-digital divide
• Rural connectivity & access devices
• Multi-stakeholder approach
• Amplifying investment impacts
- Partnerships, data, technology, connectivity, and financing

16. THANK YOU
@thisisgerard
Gerard Sylvester
gerard.sylvester@fao.org
www.fao.org