The global divide in data-driven farming

Zia Mehrabi; Mollie J. McDowell; Vincent Ricciardi; Christian Levers; Juan Diego Martinez; Natascha Mehrabi; Hannah Wittman; Navin Ramankutty; Andy Jarvis

doi:10.1038/s41893-020-00631-0

The global divide in data-driven farming

Zia Mehrabi^*, Mollie J. McDowell, Vincent Ricciardi, Christian Levers, Juan Diego Martinez, Natascha Mehrabi, Hannah Wittman, Navin Ramankutty, Andy Jarvis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Environmental Geography

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Big data and mobile technology are widely claimed to be global disruptive forces in agriculture that benefit small-scale farmers. Yet the access of small-scale farmers to this technology is poorly understood. We show that only 24–37% of farms of <1 ha in size are served by third generation (3G) or 4G services, compared to 74–80% of farms of >200 ha in size. Furthermore, croplands with severe yield gaps, climate-stressed locations and food-insecure populations have poor service coverage. Across many countries in Africa, less than ~40% of farming households have Internet access, and the cost of data remains prohibitive. We recommend a digital inclusion agenda whereby governments, the development community and the private sector focus their efforts to improve access so that data-driven agriculture is available to all farmers globally.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	154-160
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Sustainability
Volume	4
Issue number	2
Early online date	2 Nov 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00631-0
Publication status	Published - Feb 2021

Funding

Z.M. and N.R. were funded by NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2017–04648. Z.M., H.W., V.R. and N.R. were funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant 435-2015-1364, and H.W. by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant ROH-115207. Z.M. and H.W. received funds from the VPRI Research Excellence Cluster on Diversified Agroecosystems of the University of British Columbia. C.L. was funded by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme of the Euroipean Union under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 796451. This work was implemented as part of the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture, which is carried out with support from CGIAR Fund Donors and through bilateral funding agreements. For details, please visit https://www.cgiar.org/funders/.

Funders	Funder number
Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme of the Euroipean Union
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	796451
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada	RGPIN-2017–04648
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada	435-2015-1364
Canadian Institutes of Health Research	ROH-115207

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1038/s41893-020-00631-0

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Cite this

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title = "The global divide in data-driven farming",

abstract = "Big data and mobile technology are widely claimed to be global disruptive forces in agriculture that benefit small-scale farmers. Yet the access of small-scale farmers to this technology is poorly understood. We show that only 24–37\% of farms of <1 ha in size are served by third generation (3G) or 4G services, compared to 74–80\% of farms of >200 ha in size. Furthermore, croplands with severe yield gaps, climate-stressed locations and food-insecure populations have poor service coverage. Across many countries in Africa, less than \textasciitilde{}40\% of farming households have Internet access, and the cost of data remains prohibitive. We recommend a digital inclusion agenda whereby governments, the development community and the private sector focus their efforts to improve access so that data-driven agriculture is available to all farmers globally.",

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AU - Levers, Christian

AU - Martinez, Juan Diego

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AU - Wittman, Hannah

AU - Ramankutty, Navin

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The global divide in data-driven farming

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

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