The Chinese Multinational Telecom Giant, Huawei has been tasked to come up with a smart application dub ‘Smart Seed’ that will help farmers easily identify and better manage plants to facilitate and modernize agriculture in the continent.
The request was made during an Africa Agri Forum that held through video conference on Friday March 5, 2021.
Participants at the visual forum examined the situation of food security in Africa and proposed digitalization strategies to boost the Agricultural sector.
Statistics show that Africa has 60% of the World’s arable land. It also has the market, cheap labour and other potentials to boost farming.
Ironically the continent cannot claim food security because it impôts massively what it consumes.
The situation is not to different from what is true in Cameroon.
Speaking during the conference moderated by Cameroon’s entrepreneur, Charlotte Libog of Afrique Grenier, Cameroon’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gabriel Mbairobé said President Paul Biya has embarked on 2nd generation agriculture in view of fighting poverty and eradicating hunger as agreed in Malabo within the framework of the 2063 commitment of the Africa Union.
He however said, more need to be done, and saluted Huawei’s determination in Cameroon’s digital transformation.
Also present at the conference was the Africa Union represented by it’s Commissioner in charge of Sustainable Development, Josefa Leonel Sacko, who is also in charge of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development at Blue Economy.
“Technology and digital innovations are opening up vast untapped potential for farmers, investors and entrepreneurs to improve efficiency of food production and consumption in Africa…, from precision agriculture to an efficient food supply chain, this technology could bring major economic, social and environmental benefits…” H.E. Josefa Leonel Sacko said corroborating the idea for a smart application to boost the Agricultural sector.
The Vice President of Huawei in charge of Public Relations for Sub Saharan Africa, Loise Tamalgo, during the conference talked of the link between digital technology and the agricultural sector.
“The issue of agriculture for us is very important and you will certainly ask us Huawei, an equipment manufacturer, what to do, I will say between the boxes we sell and food, there is a link between the two, it is Africa which is the land where we operate, which is the land where we think the future will be made, and Africa where there is the opportunity to be able to deploy major strategies. Whether in digital matters, in agriculture, quite simply in Africa there is a lot to do to work in the direction of the sustainable development objectives defined by the UN and of course mentioned in the program of the 2063 objective of the AU to which we strongly adhere. For us technology is for development, it is the 1st purpose of the technology…” declared among others, Loïse Tamalgo, during the exchange platform on digital agriculture.
Special focus during the conference was also on challenges faced by start ups in Sub Saharan Africa in relation to Agricultural Revolution.
Important digitalization strategies were envisaged to encourage them on one hand and boost the Agricultural sector on the other hand.
