The first in a series of events to support and inform the Action on Inclusive Digital Transformation of Agriculture, whose first chapter in Latin America and the Caribbean is being conducted by FORAGRO, COPROFAM, GODAN and AgGateway, facilitated by GFAR.
There is no doubt that the proliferation of data-driven technology in agriculture has increased production and productivity: Reducing risk, improving resilience in farming, and helping farmers in decision making. Digital Agriculture (DA) is expected to continue to make agricultural value chains more efficient, while helping communities adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and enabling a more efficient use of natural resources. However, lack of inclusiveness remains an ongoing concern. Farmers in general, and smallholder farmers in particular, feel that they are not the ones who are harnessing the benefits of digital technologies, despite being key actors within agricultural value chains. In turn, these feelings of exclusion discourage farming communities from fully adopting digitization and the benefits that accompany it. In addition to feeling excluded - and occasionally being unaware of the potential benefits of digital farming - farmers have concerns about who controls the data they produce. There is worry around privacy and individual data rights, as well as a desire for more transparency and trust.
“Putting farmers at the center of a sustainable and equitable digital transformation of agriculture” is the core objective of a collective action on Inclusive Digital Transformation of Agriculture. The Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), the Forum of the Americas for Agricultural Research and Technology Development (FORAGRO), the Confederation of Family Producers Organizations of the Expanded Mercosur (COPROFAM), Global Open Data for Agricultura and Nutrition (GODAN) and Ag Gateway are seeking to address data governance concerns and challenges facing farmers in the Caribbean and Latin American (LAC) region.
Legal experts Foteini Zampati and Caroline Muchiri discuss ethical and legal digital agriculture challenges faced by farmers, sharing best practices and examples to illustrate and explore how farmers can actively participate in more equitable data sharing. Along with farming representatives, and experts by experience, Fernando Lopes and Felix Kariuki, they explore important questions linked to data sharing and digitisation in agriculture.