The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Can Emerging Technologies Address Rural Food Insecurity for Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Abstract

Technological advances have the potential to increase agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and thereby respond to growing food insecurity. This paper, in light of what is being called "the fourth industrial revolution," reviews the potential of emerging technologies, in particular artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite crop mapping, for increasing agricultural production and addressing food insecurity in Africa. It concludes that unequal global development, and unequal access to, distribution and control of emerging technologies by China and the United States, combined with the prevalence of smallholder farming, makes positive impacts unlikely in the near future.