Thanks for a very important discussion.
1. Potential entry points:
Root cause analysis to address challenges and foster the development of digital agriculture.
Root causes: Demographic, Economic, Technological, Political, Institutional, and Cultural.
a) Demographic: Inadequate digital literacy (and numeracy); inadequate new skills development; demographic dividends; digital divides, etc.
b) Economic: Poverty, inadequate access to financial services, inadequate for and by innovation; socio economic divides (gender, digital, geographic); lack of investments (particularly in under developed countries); low affordability of new solutions; inadequate financial capacity, etc;
c) Political: Inadequate access to information, inappropriate policies and regulations; inadequate enforcement; interference; inadequate governance; etc.
d) Institutional: Inadequate capacity; inappropriate institutions; inadequate coordination;
e) Cultural: Inequality (gender, age, religion, caste, status); negative teaching; abandonment of positive customs;
2. Addressing the numerous barriers: Agriculture is valuable because of the products and services that accrue from it. The factors of production are land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship or management, etc;
When management is characterized by innovation and inclusion, then empowerment occurs. Empowerment is "enabling people to participate in development." The pillars of empowerment are knowledge, technology and cooperation or collaboration. In an agrarian economy, empowering sector participants (stakeholders) is very important. When stakeholders are empowered, the role of ICTs in addressing the root causes of inadequate agricultural production and productivity is tremendously enhanced.
Specifically, the following should be done:
1. Be inclusive.
2. Be innovative.
3. Be (digital) technology-driven.
4. Be efficient.
5. Be effective.
6. Be adaptive.
7. Be sensitive.
3. Roles identified for the Digital Council :
YES. However, the roles should be based on:
a. Supply and/or value chain analysis.
b. Participatory assessment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
4. Governance structure: As mentioned earlier, inclusion, innovation and technology are the pillars of empowerment. Apparently, the goal of the Digital Council is to uphold these pillars. The proposed governance structure looks good enough. But, it should be considered an experiment.
Sr. Justine Mwanje