To realize their full potential, agricultural automation technologies must be accessible to all, not least to small-scale agricultural producers in low-income countries where hand tools and animal power are still in common use, hampering agricultural productivity and negatively affecting livelihoods. In other words, the automation process must become scale-neutral. In favourable circumstances, it may even be possible to leapfrog the technological evolution, passing directly from low-tech agriculture based on manual labour or draught animal power to agricultural automation. This can be achieved through technologies that are scale-neutral by design, through innovative institutional arrangements (e.g. cooperatives and associations), or through market mechanisms that enable small-scale agricultural producers to overcome scale constraints. For example, expensive and complex agriculture equipment can be made available to local farmers through hire service providers, often producers themselves who have invested in draught animals and/or tractors and similar equipment.
Digital tools also hold great promise for hire services. They can create new business models for the adoption of automation technologies by small-scale agricultural producers. One such scheme is Uber for tractors; similar to the Uber taxi application, it allows producers to access tractor hire services. Robotics and AI are based on digital technologies; therefore, countries need to push for wider access to digital technologies, promoting the essential infrastructures, appropriate legal frameworks, and necessary knowledge and skills.
To achieve this, both agricultural producers and governments must first recognize the economic, social and environmental benefits of the dissemination and adoption of digital technologies. Thereafter, it is vital to ensure availability, inclusivity, accessibility and adaptability to local conditions, reaching out to the wide range of potential beneficiaries in order to avoid widening the technological divides that disadvantage vulnerable groups (e.g. women) and remote territories. In 2018, FAO and the African Union Commission launched the framework for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa, which provides a menu of priority elements for countries to consider when developing their strategies for sustainable agricultural mechanization.59 According to this framework, mechanization must be built along the entire agriculture value chain, private sector-driven, environmentally compatible and climate smart, in addition to being economically viable and affordable – especially for small-scale farmers, who constitute the bulk of African farmers. It is also vital that it targets women and youth, specifically to make agriculture a more attractive choice for decent employment and entrepreneurship.
Therefore, when encouraging the adoption of automation, it is important to focus on technologies tailored to local conditions and the specific needs of producers; a technology simply lifted from one context may not solve tangible problems in a new context. In this respect, studies show that farmers themselves can lead innovation. For instance, in Myanmar, the embracing of 3D printing techniques is improving farming efficiency and giving power to workers in poorer, rural areas by allowing them to be individually and creatively involved in the production of farm materials, agricultural machinery parts, and tools.60 As agricultural producers are increasingly recognized as leaders of innovation in technology development, the relevant terminology and approaches have evolved to incorporate innovation systems thinking, with an emphasis on the involvement of stakeholders at different levels, including farmers and farm advisers. There needs to be a focus on knowledge sharing and exchange, collaboration and participation, and co-production of ideas and solutions between public and private actors.61
Automation solutions must consider both nation- and region-specific agricultural innovation systems; a one-size-fits-all approach to adoption across the world will not work. Caution must be applied when seeking to implement a tried and tested solution in a new environment or different situation. The context of implementation is vitally important.
