What’s cooking? Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System

The Worldbank Group has recently published a new edition on “Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System” as part of the What’s Cooking series.

The Agriculture and Food Series is intended to prompt public discussion and inform policies that will deliver higher incomes, reduce hunger, improve sustainability, and generate better health and nutrition from the food we grow and eat.

This publication was supported by the members of the Digital Development Partnership, a program within the World bank.

What’s cooking? Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System – an overview

What’s Cooking: Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System investigates how digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system, including by increasing efficiency on the farm; improving farmers’ access to output, input, and financial markets; improving quality control and traceability; and increasing efficiency in the design and delivery of agriculture policies.

It also analyzes the role of digital agriculture in improving equity and environmental sustainability in food systems and highlights the risks that could emerge along the way, including risks associated with data governance, inadequate competition within and between digital platforms, and the potential deepening of the digital divide.

Besides examining the pathways through which digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system, this report further outlines the role public policy and investment in the impacts of digital technologies on this transformation. The report establishes that:

• Digital technologies offer huge opportunities
• The risks of a digital divide remain significant
• Data governance and competition remain major concerns
• Realizing the potential of digital technologies to transform the food system will require carefully crafted public policies and investments. The following policy interventions are suggested in the report
  • Strengthen access to foundational data and promote data sharing
  • Safeguard farmers’ data privacy, security, and ownership
  • Review regulations that may constrain the adoption of technologies that enable precision agriculture
• Enable competition in digital markets
• Support development of digital payment systems
• Support digital entrepreneurship ecosystems
• Invest in transformational research and development.

The Agriculture and Food Series

As stated earlier, this publication is part of the Agriculture and Food Series.

Browse the previous titles in the series below:

1. What’s Cooking: Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System (2021)
2. The Safe Food Imperative: Accelerating Progress in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (2019)
3. The Land Governance Assessment Framework: Identifying and Monitoring Good Practice in the Land Sector (2011)
4. Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can It Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits? (2011)
5. Gender and Governance in Rural Services: Insights from India, Ghana, and Ethiopia (2010)
6. Bioenergy Development: Issues and Impacts for Poverty and Natural Resource Management (2009)
7. Building Competitiveness in Africa’s Agriculture: A Guide to Value Chain Concepts and Applications (2009)
8. Agribusiness and Innovation Systems in Africa (2009)
9. Agricultural Land Redistribution: Toward Greater Consensus (2009)
10. Organization and Performance of Cotton Sectors in Africa: Learning from Reform Experience (2009)
11. The Sunken Billions: The Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform (2009)
12. Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook (2008)
13. Sustainable Land Management Sourcebook (2008)
14. Forests Sourcebook: Practical Guidance for Sustaining Forests in Development Cooperation (2008)
15. Changing the Face of the Waters: The Promise and Challenge of Sustainable Aquaculture (2007)
16. Reforming Agricultural Trade for Developing Countries, Volume 2: Quantifying the Impact of Multilateral Trade Reform (2006)
17. Reforming Agricultural Trade for Developing Countries, Volume 1: Key Issues for a Pro-Development Outcome of the Doha Round (2006)
18. Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems (2006)
19. Sustainable Land Management: Challenges, Opportunities, and Trade-offs (2006)
20. Shaping the Future of Water for Agriculture: A Sourcebook for Investment in Agricultural Water Management (2005)
21. Agriculture Investment Sourcebook (2005)
22. Sustaining Forests: A Development Strategy (2004) 

Read the report here