Hundreds of millions of farmers cannot access the Internet?

Talking about the digital divide in agriculture

Technological innovation and global governance

  Intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin

  The digital age has brought hope to 500 million farmers in the world: smartphones with the correct application can tell farmers when it may rain, how to identify and eradicate pests, and the combination of farmers’ hard work and big data can make a good harvest Get information in time and get a good price for crops.

  But the digital revolution brings more than hope. At the same time, there is also the challenge of the digital divide.

  "Nature · Sustainability" magazine published a new study on November 2nd, detailing the International Center for Tropical Agriculture on the digital divide in agriculture under the digital revolution.

The article mentioned that farmers know little about the ways to use big data and mobile technology.

We should have used technology to solve various problems, such as low crop yields, human malnutrition, diseases, and climate adaptation.

However, mobile network coverage, mobile phone ownership and affordable mobile services are necessary prerequisites to solve these problems.

People keep being marginalized

  It is estimated that nearly half of the world’s population still does not have access to the Internet.

There are concerns that this digital divide may hinder the realization of human rights and joint sustainable development goals, especially those related to education, equity, health, and human well-being.

  Although digital technology is steadily covering more farmers, with the rapid advent of the digital revolution, millions of people will be marginalized by this gap every time they learn the latest weather forecasts and click on the screen to sell agricultural products.

  The situation is different in different regions. The marginalization may be due to lack of equipment and network coverage, or the equipment is extremely expensive.

For example, in Mexico, the second largest economy in Latin America, almost everyone has a mobile phone, but only 25% of farmers have access to the Internet.

In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa that have the potential to become a global granary, less than 40% of agricultural households have Internet access.

Mobile phones are almost universal in Asia and Latin America, but less than 70% of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have handheld devices, and the 4G network access rate required to run more complex applications is only 9%.

  The study also pointed out that there are differences between farm size and mobile network services.

Globally, 24% to 37% of farms under 1 hectare can access 3G or 4G networks; the service availability rate of farms over 200 hectares is as high as 80%.

The 2G technology that provides voice and text services is more widely available, but is not compatible with most smartphone technologies.

  Paper co-author Andy Jarvis said: “We are facing the digital poverty trap, where those who have been marginalized fall further behind, while others benefit from the unlimited opportunities that digital innovation brings to agriculture.”

The digital divide in agriculture

  Research shows that there is a coverage gap in the mobile network that farmers need most.

  In areas lacking nitrogen, the yield is low due to the lack of proper fertilizer management, and the availability of 3G or 4G networks is 60% and 22%, respectively.

Areas that rely on rainfall for agricultural production have 71% and 54% availability.

For arid production environments, the coverage rates are only 37% and 17%.

  Researchers believe that these coverage gaps constitute a huge obstacle for nutrition consulting, climate services and financial services that urgently need mobile Internet data.

  The gap in mobile phone ownership is also a manifestation of the existence of the digital divide.

  Although in many parts of Asia and Latin America, the mobile phone ownership rate of farmers is close to 100%, the study found that the mobile phone ownership rate in African countries or regions lags behind other parts of the world.

For example, in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Burundi, the local average level of farmers' mobile phone ownership is between 34% and 51%.

In other African countries such as Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Chad and Sierra Leone, more than 30% of farmers still do not have mobile phones.

  Other studies point out that there is a gender gap in mobile phone ownership, and women are 14% less likely to own a mobile phone (while in South Asia, women are 38% less likely to own a mobile phone).

This means that there is not only a gap between the agricultural population and the non-agricultural population, but also between men and women in the family.

  The digital divide caused by the inequality of Internet access places farmers around the world with varying degrees of burden.

Researchers found that for many rural poor people living within the network coverage area, access to the network may consume most of their family budget.

  Farmers not only need to install mobile networks and own mobile phones, they must also pay for data access.

In some African countries, the basic plan of 1GB of data per month exceeds the annual income of the poorest 10% of the population.

  As for people facing food insecurity, the coverage rates of 3G and 4G networks are 61% and 45%, respectively, and 52% and 22% in Africa.

  In addition, among high-risk populations with food security issues and health problems caused by diseases (including new types of diseases such as new coronary pneumonia), there is also a gap in mobile phone coverage, which has attracted great attention from researchers.

The first author of the paper and a scientist at the University of British Columbia Zia Mehrabi said: "The lack of coverage is more problematic today than ever."

Narrowing the gap is imperative

  One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is that by 2020 the least developed countries have universal access to the Internet.

Therefore, the researchers call for immediate action. Governments, companies, development agencies and global philanthropists quickly take the necessary investment and intervention measures to narrow the digital divide and promote the development of global data-driven agriculture.

  "We need to treat digital connectivity as a basic need and strive to innovate to make it work in every corner," Jarvis said.

For example, we can invest in innovations in "last mile" infrastructure, such as renewable energy, low-cost mobile towers, and microwave backhaul technology.

  In addition, the market price of emerging technology devices such as mobile phones is around US$100, which many people cannot afford, so the price of mobile phones can be reduced.

On the other hand, even with mobile phones, the poorest farmers may not be able to afford data, so data access can be made easier and more common.

  Researchers expressed the hope that in the future, the whole world will be able to access the Internet, especially the digital divide in agriculture will be reduced.

Mehrabi said that in terms of narrowing the gap, we had better speed up the action, and with less delay, the problem will be resolved sooner.