ARE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES THE ANSWER TO FOOD SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION IN AFRICA DURING COVID-19? LESSONS FROM KENYA

Date: Thursday, June 4, 2020
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm GMT

Moderator:
Katrin Glatzel, Head of the Malabo Montpellier Panel

Presenter:
Peris Bosire co-Founder of FarmDrive

Guest speaker:
Debisi Araba

Malabo Montpellier Panel member and Managing Director of the AGRF

During this webinar, Peris Bosire will give insights on the strong institutional, policy and programmatic developments that are making Kenya one of the frontrunners on agricultural digitalization across the continent, drawing on her experience as co-founder of FarmDrive. In the current context of COVID- 19, Debisi Araba will discuss how digital technologies could provide some immediate and longer-term answers to securing food supplies in Africa’s urban areas.
Discussions will be based on The Malabo Montpellier Panel’s report —Byte by Byte: Policy Innovation for Transforming Africa’s Food System with Digital Technologies. The report summarizes the key findings of a systematic analysis of what seven African countries- Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Nigeria, Morocco, Rwanda, Ghana- at the forefront of progress on digitalization of the agriculture sector have done right. It analyzes which institutional and policy innovations were implemented and what actions were taken by the private sector and agtech start-ups to increase the development and use of digital tools and services in the agriculture value chain.

The Kenya digitalization success story
Kenya has an advanced digital environment and the second-fastest internet in Africa according to the Worldwide Broadband Speed League (after Madagascar). According to the World Bank’s EBA ICT index, Kenya ranks top among African countries. With a score of 7 out of 9, the country offers a superior system of laws, regulations, and policies that promote an enabling digitalization environment for the provision and use of ICT services, particularly in rural areas. The speakers will discuss the concrete practical steps that Kenya has taken to put into action a set of winning program policies and partnerships to develop a digitalization ecosystem that will create new employment opportunities for young people and improve the livelihoods of rural communities.

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