Conclusion – and a call to action Agritech services are not only affecting farm operations, they are transforming the agriculture industry and enhancing resilience, agility, efficiency and transparency in the entire ecosystem. It is clear that agritech powered by Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies will drive the next wave of transformation in the agriculture sector. Challenges such as climate change, unstable geopolitical situations and disrupted supply chains will affect the entire agriculture industry, regardless of the size of an operation. The advent of agritech technologies must therefore be viewed from a macro-industry perspective in order to drive value along the entire supply chain, which will help build resilience, agility, efficiency and transparency for the agriculture sector. It is essential that policy-makers view agritech integration from a systems perspective and develop digital public infrastructure, policies and programmes to increase the affordability of agritech. For the private sector – including investors and start-ups – and think tanks, efforts to map empirical evidence of the impact of emerging technologies on farming – yields, quality, revenue, cost of cultivation, logistics costs and post-harvest crop loss – will help to generate interest from farmers as well as from small and medium agricultural enterprises, encouraging them to adopt and actively use Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies. The World Economic Forum’s agritech initiative, Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation, is aimed at scaling Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies through public–private partnership. The Saagu Baagu pilot project conducted in collaboration with the government of Telangana focused on introducing four agritech services to 7,000 chilli farmers. This saw a remarkable 18% increase in farmers’ absolute profits over their peers who were not part of the intervention and is now being scaled to 500,000 farmers planting five crops in 10 districts of the state. This initiative highlights the importance of multistakeholder collaboration and of a multifaceted approach. The agriculture sector needs similar collaborative efforts to be targeted at the common goal of empowering farmers to adapt to climate change and other risks while developing the industry ecosystem. Technology is simply an enabler, however. It is not a magic wand. It is those involved in agriculture who must empower themselves and take the right decisions by adopting rational methods and making use of the tools of technological innovation. Agritech: Shaping Agriculture in Emerging Economies, Today and Tomorrow 21

Agritech 2024