This study investigates the hybrid informational governance arrangements involved in the provision of ICT-enabled Weather Information Services (WIS) for farming in Ghana. Farmers and organizations providing WIS were interviewed. Findings show that multiple technologies are used by combinations of government, business, and civil society organizations to provide various WIS for farming. The ICT has facilitated the creation of different hybrid informational governance arrangements, categorized as multiplicity, intertwinement, and coalescence, which permits flows of WIS across scales, from international non-state organizations to farming communities, often by-passing national and district-level government organizations. Government organizations remain key players in the provision of WIS.

The digital agriculture revolution holds a promise to build an agriculture and food system that is efficient, environmentally sustainable, and equitable, one that can help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. Unlike past technological revolutions in agriculture, which began on farms, the current revolution is being sparked at multiple points along the agrifood value chain. The change is driven by the ability to collect, use, and analyze massive amounts of machine-readable data about practically every aspect of the value chain, and by the emergence of digital platforms disrupting existing business models. All this allows for drastically reduced transaction costs and pervasive information asymmetries that plague the agrifood system. The success of the digital transformation, however, is not guaranteed as the risks it brings are numerous, including those related to data governance and inadequate competition within and between digital platforms. What’s Cooking: Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System investigates how digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system by increasing efficiency on the farm; improving farmers’ access to output, input, and financial markets; strengthening quality control and traceability; and improving the design and delivery of agriculture policies. It also identifies a key role for the public sector in maximizing the benefits of this process while minimizing its risks, through enabling an innovation ecosystem featuring open datasets, digital platforms, digital entrepreneurship, digital payment systems, and digital skills and encouraging equitable technology adoption.

This report presents and reflects on the opportunities that new technological developments related to automation and precision agriculture (e.g. robotics) can offer to agriculture in developing countries. These technologies are mainly targeted to support farmers that struggle with the cost of labour when harvesting crops and to tackle the declining availability of manpower for general cropping operations. This report also explores the possible applications of agricultural technology, presents the current trends and discusses some of the principle challenges to successful adoption for sustainable agricultural mechanization in developing countries.

The papers in this two-part special issue examine from a range of perspectives the challenges and opportunities in tracking and demonstrating the impact of managing knowledge both inside the walls (in organizations) and outside the walls (in the broader development context). Due to the high number of papers selected, they were divided into two issues, based on their completion dates. We would like to thank all Guest Editors who reviewed and provided feedback on the abstracts and papers, as well as other colleagues who kindly agreed to peer review papers and provide feedback to the authors. We would also like to thank the contributing authors for their papers and for their patience –it has taken considerably longer than we had anticipated to finalize this issue. Finally, we would like to recognize the dedication and hard work of the Editor-in-Chief, Sarah Cummings. It has been a pleasure to work with her on this issue and we look forward to contributing to and supporting the Journal well into the future as members of the team of Senior Editors.

Big data and mobile technology are widely claimed to be global disruptive forces in agriculture that benefit small-scale farmers. Yet the access of small-scale farmers to this technology is poorly understood. We show that only 24–37% of farms of <1 ha in size are served by third generation (3G) or 4G services, compared to 74–80% of farms of >200 ha in size. Furthermore, croplands with severe yield gaps, climate-stressed locations and food-insecure populations have poor service coverage. Across many countries in Africa, less than ~40% of farming households have Internet access, and the cost of data remains prohibitive. We recommend a digital inclusion agenda whereby governments, the development community and the private sector focus their efforts to improve access so that data-driven agriculture is available to all farmers globally.

This paper tries to capture the evolution of Digital Agriculture based on the foundations of precision agriculture. The review of literature around the development of precision agriculture reveals that the data captured in the precision agriculture processes, if effectively used, can support extensive agronomic decision making. With the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), predictive and prescriptive analysis of even huge amounts of data is now possible. Digital Agriculture seeks to combine the power of AI/ML and data from precision agriculture to deliver decision support systems to farmers and in other aspects of the agricultural value chain. The prerequisites for Digital Agriculture to realise its full potential are business models that demonstrate clear economic benefits for the farmers and user-friendly design.

The emergencies generated by the effects of climate change, the high conflicts in the continent, and now by COVID-19, challenge the Rural Extension services to external changes. Today, these emergencies threaten the possibility of maintaining supply chains and food security and the life and well-being of the population.

The risks generated by these emergencies require a new approach to the adaptation, mitigation, and action processes. There is no doubt about the leading role that ICTs play in this context since they facilitate action during moments of crisis and generate a sustainable plan for the post-emergency. In this scenario, this policy note indicates the elements that must be taken into account in a roadmap that allows the efficient incorporation of ICTs into Rural Extension.