Perspectives on the strategic importance of digitalization for Modernizing African Agriculture.

• Agriculture productivity in Africa and most developing countries are far from optimum. • Digitalization is a potential game changer for agricultural productivity. • Sensors, IoT, AI, and smartphones are key for Africa's agricultural digitalization. • Digitalization could strengthen African food security and globally. • Infrastructure and policy challenges digitalization on the continent. Africa's agriculture has over time, improved and expanded in scale and efficiency, yet its productivity is far from its optimum, and the majority of the continent is still food insecure. To harness its potential for a drastic increase to avoid continued mass hunger and support the bioeconomy's growth, farm productivity in Africa must be retooled. This paper examines the role of digitalization as a potential game changer and an impetus for a transformational future for large-scale and smallholder farming and livelihoods through driving technological and methodological innovation and automation. Digitalization is seen here as consisting of four supporting elements: sensors (in situ or remote), wireless transmission of data, artificial intelligence (AI), and transmission of diagnoses and or recommendations to the end user. In addition to strengthening food security on the continent and globally and the ensuing economic benefits, other cross-cutting effects are presented. These include risk management through early warning systems for natural disasters, improved decision-making with big data, reduction in rural-urban migration by the attraction of youth towards agriculture, and the improvement in environmental stewardship and building climate resilience. Challenges to realizing the benefits of digitalization, including lack of infrastructure and human resource expertise and the role of public-private partnerships in developing solutions, are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]