Digital Services for Agriculture 2
April 17, 2024
COVID-19 & DIGITAL EMPLOYABILITY PROGRAMME 3
April 26, 2024Projects
Digital Services for Agriculture 3
Table of contents
Project Overview
This project aimed to:
- Increase understanding, knowledge and learning on whether Digital Services in Agriculture as implemented in the previous two Phases during the UK financial year of 2020/2021 to 2021/2022 in Laikipia County of Kenya did indeed empower farmers and whether as result they improved their livelihoods and social inclusion.
- To further test some of models with minimal tweaking in different contexts especially in the additional Counties of Busia and Kilifi in Kenya
- Using the knowledge and learnings generated from the two aims above to inform digital services in agriculture policy and regulatory enhancements.
Project Context:
In 2009/2020, UK DAP supported a User needs assessment dubbed “Maudhui digiti” a Swahili word coined to mean “digital content” with an overall goal of improving access to locally-relevant and development-oriented digital content in Laikipia county. Specifically, the project aimed to 1) understand the user needs and barriers to accessing locally relevant digital content and 2) increase capacity of farmers to access and use locally relevant digital agricultural content. Key highlights of the assessment included:
- 1% of the respondents relied on digital content as the main source of agricultural information.
- 55.53 % of the respondents recommended Kiswahili as a preferred language followed by Kikuyu and then English at 21.58 % and 20.53 % respectively.
- Twice as many females than males had not accessed government services. Conspicuous gender gaps were observed in internet access and usage with female leading at 51.94 % on lack of digital skills against that of male farmers who only 37 % said they did not have requisite skills and knowledge of internet access
- Majority of the farmers in Laikipia County did not embrace and take advantage of opportunities presented by e-commerce and e-banking platforms.
- 52 % of farmers used mobile phones to send or receive short Message service (SMS),
- Lack of digital skills, high cost of internet and poor internet coverage topped the list of barriers to internet access by both female and male farmers.
Similar barriers were confirmed by two separate studies by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). For example in 2020/2021 the Access Gap Study for Voice and Data and the Use and Impact assessment of previously funded Universal Service Fund projects confirmed that while Agriculture was one of the key use cases of ICT services, there was lack of awareness, digital literacy skills, localised/contextualised content among citizens and lack of usefulness created by the services.
In 2020/2021 and 2021/2022, UK DAP supported two projects aimed at increasing access to local relevant digital agricultural content through several integrated interventions including translating some of the of existing content into 3 local languages of Kiswahili, Kikuyu and Maasai, sensitized and created awareness to over 160,000 farmers through different media channels (offline and online). Trained about 38,000 farmers and 100 Trainer of Trainers on basic digital integration skills, digitized content of about 20 value chains, provided access to agricultural extension advisory services, weather forecasting, general information useful to the farmers across different stages on the value chain.
It is acknowledged that the agricultural sector is the backbone of Kenya's economy, contributing approximately 33 per cent of Kenya's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020. The importance of agriculture is emphasised in Kenya through Vision 2030, the Medium-Term Plan III, and the former President's Big Four priority agenda for 2017-2022, which emphasised the need for 100% food and nutrition security for all Kenyans. This sector employs more than 40 per cent of the total population and 70 per cent of the rural population. Undoubtedly, this sector is key to Kenya's socio-economic transformation, food security, and poverty alleviation. Notably, the Kenya Vision 2030 identifies agriculture as a critical sector through which annual economic growth rates of 10% can be achieved (ATGS, 2019-2029).
The Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS)-2019-2029 has set out to ensure a vibrant, commercial, and modern agricultural sector that sustainably supports Kenya's development in devolution, short-term national aspirations for 100% food security, and longer-term global bodies commitments. Among the Key pillars that will enable this transformation are knowledge and skills (Pillar 7), research, innovation, and Data (Pillar 8). Besides, ASTGS also aims to boost the food resilience of 1.2 million farming and pastoralist households in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) through community-driven intervention design (Pillar 6)[2]
UK DAP should fund this phase of the project to understand, document knowledge, learnings from the previous two phases of the Digital Agriculture project and disseminate appropriately. These will inform decisions around whether the project has packaged, tested a minimum viable product in form of digital content and services delivery models/approaches to be scaled or recommended to other stakeholders. This will also be in line with the Principles for Digital Development to assess whether the two initial project hypotheses were achieved or not.
The hypotheses which have been guiding this project since inception were:
Hypothesis 1: Local stakeholder engagement leads to more accessible, locally relevant and development oriented digital content for excluded or underserved communities and local organisations
Hypothesis 2: if content is better tailored to the needs of typically excluded or underserved communities and local organisations and they are better able to access (and potentially also develop) this content, then they will be better able to leverage the developmental benefits of digital.
Partners
KALRO
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization)
KALRO is a corporate body created under the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Act of 2013 to establish suitable legal and institutional framework for coordination of agricultural research in Kenya with the following goals:
- Promote, streamline, co-ordinate and regulate research in crops, livestock, genetic resources and biotechnology in Kenya.
- Expedite equitable access to research information, resources and technology and promote the application of research findings and technology in the field of agriculture.
Apart from provision of content to be digitized, KALRO will also provide technical support in localization and customization of weather forecasts (real-time and historical records of all relevant weather variables including short-term weather forecasts); provision of agronomic advisory content that enables farmers lets farmers have the right information to monitor and predict the current situation and get them ahead of the game as well as agricultural insights. KALRO will also work closely with ACWICT to customize the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) that is also availed in form of mobile application. The GAP will be customised for priority value chains that will identified by farmers. ACWICT has an open MoU with KALRO that outlines partner roles and responsibilities on the project.
AgriBORA
AgriBORA is an agri-fin-tech company balancing the use of technology and human touch to de-risk smallholder agriculture systems, improve farm productivity and facilitate effective trading in collaboration with partners in Europe, the US, and Africa. The company is building an end-to-end ecosystem around farmers bringing farming inputs, financial services and output market closer to them in a way that makes the process affordable, convenient and reliable for not only the farmers, but their business partners. AgriBORA worked with ACWICT in conducting the needs assessment in five counties and demonstrated competence, and will be engaged to participate in the research component of the project. https://agribora.com/
Viscar Industrial Capacity Limited
(https://www.viscarcapacity.com)
Viscar Industrial Capacity is a dynamic Training, Consulting and Resourcing firm that provides innovative Information Technology and Engineering solutions for organizations and individuals. Viscar has a rich history of driving innovation and excellence in capacity building and partners with organizations to enhance productivity and optimize strategic output. Viscar Industrial Capacity is also an FCDO partner and a leader in ICT for development especially for the marginalized and excluded using the Universal Service Fund. Viscar Industrial Capacity Ltd will support content moderation and alignment with the Use and Impact Study, support Monitoring and Evaluation activities, and technical support to the project to align with USF Strategy 2022-2025. Viscar will also be responsible for the development and dissemination of Knowledge products across key stakeholders. ACWICT is in the process of developing and signing an MoU to this effect.
AHERI Net
AHERI Net is an ISP working in Western Kenya, and has already signed an MoU with ACWICT to enable affordable internet access using emerging technologies models (Community Networks) in Busia County.
Dunia Moja Networks
Dunia Moja Networks is a community network based in Kilifi. Negotiations are at an advanced stage to engage them for provision of affordable internet access to farmers using emerging technologies models in Kilifi County.
Telkom Kenya Ltd
Telkom Kenya is the state-owned telecommunications and ISP. ACWICT has a running MoU with Telkom Kenya to facilitate affordable internet access to farmers through the constituency innovation centres, and where possible through its Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
The Communications Authority
The Communication Authority regulates the ICT sector in Kenya. They will be responsible in ensuring availability of connectivity in target areas. In addition, through the Universal Service Fund, they are part of the sustainability plan when the programme ends.
Key partnership outcomes
Following the partnerships, huge strides were made by the project in enhancing access to digital information to farmers in Laikipia County of Kenya;
- Close collaboration with the County Government of Laikipia resulted in buy-in and ownership, ultimately a smooth project implementation process. Engagement with the county started with consultations that culminated in the identification of the project contact person. Subsequent talks resulted in co-development/co-design of the ICT for Agriculture curriculum and its validation, co-development of criteria for identifying TOTs, planning and roll-out of cascade training and farmer sensitization, identification of priority value chains to develops apps. By doing this, the project not only ensures that farmers' needs and priorities were effectively addressed but also ensures project buy-in and ownership.
- Fifteen priority farmer value chains were identified and subsequently developed with the support of KALRO. All fifteen are available in English and Kiswahili, while five have been translated into Kikuyu and Maasai Local languages.
- Partnership with ISPs enhanced network coverage in areas not covered before. Following the mapping exercise for areas with no network in Laikipia, Liquid Telkom and Telkom Kenya provided internet hotspots in three (3) and one (1) areas of limited internet access in Laikipia County. The effort will allow farmers in the area to access online digital content.
- Content developers agreed to provide content in one platform resulting in development of the “bundled services platform’’. The platform will enable farmers to access information and services without navigating through various online avenues thus saving time and costs.
- Project discussion with partners enabled partners to commit to improving digital content in their platforms linked to the bundled services platform. For instance, Digi Green has spearheaded the process of recording educative videos of some identified value chains in Laikipia County to be posted in the bundle services platforms. Content on pesticides by CABI and Insurance by ACRE Africa has been developed and shared. Subsequently, CABI published an article depicting the partnership on their website; https://www.cabi.org/news-article/cabi-and-acwict-partner-to-enhance-digital-agricultural-resource-use-by-women-and-young-farmers-in-kenya/
Engagement of Farmer Value Chain Players on Digital Literacy for Agriculture
The project conducted forum to engage private sector players in the county on digital literacy. Those targeted include those involved in farmer inputs, and markets including pertinent department in Laikipia County. The objective of the private sector engagement activity was to sensitize the stakeholders on the importance of using ICT in their day-to-day work with farmers and discuss opportunities for leveraging ICT to enhance service provision to farmers. The meeting held in May 2021 saw representation from the following partners and government officials;
- The county department of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries
- County Department of Trade
- Mawingu Networks
- Laititu Mutoro Beekeepers Cooperative
- County ICT Department
- Ngarua Dairy Value Chain Cooperative
- Laikipia Maize Value Chain Cooperative
Through the forum, a key approach on enhancing farmer digital literacy through farmer groups and cooperatives emerged as a key strategy. The need to train input supplies on the use of ICT and accessing online content was pointed out as a key approach to ensuring farmers' needs are always addressed.
Others :
- KARLO
- CABI
- The county government of Laikipia
- APDK
Stakeholders
- Small Holder farmers in Laikipia
- County Government of Laikipia
- Community networks
- Agricultural Platform Providers
- KARLO
- CABI
- Content
Methodology
Analytical Framework
The Analytical model shown in Figure 1 enables the Researcher to ask and attempts to answer the following questions:
- How effective were the respective models and solutions provided?
- How can effective models and solutions be scaled to attract public and private investment ?
- How can less effective models and solutions be enhanced?
- What are the Key lessons and best practices learnt from these DSA project
The questions present the opportunity to leverage critical digital transformation drivers. In this context, the implementation will be premised on driving meaningful actions, scaling successful models, generating and publishing knowledge products, and strengthening the digital capacities of farmers and extension staff in the selected counties for the future. The project will leverage needs assessment findings from the previous DAP-supported projects to address the identified impediments and digital needs. The interventions will consider the outcome of successful models and the development of digital principles. Digital status, including gaps and strengths, and then develop a strategy for strengthening digital capacity and implementation plan. In addition, the project will assess the digital transformation drivers (enablers and barriers) based on workable models through knowledge and learning exchange forums, including Community of Practice (CoP) and partnerships. To this extent, the project will leverage DIAL case study for Kenya that highlights common Digital Drivers for global use across six focus areas: People, Infrastructure, Enabling Platforms and Services, Business and Innovation, Policy and Regulation, and Governance.
Project implementation will involve the following broad activities:
- Meetings with relevant stakeholders' key for project delivery;
- Sensitization of farmers through community meetings, practical demonstrations, and local radio and television stations;
- Training of trainers and cascading training to farmers;
- Contextualising locally relevant digital agricultural content,
- Action Research
A project implementation plan and its narrative have been attached separately.
Action Research Methodology
A comprehensive learning framework shall be developed at the beginning of the project. However, here below is an example of a question we shall investigate by applying the Practical action research model through: 1) Asking a Question, 2) Planning an intervention, 3) Applying the intervention (Action), 4) Observing the results 5) Reflecting on the Results to derive meaning. In carrying out action research to improve DSA, the researcher will collect data and evidence about the DSA process and beneficiary learning. Some of the techniques which can be used for the said purpose include: Beneficiary needs Assessment, Interviewing through closed Questionnaires, Diary/Journaling, Analytics, Supporting Documents, Interaction Schedules, Focused group discussions, Learning Inventories, Interviewing through Open Ended Questionnaires, Diagnosis of Beneficiary Conceptions, Video Recording, Triangulation among other technics.
Example:
Using one Digital Services in Agriculture to improve service visibility and accessibility
Question
While DSA bundled services platform has been in use for the last two years in Lakipia County by Farmers, little is known about its effectiveness in enhancing any farming activity (productivity, marketing information/linkage, preparation, post harvesting). The aim of the bundled services platform was to facilitate faster access to DSA by farmers in laikipia
Plan
DSA bundled services has always been available for access by farmers across as long as they have necessary facilities and interest to access
Act
The DSA bundled services was available and used by some of the farmers to access different types of information
Observe
In order to ascertain the effectiveness in facilitating faster access to DSA services, farmers were interviewed to provide feedback
Reflect
What are farmers who use the bundled services are saying?
Outputs
Journal Article Number 1: Completed
Local Stakeholder Engagement and Support Influence the Access to Digital Content in Agriculture Services for Smallholder Farmers and Excluded or Underserved Communities
Abstract
This journal article examines the pivotal role of local stakeholder engagement and support in enhancing smallholder farmers' and marginalised communities' access to digital services in agriculture content. Using the theory of change, this paper investigates how local engagement positively impacts access to agricultural digital content. The specific objectives are to examine the interventions: DSA platform usefulness, internet access and affordability, and DSA benefits awareness for access to digital content. A participatory Action Research was deployed involving farmers in all stages of the research process. The sampling strategy was stratified random sampling with 1510 farmers selected from 38,026 farmers in the three sub-counties (Laikipia East, Laikipia North and Laikipia West) of Laikipia County, Kenya.
The KMO results for the study were .948 and had a significance of .000, which confirmed that the data was suitable for factor analysis. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) = 0.620 indicates a strong positive relationship between the overall predictors and the dependent variable. Further, the R-Square value of 0.382 suggests that approximately 38.2% of the variance in the dependent variable "Access to Digital Content" can be explained by the combined effect of the predictor variables. The findings in this research help inform policy and contribute towards a multistakeholder approach to improving Access to digital content in agriculture.
The paper concludes that Local Stakeholder Engagement and Support and respective interventions Influence the Access to Digital Content in Digital Agriculture Services for Smallholder Farmers and Excluded or Underserved Communities. Further, this paper has established that DSA platform usefulness, Internet access and affordability, and DSA benefits awareness creation positively and significantly influence Access to Digital Content in Agriculture. This paper recommends further research to validate and develop Local Stakeholder Engagement and Support measurements and Access to Digital Content in Digital Agriculture Services and cover a more expansive geographical space in several counties and countries.
Key Words: Stakeholder, Smallholder, Farmers, Digital, Content, Agriculture, Internet, Platforms.
Journal Article Number 2: Completed
The Influence of Local Stakeholder Engagement and Support on the Quality of Locally Relevant Digital Content in Digital Agriculture Services for Smallholder Farmers and Excluded or Underserved Communities
Abstract
This paper investigated the influence of local stakeholder engagement and support on the quality of locally relevant digital content in digital agriculture services for smallholder farmers and excluded or underserved communities in Laikipia County in Kenya. The study employed a participatory, collaborative, and transformative action research methodology and used the survey method to collect data. A representative random sample of 1510 farmers was surveyed after the local stakeholder engagement and support interventions had been administered two years prior. The study then used stakeholder theory and the theory of change perspective to analyse various pathways and outcomes of the study interventions emanating from local stakeholder engagement and support.
The findings establish that the engagement and support by the stakeholders, platform providers (DSA platforms), bundled services providers (bundled services), and awareness creators (awareness creation) have a positive and significant influence on the quality of digital content in digital agriculture services for smallholder farmers and excluded or underserved communities. The multiple correlation coefficient (R) = 0.546 indicates a moderate positive relationship between the overall predictors and the dependent variable. Further, the R-Square value of 0.298 suggests that approximately 29.8% of the variance in the dependent variable, ‘quality of digital content,’ can be explained by the combined effect of the predictor variables. The paper concludes that local stakeholder engagement and support influence quality digital content in digital agriculture services for smallholder farmers and excluded or underserved communities. The findings will help inform policy and contribute towards a multi-stakeholder approach to digital content creation in agriculture. Further research is recommended to validate and develop Local Stakeholder Engagement and Support measurements and the Quality of Digital Content in Digital Agriculture Services covering multi-country studies.
Key Words: Stakeholder, Smallholder, Farmers, Digital, Content, Agriculture
Journal Article Number 3: Completed
The Effect of Tailored Digital Content, Ability to Access and Create It, on Leveraging on Developmental Benefits of Digital Services in Agriculture by Smallholder Farmers and Underserved Communities
Abstract:
This paper's purpose was to investigate the effect of tailored digital content (TDC), the ability to access (ACC) and create or add digital content (ADC), and leveraging on developmental benefits (LDB) of digital services in agriculture (DSA) by smallholder farmers and underserved communities. The study achieved this goal by pursuing three objectives: analysing tailored digital content, the ability to access the content, and the capacity to create or add digital content to leverage the developmental benefits of DSA. A representative random sample of 1510 smallholder farmers from Laikipia County in Kenya were the respondents, with data collected using an assisted structured questionnaire. The paper established a positive and statistically significant relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The resulting linear regression model is Leveraging Developmental Benefits of DSA=1.688 + 0.103×Tailored Digital Content+0.292×Access to DSA+0.151×Ability to Add to Content. Further research using multi-county variables is recommended.
Keywords: Digital, Agriculture, Content, Farmers, Developmental benefits
Journal Article Number 4: Completed
TO SMALLHOLDER FARMERS AND UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES INCREASE INTERACTIONS WITH THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS
Abstract
This paper investigates the influence of quality-tailored digital content, Access to Digital Content, and the ability to create/add to the content on interactions by smallholder farmers and underserved communities with digital ecosystems. The study employs a participatory, collaborative, and transformative action research methodology. Further, the study uses an analytical framework and theory of change perspective to analyse various pathways and outcomes of the study interventions. A representative sample of 1,510 smallholder farmers was selected in Laikipia County through a proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Data were obtained by administering a structured online assisted questionnaire, while descriptive statistics and linear regression were used to analyse the data.
The findings of this paper have established that quality-tailored digital content has a significant (b=0.513, t=61.652, p=.000) effect on the interactions with digital ecosystems by smallholder farmers and underserved communities. Likewise, Access to digital Content significantly (b=.324, t=28.862, p=.000) affected smallholder farmers' and underserved communities' interactions with digital ecosystems. Similarly, the ability to create/add to the content had a significant (b=.081, t=8.843, p=.000) effect on the interactions with digital ecosystems by smallholder farmers and underserved communities. To enhance interactions with digital ecosystems, it was recommended that policies be developed to provide relevant, reliable, and engaging digital content tailored to the specific needs of smallholder farmers and the underserved. These policies should also ensure affordable and accessible internet connectivity in rural areas to facilitate seamless access to digital agricultural content by smallholder farmers and underserved communities.
Key Words: Smallholder, Farmers, Digital, Content, Tailored, Agriculture, Access, Create
Policy Brief Number 1: Completed
- The engagement and support of various stakeholders, such as platform providers, internet access and affordability providers, DSA benefits awareness creators, digital skills trainers, local relevant digital content creators, and bundled DSA service providers, have a positive impact on the access and quality of local digital content in digital agriculture services for smallholder farmers and excluded or underserved communities.
- Digital Agriculture Services (DSA) have the potential to significantly benefit smallholder farmers and underserved communities, provided there is comprehensive access to digital content.
- The agro-food sector is facing both significant challenges–such as global food insecurity, climate change and resource scarcity–as well as significant opportunities, in particular, growing local and global food demand, a digital ecosystem that has the potential to transform smallholder farmers' livelihood and agricultural practices,
- A significant policy shift towards sustainable and data-driven long-term strategic investment decisions is critical to meeting these challenges and opportunities, particularly for smallholder farmers.
- Digital Agricultural policy must be coherent with economy-wide policies to create an enabling environment conducive to achieving multiple goals, including poverty eradication, climate change resilience, digital equity, and agricultural sector transformation.
This policy brief outlines strategies for local stakeholder engagement and support to ensure widespread digital content access and quality in the agricultural sector for smallholder digital transformation.
Policy Brief Number 2: Completed
Outcomes
In response to the need for evaluation, generation of knowledge, learnings, best practices in the use of digital services in agriculture and leveraging on the experience and results achieved in previous two projects by ACWICT in Laikipia county, this project will continue to enhance food & nutrition security; and improve the livelihood of farmers in some parts of Laikipia County. This will be undertaken in form of action research. However, as opposed to the previous two phases, during this phase, the project will also be tested in two other remote Counties of Kilifi and Busia in Kenya. While spearheading the adoption of Digital Services in Agricultural in the targeted counties, this will be anchored in the analytical framework shown in Figure 1 above and the theory of change in Annex 2. The digitalization of Agricultural services is key to unlocking agriculture's productivity and outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (Kieti et al., 2022). Indeed, a lot of literature exists on digitalization in agriculture, such as the internet of things, big data, ubiquitous connectivity, and artificial intelligence. However, less literature exists on the social science of Agricultural digitalisation (Klerkxa, Jakkub & Labarthe, 2019). In the current project phase, deliberate initiatives have been incorporated into the project to enable the production of knowledge that will help catalyze further gains in the digitalization of Agriculture not just in Kenya but the rest of the world, especially within the jurisdiction of UK DAP. Furthermore, these knowledge products will help entrench long-term gains of the project through recommendations on public policies, regulations and proposals upon engagement of key stakeholders in DSAs. This main output will focus on researching critical existing and emerging issues relevant to digitalization in agricultural production. This output will leverage on the imminent access to users and stakeholders to carry out evidence-based studies leading to high-quality output such as research papers, policies, user-centred interventions and presentations. This project will take a four-phased approach to ensure the delivery of knowledge products aligned with the project's overall objective. The four phases captured in the diagram will be discussed later on at the inception stage.
Thus, the project will bring the impact envisaged through the following five thematic areas, namely: Service Visibility and Accessibility, Usability and Affordability, Digital Literacy, Technology Accessibility, and Policy Environment enhancement.
The project is expected to make changes through the following interrelated intervention areas:
- Service Accessibility and visibility: Increase awareness, delivery mechanism (bundled services/one-stop-shop), and eco-system wide collaboration, among stakeholders, including farmers, government officials (National/County), cooperatives societies, suppliers (aggregators, agro-dealers) among many others. Through collaboration with all including Telecommunication Regulator to last mile connectivity models, as farmers will be able to access and use online/offline platforms and services where and as necessary.
- Service Usability &Affordability: Focusing on digital Content & services to continuously review, align, localize, relevant/context-based content, develop content and services on a priority basis. Availing what is already available from other reputable service/content providers. This is expected to convince, compel continued usage, expected to exceed the 'cost' or even for 'free' because there is always a cost to farmer to access the service even what is perceived to be free service.
- Digital Literacy: Impart operational digital Literacy skills among farmers to enable them access and use digital technologies. This will also include capacity to retain their online safety and security by developing confidence and trust in the internet and online platforms. In turn, they will gain capacity to access and use digital services for agriculture.
- Technology Accessibility: Farmers are empowered to decide whether to choose smartphones over other devices, use internet -enabled or other means to access value from DSA-SMS, USSD, safety and capacity of power storage of the devices. This will also include facilitating access to affordable internet services/data bundles for example through last mile connectivity models such as ICT Community Networks/centre models, small ISPs using emerging technologies such as TVWS, aimed at improving availability and affordability of internet services to farmers to support the use of digital agricultural services,
- Informing Public Policy and Regulatory Environment: Public policy concerns are implicit across the four intervention areas. a) For instance, technology accessibility as an impediment to the scaling out of Digital Services in Agriculture (DSA) can be minimized through increased public policy interventions to improve the telecommunications infrastructure for universal access and to reduce the digital divide,b) Generate Knowledge of Digital Services for Agriculture project (Models...etc) to assess and enable adaptation and scaling by different stakeholders. The knowledge and evidence generated will be used for policy advocacy, and further benefit the wider regions including the other four DAP partner countries. Evidence will be used to lobby for stronger partnerships to reach more farmers and stakeholders to support Digital Services for Agriculture. Public policy investment in an Aggregated Platforms(bundled services/one-stop-shop) through the funding, coordination or public endorsement of such a platform can also minimize Service accessibility/visibility as an impediment to DSA scale-out. Governments can also invest in enhanced awareness creation and distribution frameworks for existing beneficial DSAs. Governments can also promote collaboration among actors to advance initiatives that produce common good benefits, such as open data and data cooperatives, among other Digital Principles for Development. Subsidizing DSA costs to reduce service affordability challenges for essential DSAs can minimise impediments related to their service usability and affordability around Value proposition.
