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5th December 2024
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
📅 05 December 2024 | 🕟16:00-17:00 CET | 💻 Online |
On a global level, food security levels present a critical challenge, exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic that disrupted global food supply chains and brought with it the loss of jobs and livelihoods of small-scale farmers. What role can technology, in particular digital technologies and AI, play in addressing food security challenges?
In an African context, there are hopes that technology could support small-scale and marginalized farmers. There are already different urban and rural agricultural initiatives thatare supported by tech tools. Hence, the question arises how tech can be best used to localise food systems and close the gaps between farmers and consumers.
Even though food security is not regarded as a priority area in the global North, there are various initiatives, known as smart or vertical farming, which make use of digital technology in urban and rural contexts. The objective of such innovations is not just to increase outputs and harvests but also to pursue more sustainable methods of agriculture, in particular to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.
The Panel:
• Alex Pazaitis
Researcher at the Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology and core member of P2P Lab
• Linda Godfrey
Principal Scientist at the CSIR and Extraordinary Professor at North-West University, South Africa, and holds a PhD in Engineering
• Matthias Nachtmann
Chairmain of Friends of Digital Farming and Sustainability Business Development, BASF Agricultural Solutions
Further Resources
From Linda Godfrey:
• CSIR’s Circular Economy & Agriculture report
From Alex Pazaitis:
• An article documenting our field work in the Greek mountains
• A book on open-source agriculture (full-text available here)
• More resources on the P2P Lab website