Working Paper

Information and Communication Technologies and Agricultural Development in Sub Saharan Africa: Transformation and Employment Generation

“This paper uses secondary information to give an overview of applications of ICT for economic change in the agricultural sector, as well as for the socio-economic transformation of the wider agrarian economy. Its objective in doing this is to identify the elements of an appropriate framework for assessing the impact of ICT
on agricultural development, transformation, and employment generation. The paper will
review international experience with emphasis placed on SSA. The link between ICT
and development will be discussed more generally before describing the components of
the ICT system, providing examples from the agricultural sector where ICT are adopted.
The challenges encountered with policy for ICT application in agriculture in SSA are
then identified along with key research questions. The paper concludes by proposing a
research project that will make use of a commodity chain approach to explore nine
sector-based case studies to be undertaken in 12 SSA countries.”