South African Agriculture and the Technological Revolution

South African agriculture is being swept along by the global technological revolution that is challenging traditional farming practices. For our farmers, investing in technology is subtly changing their businesses, the success of which is now as dependent on data, digital tools, and the ability to use information as are their time-honoured skills in producing food for the nation.

Digital Transformation in Agriculture

The use of technology to increase efficiencies is helping to increase production and profitability by enabling farmers to make well-informed decisions at all stages of the production process. Digital and data innovation at the farm level benefits the entire agricultural value chain, with all parties, from financiers to exporters to retailers, collaborating in the management of digital data. All parties can therefore analyze market dynamics, monitor real-time operations, and forecast prices in order to plan proactively and make beneficial decisions that can optimize profits and unlock growth opportunities.

Technological Advancements in Farming

Part of this ongoing transition has seen farmers becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of smart irrigation systems, alternative methods of securing energy, drone technology, and genetic engineering of crops. These technologies are boosting food production on a continent where about 140 million people face acute food insecurity.

Agricultural Knowledge Hubs for Farmers

As farmers become more aware of the challenges facing their business, they attend more events that are now geared to become major information and knowledge seeking hubs, such as the annual NAMPO Harvest Festival exhibition. This is illustrated by the 2024 NAMPO event, which is the largest in the southern hemisphere, and is built around ‘Agriculture in a Digital Age’, underscoring the ongoing interest in the digital agri-renaissance.

Standard Bank’s Role in Agriculture

Food security continues to be a major challenge for Africa’s people. Standard Bank’s purpose is to drive Africa’s growth. One of the ways in which we do this is by partnering with our clients to support the agricultural sector through our deep industry expertise and financial solutions.

Standard Bank’s Approach

Our approach seeks to do a number of things:

• Helping to create agribusinesses that can achieve their ambitions and contribute to the gross national income of about R 41.8 billion earned by agricultural projects annually.
• Fostering innovation and digitization in the agribusiness value chain by introducing platform business models for our clients. This includes considering the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with tasks that range from exploring soil health to recommending fertilizer and pesticide applications and other functions that enable agile responses to production needs.
• Proactively addressing climate change and production issues by developing financial solutions that enable farmers, regardless of scale, to access new practices and technologies. This is central to helping ensure food security in South Africa, whose population is expected to reach 82 million by 2035.
• Assessing ways of including small-scale farmers as recipients of the benefits offered by modern, technical advances. Increasingly, small-scale farmers attend events such as NAMPO to learn about new equipment and production techniques.

Standard Bank’s OneFarm Initiative

Standard Bank’s adoption of digital platforms to assist the agricultural sector is best illustrated by the well-established OneFarm initiative, which harnesses digital technology to promote and support sustainable farming practices.

Focused on reducing food waste, accelerating farmer development, and alleviating food security, OneFarm provides solutions for farmers, buyers and off-takers, using out-grower programs, service providers, and financial donors to improve efficiencies, providing access to valuable data, and finding new opportunities to gain experience and build meaningful partnerships.

By Brendan Jacobs, Head of Agribusiness, Standard Bank