Farmers Review Africa Sept/Oct 2018 FRA - September - October 2018 digital 5 | Page 52

FEATURE
are available hiring services using
digital technologies are proving popular
around the continent, underscoring
how the sharing of capital assets can
be leveraged to achieve greater scale
and access to modern tools.
Solutions
The framework notes that cross-
border initiatives - for dealers, supply
networks and tractor operators - can
allow for viable scale and greater
utilization.
Another key consideration is farm
profitability. This can be fostered
by giving access to markets, credit
and land tenure a visible role in
mechanization policies.
Photo Courtesy of The John Deere Journal
50 |September - October 2018
The framework has been designed to
contribute to the pledges made in the
African Union’s Malabo Declaration
and Agenda 2063, and to do so in
a way that is private-sector driven,
environmentally smart, affordable and
friendly o smallholder farmers.
Its implementation will require
significant contributions from other
stakeholders, including public
institutions and private actors such as
the European Agricultural Machinery
Industries Association (CEMA), which
has just renewed its partnership with
FAO to work on issues related to
sustainable mechanization strategies in
developing countries.
FAO and the AU’s strategy
acknowledges that “there is great
potential for innovation in African
agriculture” - notably with the
proliferation of mobile technologies and
access to information and services -
and that a significant effort in capacity
development will have to be made to
rise to related challenges.
To that end, FAO and the International
Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT) have also published a
training manual to help roll out more
effective networks of access to small-
scale mechanization services.