State of Food and Agriculture Report 2022

November 7, 2022

The State of Food and Agriculture 2022 was released on November 2 this year.

What is State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA)?

The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) is one of the annual flagship reports released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It provides comprehensive insights into the various issues related to the field of food and agriculture based on science-based assessment. It covers topics that are important for rural and agricultural development as well as global food security.

What are the key findings of the State of Food and Agriculture Report 2022?

The report assessed various drivers of agricultural automation, including the recently developed digital technologies.
Based on 27 case studies, the report analyzed the business case for the adoption of these digital automation technologies across various agricultural production systems in the world.
It identified various challenges that are preventing inclusive adoption of these technologies, especially by small-scale producers. It recognized two major barriers for their adoption – low digital literacy and lack of supportive infrastructure like connectivity and access to electricity.
The report recommended policies that will enable disadvantaged groups to access the agricultural automation technologies, which will help in the creation of sustainable and resilient agri-food systems.
Agriculture sector in high-income countries in North America, Europe and Oceania are highly mechanized since the 1960s. However, regions dominated by low and middle-income countries are less mechanized.
Only ten of the twenty-seven service providers are profitable and financially sustainable. All of these profitable service providers are based in high-income and used solutions that are in the mature phase, serving only large-scale producers.
There are significant differences in the spread of automation technologies between and within countries.
The adoption is especially limited in sub-Saharan Africa. Agriculture in this region is dominated by human and animal power, limiting the productivity significantly. The report recommends setting up sustainable rental mechanisms to address this issue.
The report addresses the concerns regarding the unemployment crisis caused by labour-saving technologies. It gives several recommendations in this regard:

Avoiding subsidization of automation in regions where rural labor is abundant and wages are low
Creation of favorable environment for the adoption of automation technology
Providing social security for low-skilled workers who are likely to lose their livelihood because of the automation.

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