Sèton Calmette Ariane Houetohossou

Tomato is one of the most appreciated vegetables in the world. Predicting its yield and optimizing its culture is important for global food security. This paper addresses the challenge of finding optimum climatic values for a high tomato yield. The Frequent Pattern Growth (FPG) algorithm was considered to establish the associations between six climate variables: minimum and maximum temperatures, maximum humidity, sunshine (Sun), rainfall, and evapotranspiration (ET), collected over 26 years in the three agro-ecological Zones of Benin. Monthly climate data were aggregated with yield data over the same period. After aggregation, the data were transformed into ‘low’, ‘medium’, and ‘high’ attributes using the threshold values defined. Then, the rules were generated using the minimum support set to 0.2 and the confidence to 0.8. Only the rules with the consequence ‘high yield’ were screened. The best yield patterns were observed in the Guinean Zone, followed by the Sudanian. The results indicated that high tomato yield was associated with low ET in all areas considered. Minimum and maximum temperatures, maximum humidity, and Sun were medium in every Zone. Moreover, rainfall was high in the Sudanian Zone, unlike the other regions where it remained medium. These results are useful in assessing climate variability’s impact on tomato production. Thus, they can help farmers make informed decisions on cultivation practices to optimize production in a changing environment. In addition, the findings of this study can be considered in other regions and adapted to other crops.

The digital transformation of agriculture can support economic growth and food and nutrition security in Africa. The objectives of this study were to provide an overview of the status of digital agriculture in five West African countries, analyze their efforts in developing the enabling environment and innovations, and formulate recommendations based on the identified gaps for the effective transformation of the sector. For this purpose, a literature search was performed using various sources, including web pages and databases of national agricultural and digital transformation institutions and start-ups of the five target countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria) and regional/international institutions. The information retrieved was used for individual country and cross-country comparative analysis of the progress and propositions of feasible actions for improvements. The results showed increasing agri-digital initiatives in the five countries, which were grouped into seven categories based on their objectives. Steady progress was also observed in mobile internet adoption, despite the differences in deploying crucial infrastructure to promote digital agriculture. The mobile connectivity index (MCI) in all five countries is below 60. Nonetheless, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire demonstrated more efforts in internet and electricity access, especially in rural areas. Benin and Nigeria have developed separate documents depicting the roadmap for digital agriculture, while the other countries are working to create one or have it embedded in their national development plans. Similarities and specificities exist among countries for laws and processes protecting agri-digital innovators. To be competitive and self-reliant in the global e-economy, these countries must reposition themselves to accelerate changes in digital agriculture through effective governance and synergy of actions in different sectors and across nations.

This study focuses on agriculture, which is the main source of economic growth in many West African countries. In recent years, conventional agriculture has undergone a remarkable evolution and digital technologies are widely used for different purposes. While the world is rapidly using advanced digital technologies to grow their agriculture, Africa seems to be lagging behind, especially West Africa. To know how to contribute effectively, it is important to know what is being performed about this issue. The objective of this study is to examine the state of digital agriculture in five countries, namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. The study consisted of an analysis of the scientific contributions of these countries and the cases of actual deployment. This is carried out by means of a bibliometric study based on data collected from the Web of Science and a comparative review of the technologies used in the target countries using data from several sources, such as IEEE, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar, etc. The bibliometric analysis based on 3249 publications revealed that research interests have increased significantly since 2014. Climate change, machine learning (ML), and adoption have been the hottest topics of discussion and most of the organizations working on the topic are academic bodies. Moreover, a considerable amount of the scientific input was obtained from Nigeria, which is the most populous of the five countries considered. The survey on digital farming showed that publications in Nigeria that address deployment cases were focused on the internet of things (IoT), wireless sensor networks, blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. In Ghana, practical cases of blockchain, AI, and big data deployment were observed, while Burkina Faso focused on IoT and AI. In Côte d’Ivoire and Benin, the deployment cases generally focused on AI.

Digital transformation of agriculture can support economic growth and food and nutri-tion security in Africa. This study provides an overview of the status of digital agriculture in five west African countries, analyzing their efforts in developing the enabling environment and inno-vations while formulating recommendations based on the identified gaps for the effective trans-formation of the sector. Information was retrieved through a literature search from various sources, including web pages and databases of national agricultural and digital transformation institutions and start-ups of the five target countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria) and regional/international institutions. There have been increasing agri-digital initia-tives in the five countries, which were grouped into seven categories based on their objectives. Steady progress was also observed in mobile internet adoption, despite the differences in deploy-ing crucial infrastructure to promote digital agriculture. The mobile connectivity index (MCI) in all five countries is below 60. Nonetheless, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire demonstrated more efforts in internet and electricity access, especially in rural areas. Benin and Nigeria have developed sep-arate documents depicting the roadmap for Digital Agriculture, while the other countries are working to create one or have it embedded in their national development plans. Similarities and specificities exist among countries for laws and processes protecting Agri-digital innovators. To be competitive and self-reliant in the global e-economy, these countries must reposition them-selves to accelerate changes in digital agriculture through effective governance and synergy of actions in different sectors and across nations.

Agriculture is the primary source of economic growth in many countries in West Africa. It provides food and livelihoods for the population. The purpose of this study is to review the digital agriculture status in five countries, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Coˆte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. The study consisted of a bibliometric analysis using a database exported from the web of science through a well-defined search string. Additionally, the cases of digital technology deployment in the countries were assessed through a systematic review approach comparing the technologies used in the target countries. Representative articles from the bibliometric review published in the last five years were selected for the comparative analysis. The bibliometric analysis based on 3,249 publications revealed that the research interests have significantly increased since 2014. The top two countries in terms of authors’ nationality were Nigeria and Ghana, respectively. Climate change, Machine Learning (ML) and adoption were the hot topics of discussion. The digital agriculture survey showed that publications in Nigeria were focused on Internet of Things (IoT), Wireless Sensors Networks, blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence (IA) technologies. Ghana also has a strong interest in blockchain, AI, and big data, while Burkina Faso focused on IoT and AI. Cote d’Ivoire and Benin focused only on AI.