Chapter 4: Commonwealth Caribbean & Americas
Policy recommendations to fast-track digitalisation of agriculture in the Caribbean
Recommendations: Digital innovations
Recommendations: Data infrastructure
Recommendations: Business development services
Recommendations: Enabling environment
Lessons learned from Canada
Conclusions
Pillar 1
Digital innovations
Gaps (factors limiting innovation and scalability in digital agriculture)
- Limited investments by private sector actors in digital innovations. The limitation in investment is from both the private and public sector and from international players.
- The region is characterised by a few digital solution service providers.
A. Use Support Measures to provide support to actors in the sector that have potential to promote (champion) investments that are building the rails for digitalisation of agriculture
A.1 Reduction in mobile-specific data tax rates Governments in the region should reduce direct taxes and import tariffs on mobile broadband connections.
A.2 Attracting more service providers to the region through incentives
The countries in the region should consider providing incentives to attract other internet service providers into the region. This would spur competition and force operators to lower end-user costs.
A.3 Tax incentives for software development services, ICT-related services, data processing services
Based on the gaps identified, tax incentives recommended include the following:
- Tax holidays for early-stage fin-techs that are focusing on agri-tech
- Set-up of special funds and accelerator programmes to support capacity building of early-stage start-ups
A.4 Provide R&D support, including R&D incentives, funding for basic research and R&D grants.
Based on the gaps identified, the following form of R&D support is recommended
- Set-up of special funds to finance the development of the relevant software.
- Tax allowances for companies (private sector, venture capitalist, investment funds and other development partners) that are focusing on research and development activities in digital agriculture innovation
Pillar 2
Data infrastructure
Gaps in the data infrastructure required for digitalisation of agriculture in the Caribbean SIDS to thrive
In the Caribbean, most of the Governments have national identifications and collect and distribute weather data. However, there is still a significant gap in the use of farmer and farm biosphere data in the existent digital solutions in the region. Some of these gaps include:
- Absence of robust national agri-statistical national data sets. Many of the countries in the region do not have national agri-statistical data infrastructure that would guide the adoption of formulated digital agricultural solutions to the needs of the population.
- Absence of state-run soil and weather data APIs. In the region, none of the state-run entities provide weather data in the form of open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Furthermore, none of the region’s governments have notable soil testing programmes.
- Absence of robust linkages between land and person identifiers. While there are national identifiers that are issued by governments in the region, many of the region’s governments have not yet created definitive links between the national identifiers and livestock, yield and soil identifiers.
B. Boost investment in agricultural data infrastructure and its key enablers
B.1 Investing in regular decennial Agricultural Census activities.
This avails digital solution developers with a quantitative summary of the data-centric needs of the population, hence enhancing possibility of developed digital solutions succeeding in the long run
B.2 Investing in the distribution of unique person identifiers and creating interoperability among different identity systems
Unique person identifiers are a critical first step in the creation of robust agricultural datasets that link person identifiers to land, weather
B.3 Investing in the collection and distribution of soil and weather data from state entities
Governments in the Caribbean collect and distribute soil data to smallholder farmers that cannot afford to pay for this service from private entities.
It can, in addition, avail free high-quality data sets collected by projects such as the SMOS project in state-provided digital agriculture solutions.
Pillar 3
Business development services
Gaps (factors hindering the flow of financing to digital innovations in agriculture)
- Lack of adequate financing in the region is a major hindrance to the development of the agriculture and other sectors. Most Caribbean SIDS cannot mobilise concessionary funds because the GNI per capita that is used as a metric to determine the amount of concessionary funds that a country obtains classifies them as middle-income countries.
- Limited incentive for private sector investment in robust mobile network operations. Although most Caribbean countries have identified the internet as critical to their economic and social development and therefore a high priority for investment, the efforts to attract the needed investment have been limited in practice. Frequently, policy-makers appear to be of the view that investors are eager to enter their countries’ market and are prepared to pay the top price for the licenses being offered.
- Low state-provided expenditure on government research and development into smart farming. The Caribbean Government entities have low expenditure on the research and development of custom smart farming solutions for smallholder farmers in the region. As observed in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, in the absence of significant private sector expenditure in the research and development of digital solutions, this leaves a void of funding entities for the development and systematic roll-out of digital agriculture solutions in the region.
- Absence of country-level innovation hubs. Governments in the region have had minimal effort in the creation of state-run digital agriculture innovation hubs in the region. This has had a consequent negative effect in the creation of locally relevant digital solutions in the region that are home-grown and customised to the Caribbean island’s context.
C. Making Government led investments in critical areas where there is limited private sector investment
C.1 Invest in public agricultural expenditure on digital agriculture R&D
In many Caribbean Island countries, large private actors with significant R&D budgets are largely non-existent. The Government can fill in the R&D gap left by the non-existent private entities by increasing expenditure on agricultural innovation research
The Base
Enabling environment
Gaps in the enabling environment required for digitalisation of agriculture to thrive
- Existence of a significant broadband coverage gap. Despite broadband extension efforts in the Caribbean, most areas in the islands are still uncovered by broadband connections. This is due to cost as coverage of some remote islands is particularly expensive.
- High cost of electricity due to reliance on fossil fuel energy. High electricity costs make the cost of powering cell sites very high. This consequently increases the cost of internet connections.
- Absence of policies that facilitate the growth of internet connectivity. Caribbean Governments have been largely responsive rather than proactive in nurturing the development of the internet to meet their countries’ needs.
D. Make public infrastructure investments, either directly or in partnership with private investors
D.1 Public–private partnerships.
Use of strategic public–private partnerships with mobile network operators to provide increased access to international internet bandwidth by sharing costs of building critical infrastructure like submarine internet cables
D.2 Effecting public–private partnerships to close the coverage gap in remote areas of some islands
D.3 Incentivise the use of technologies such as the Huawei rural star and the GEN CELL by mobile network operators to cover areas that have no broadband connections and no electricity grid coverage.
D.4 Make public infrastructure in areas not targeted by private sector actors
Governments in the Caribbean can make investments in broadband connections in areas with sparse populations. This is important because these areas are typically not targeted by private sector actors.
Lessons learned from the digital agricultural environment in Canada
Distribution of state-provided soil and weather data as APIs.
Unlike other several Governments in Commonwealth countries, the Canadian Government distributes its soil and weather data using web Application Programme Interfaces (APIs).1 This creates an opportunity for digital agriculture solution developers to build digital agricultural solutions that can leverage this open-source data
Investing in robust national Agri-statistical data sets.
The Canadian statutory statistical body (Statistics Canada) carries out annual national farmer surveys that are nationally representative and provides the resultant survey data as an open-source resource. Unlike in many other Commonwealth countries where national agricultural surveys do not occur regularly, the regular occurrence of surveys and dissemination of such data in Canada enables solution developers to build agricultural solutions in the region that are based on the actual farmer needs and requirements.
Utilisation of high-quality open-source data in the development of digital agricultural solutions.
Unlike many other Commonwealth Governments, the Canadian Government leverages high-quality data resources, for example, the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) data from the European Space Agency in state-provided digital agriculture solutions. This provides avenues for the creation of digital agriculture solutions in the region that utilise high-quality data resources at no cost.
Investing in closing the rural broadband divide.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) works with internet service providers in the Country to enhance the connectivity to affordable wireless broadband (which is defined by the CRTC as having download speeds of 50 megabits per second, and upload speeds of 10 megabits per second).2 The constant roll-outs of reliable internet connections facilitate constant data transmission and set the environment for the use of smart farming solutions.3
Implementation of policies that dictate that MNOs share network equipment.
The Canadian authorities facilitate the formulation of policies in the region that require various carriers and mobile network operators to share equipment. This lowers the cost of network roll-out for new mobile broadband operators and creates more affordable internet connections and choices for Canadian internet consumers. This in effect supports the adoption of smart farming solutions by bringing down the overall cost of connectivity.4
Formal registration of farming operations as business entities.
In Canada, an estimated 26 per cent of the farming entities are formally registered as business entities. This means that they have their asset bases, and their transaction histories are formally documented. In addition, they regularly report to state entities. The fact that the farming operations are business entities also ensures that solution developers have a wider number of potential sources of digital agriculture solutions since the farming entities are attracted to digital solutions due to their cost reduction potential.
The bundled sale of agricultural machinery and digital agricultural solutions.
As with several other countries with highly mechanised agriculture, larger average farm sizes, monoculture and export-oriented farming operations, the Canadian agriculture equipment manufacturers in many cases offer a bundled sale of digital solutions with farm agricultural machinery.5
Commonwealth Caribbean & Americas
Conclusions
In conclusion, the most undeveloped element of the D4Ag in the region is 'the base’ of an enabling environment.
Access to affordable broadband in the region is still a major hindrance to the consumption of digital agricultural solutions. The high cost of deployment hinders the effective roll-out of telecommunications and internet infrastructure in the region. High costs arise from the topography of the region that increases the need for expensive sub-marine cable connections across island countries. Furthermore, due to small population sizes, competition in the telecommunications and internet-based sectors is likely to be limited, comprising either a single monopolistic player or a small handful of players.
The following are necessary for the recommendations to yield results.
Addressing the connectivity gap will require collaboration between players from across the mobile ecosystem, as well as a supportive regulatory and policy environment that encourages investment and innovation.
Several bodies including the World Bank and the GSMA already echo the importance of collaboration and harmonisation in various areas of both telecoms and broader telecommunication regulation.
Capacity building at a policy level is required.
Capacity building of key decision-makers is necessary to empower them to make rules and regulations that are responsive to the fast-paced nature of technology innovations. Capacity building could be through the following:
- Facilitating benchmark visits to other Commonwealth countries where laws on technology are updated.
- Working with capacity-building partners who would carry out a capacity gap assessment and thereafter develop targeted capacity-building programmes.
- Identification of a capacity-building partner to develop and roll out the relevant programmes.
- There is a need to use an integral programming approach that involves different ministries as opposed to using only the ICT ministry.
Footnotes
1 Application programming interface (API) is an interface that provides programmatic access to service functionality and data within an application or a database.
2 Haak, D.E. (2011). Precision Agriculture Development in Canada. International Conference on Precision Agriculture. 6pp. https://www.ispag.org/proceedings/?action=download&item=502
3 Middleton, C. et al. (2010). Intensity of Internet Use in Canada: Understanding Different Types of Users. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239588641_Intensity_of_Interne…
4 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/home-accueil.htm#:~:text=Phone-,Canadian%20Radio…
5 Phillips, P.W.B. (2019). Configuring the new digital landscape in western Canadian agriculture. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1573521418302264