Expert Group Meeting calls for UNIDO to strengthen ecosystems for digital agribusiness
On 28 September UNIDO convened a virtual Expert Group Meeting on digital agribusiness that brought together key experts from various international organizations, academia and the private sector along the agribusiness value chain. The purpose was to share information on the current status and trends on digital agribusiness and to provide expert opinion on UNIDO’s role and competitive advantage on this domain.
Twenty-seven experts from eighteen countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America discussed the themes of human capital development, pathways for digital technologies in agribusiness and precision agriculture. The Expert Group Meeting explored UNIDO’s role in supporting the inclusive use of digital agribusiness for on- and off- farm agricultural value chain actors in developing and emerging economies in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The meeting also assessed options on how to close the digital usage gap, how digital agribusiness can contribute to the fight against climate change and ways to support local governments to create the enabling environment for digital agribusiness.
The Expert Group Meeting concluded with the notion of UNIDO’s key role in convening various actors along the digital ecosystem to allow for frugal and inclusive digital agribusiness development. Furthermore, the meeting established that the impact of climate change, the rural nature of agribusinesses and changing societal conditions demand solutions that can improve the connectivity and visibility across the agriculture value chains. Digital technologies can provide one such pathway.
Group lead experts from the European Commission, the World Bank, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Buehler Group led discussions towards solutions for step-by-step deployment of digital agribusiness in industrializing countries.
For more information contact Department of Agribusiness (agribusiness [at] unido.org (agribusiness[at]unido[dot]org))
