Precision agriculture: leveraging data for predictable and efficient harvests
Climate change has created uncertainties for farmers. Rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns have rendered the growth of certain crops difficult, impacted the health of livestock, and precluded farmers from predicting their harvests. The agriculture sector in MENA countries is particularly vulnerable, especially considering its reliance on climate-sensitive crops (70% of domestic agriculture is rainfed in a region facing some of the world’s highest levels of water scarcity). In 2023, UNEP reported direct linkages between climate change, agricultural productivity, and economic growth. The agriculture sector is also the largest employer in the region, creating direct impacts on livelihoods and food security.
Agricultural adaptation thus figures highly among the priorities of public and private sector actors. Farmers have adopted solutions like the diversification of crops and livestock, increasing the efficiency of water management practices, adopting climate-resilient crops, and building climate-resilient infrastructure. Technology is also increasingly key. Precision agriculture, defined as “the science of improving crop yields and assisting management decisions using high technology sensor and analysis tools,” helps farmers gain insights into the health and progress of their crops amid a continuously changing environment. Farmers are then able to make informed decisions about how they use their resources, translating to cost savings and more successful seasons.
Startups in the MENA region, such as Morocco’s AgroConform, are increasing the availability of these tools. Morocco is highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. With 87% of its water resources allocated to the agricultural sector, it has faced dire consequences given successive drought seasons. The agriculture sector makes up almost 15% of the country’s GDP and serves as a top employer in rural areas. The majority of the country’s crops are reliant on rainfall as opposed to irrigation; with continuous droughts, this “reduced the seeded area of rainfed winter crops by almost a quarter compared to previous years” in 2024. Coupled with other weather conditions, farmers are increasingly unable to guarantee successful harvests, and the lack of certainty about weather patterns has limited their abilities to plan ahead.
AgroConform seeks to bridge this information gap by offering digital solutions to increase the efficiency and sustainability of agricultural operations “from seed to sale.” The platform runs digital simulations to help monitor and analyze crop growth, uses AI to inform decisions around resource allocation, and helps farmers reduce costs by identifying areas for greater cost-efficiency in their operations. Farther along the value chain, AgroConform uses blockchain to trace the journey of agricultural products and monitors adherence to agricultural regulations and standards.
Precision agriculture returns to agricultural worker’s power over their harvests, livelihoods, and food security. Greater uptake in both the private and public sectors, along with capacity building, incentives, and increased access to the tools needed to leverage these techniques, could be a key avenue towards agricultural adaptation in the MENA region.
