Smart Agriculture, Food Security, and Rural Vulnerability: A Comparative Analysis of the United Kingdom and Africa.

Abstract:

Food insecurity and rural vulnerability is a significant issue in high-income and developing environments particularly when they are exposed to climatic change and economic insecurity. The adoption of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, precision farming, and data analytics has become a part of smart farming, which is expected to improve the productivity and sustainability of agriculture. To investigate how institutional capacity, infrastructure and socio-economic factors contribute to the adoption and performance of smart agriculture, the paper conducts a comparative analysis of the United Kingdom and Africa. The review indicates that the United Kingdom has favorable policy, funding, and internet infrastructure, which can allow the country to adopt agri-technologies efficiently. Put differently, African countries are characterized with structural constraints, including funding, inadequate infrastructure, digital illiteracy, and access to data which usually impede adoption, particularly among smallholder farmers. The paper argues that, technological innovation is not the only way to address food insecurity. On the contrary, the governance framework, equal accessibility, and context-specificity determine the effectiveness of smart agriculture. It concludes that the inclusive policy design and equal partnership between the UK and Africa will be instrumental in enabling smart farming to contribute positively to food security and rural resilience.