CGIAR Initiative: Digital Innovation and Transformation <p class="ql-align-justify">Our food system is unsustainable. In 2020, between 720 and 811 million people faced <a href="https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb4474en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hunger</a>, while one-third of food goes to <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i2697e/i2697e.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">waste</a>. To realize the transformative potential of digital technologies in shifting food-land-water systems toward climate resilience and sustainability, we identified three challenge areas that CGIAR’s multidisciplinary expertise could help address.&nbsp;</p><ol><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>The digital divide:</strong>&nbsp;The potential of digital technologies is clear, yet their reach is not universal. The Global South – and especially women and rural areas – are underserved by digital technologies&nbsp;and infrastructure. More than 600 million people still live outside of <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/The-State-of-Mobile-Internet-Connectivity-Report-2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mobile network coverage</a>, 67%&nbsp;of whom are from Sub-Saharan Africa. Fewer than 40% of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00631-0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">small farms</a> are covered by mobile internet, and only 13% of small farmers in <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/101498" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sub-Saharan Africa</a> have ever accessed a digital service. Across low- and middle-income countries, <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/The-Mobile-Gender-Gap-Report-2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women</a> are 15% less likely than men to use mobile internet. <a href="https://www.uneca.org/?q=fr/node/4024#:~:text=The%20State%20of%20Climate%20in%20Africa%20Report%202020%20anticipates%20longer,rate%20than%20the%20global%20average." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Africa</a> has only-one eighth of the minimum density of weather stations recommended to issue timely early warnings. The cost of deploying and maintaining <a href="https://www.gsma.com/r/somic/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rural infrastructure</a> can be two to five times the cost in an urban area, with 10 times less revenue generated. Enabling policies and investments are urgently needed, yet policy makers and investors do not always agree on priorities to address the digital divide.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Inadequate information:</strong>&nbsp;Real-time monitoring of food-land-water systems is possible at a lower cost and a higher accuracy than ever before using <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-141f720bcb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital technologies</a>, yet decision-makers lack access to timely, reliable, and actionable information across the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Global South</a>. Weak information systems waste <a href="https://publications.iadb.org/en/value-official-statistics-lessons-intergovernmental-transfers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">budget</a>, exacerbate <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jel.20151293" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">poverty</a>, and slow <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20151293" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">economic growth</a>. More than 300 million small-scale producers lack access to <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/108489/Actions%20to%20Transform%20Food%20Systems%20Under%20Climate%20Change.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital climate advisory services</a>, and unmanaged risks hinder producers’ adoption of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2018.05.010" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">improved technologies</a>.<a href="https://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> Existing knowledge</a> is often outdated and difficult to apply in practice. Public, private, and civil society actors are insufficiently coordinated to develop win-win digital solutions leveraging <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2021" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">data and technologies</a>. Siloed data do not support evidence-based policy responses that synergistically manage systems-level issues and risks such as price hikes, pest infestations, floods, and droughts.&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Limited digital capabilities:</strong>&nbsp;Any technological investments should be supplemented by digital capability initiatives that invest in the “soft” infrastructure to foster the <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/959181623060169420/pdf/A-Global-Study-on-Digital-Capabilities.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital ecosystem</a> and build <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/113555" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">forward-looking skills</a>. Digital literacy and skills levels across the Global South remain <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/ca4887en/ca4887en.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">low</a>, particularly for the most marginalized and food-insecure individuals and communities, such as women. Social norms in many cultural contexts determine <a href="https://www.cgap.org/blog/digital-gender-divide-wont-close-itself-heres-why#:~:text=While%20there%20is%20often%20an,among%20other%20factors%2C%20gendered%20social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women’s </a>access to and use of technology, including mobile phones. Promising pilots of decision-support tools exist, yet research, codesign, and capacity strengthening are needed to channel new evidence to decision-makers, tailor digital advisory content, and serve food-water-land systems stakeholders in their risk management decisions.&nbsp;</li></ol>