# Agriculture 4.0: Is Sub-Saharan Africa Ready?
## 3 Going Forward: Opportunities for SSA to Tap into the Agriculture 4.0 Revolution
### Reasons for Caution  
Despite the potential for optimism with regards to agriculture 4.0 in Africa, there are reasons to remain cautious. First, the future of agriculture, as it has been in the past, will be driven by technology and innovation, though increasingly in the context of climate change. Yet despite the challenges affecting SSA's food production and security, the continent's readiness to take advantage of this technology revolution is still in doubt. In many African countries, current levels of investment in critical infrastructure are far below the threshold required for the continent to benefit from the high tech revolution [61]. For example, in the spread of mobile phones for agricultural advisory and banking services, much of SSA could miss out again on another agricultural revolution if the required conditions for adoption such as technology skills are not in place. Moreover, as pressure on the natural environment increases there will similarly be an increasing need for agricultural advances and innovations to be underpinned by good agricultural practices. Agriculture4.0 technologies uptake, when done well, should be capable of promoting data-driven agriculture for economically and environmentally sustainable farming. However, these technologies do not exist in a vacuum, and the extent to which agriculture 4.0 does indeed align with sustainable development depends on the broader institutional environment within which relevant technologies are introduced, how they are introduced and taken up.  
Second, though the expectation is that agriculture 4.0 technologies will improve agriculture and food security in an efficient and sustainable way, it is possible that these new technologies and ways of working could alter agricultural systems for the worse [80]. For example, increased technology adoption could lead to a disregard of experiential knowledge and disconnect the farmer from the landscape [15], something of potentially particular relevance for SSA agriculture.  
Third, several studies focusing on technology adoption have found that despite the significance of technology in improving productivity, unwillingness on the part of farmers to adopt could be a constraint to adoption [7,31]. This could be due to poor awareness, lack of insurance to manage the risks involved in up taking a new idea or lack of skills and knowledge about the appropriateness of technology, as reported by a study conducted in Brazil [59]. Lack of acceptance of technology has also been reported as a barrier to the adoption of agriculture 4.0 technologies in a HIC context [11]. In Nigeria, despite the benefits of agricultural biotechnology advancement in food and non-food production from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) such as pest control and early maturation, the technology has not been accepted due to health, legal and ethical concerns [81].  
Fourth, the benefits of this revolution in technology are not likely to be evenly spread across the globe, and it remains uncertain as to with whom and where the benefits will reside [11]. Further, without a clear understanding of how agriculture 4.0 will affect societies, particularly in lower-income countries, these new technologies have the potential to create more problems than they solve due to ethical concerns linked to the deployment of such technology. As such, there is a need for policymakers and technology companies to work together with farmers and communities more broadly in SSA to ensure that the benefits of this suite of technologies are not only optimised for productivity and efficiency but that both environmental and social impacts are addressed explicitly.