## 3 Materials and Methods
### Data Analysis Results
#### 3.3.3 Case Study Data Results  
The data collected from the research survey revealed the main actors in the AVC, i.e., farmers/producers, traders, government entities (agric. ext. officers), the private sector, and financial providers. Based on these actors, we developed four global ASNs' digitalization strategies for their digitalization in attaining resilience and sustainability. The four global ASNs' digitalization strategies include digitizing farmer practices and experiences, digitizing trader services and products, digitizing agricultural extension officers' working ways, and attaining growth and collaborations through digital inclusivity. _Digitizing farmer practices and experience:_ This strategy involves using digital technologies to improve the farming practices of smallholder farmers, enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency. Using digital technologies such as mobile applications, remote sensing, and precision agriculture tools could help farmers optimize their use of resources, reduce waste, and enhance their decision-making capabilities. Farmers could access information on weather patterns, soil quality, crop varieties, and market prices through digital platforms. This information would help farmers make informed decisions and improve their yields. _Digitizing trader services and products:_ This strategy involves digitizing trading activities along the agricultural value chain, including marketing, distribution, and logistics. The use of digital technologies such as blockchain, IoT, and big data can help traders to track the movement of goods and services, enabling them to optimize their supply chains, reduce waste, and improve profitability. Digitizing trader services can also help to improve market access for smallholder farmers, enabling them to sell their products at better prices and reach a broader range of buyers. _Digitizing agricultural extension officers' working ways:_ This strategy involves digitizing _extension officers'_ operational practices, enabling them to provide better services to smallholder farmers. The use of digital technologies, such as mobile applications and online training platforms, can help extension officers to provide timely and relevant information to farmers on topics such as crop management, pest control, and marketing. _Attaining growth and collaborations through digital inclusivity:_ This strategy entails the application of digital technologies to foster collaborations and partnerships along the agricultural value chain, enabling stakeholders to work together toward common goals. The use of digital platforms can help to connect smallholder farmers with traders, input suppliers, financial providers, and other stakeholders, enabling them to collaborate and share knowledge and resources. Through digital inclusivity, stakeholders can work together to develop innovative solutions to challenges such as climate change, food insecurity, and rural poverty. The themes identified in the thematic analysis of the case study data were imported into _Gephi_ to generate a network diagram ([[https://gephi.org](https://gephi.org)]([https://gephi.org](https://gephi.org)) (accessed on 12 February 2023)). These findings established clusters of farmers, farmer groups, traders/processors, the government, the private sector, research institutions, and financial service providers. Thus, we consider the various clusters as stakeholders in the agricultural value chain during data analysis of the ASNs. In Figure 5, stakeholders are depicted as nodes, whereas the relationships/linkages depict network maps in the case study research. From the analysis of the findings, this research clusters the critical actors within the AVC into six groups, i.e., traders, farmers, government entities (agric. ext. officers), private sector actors (companies with initiatives that support small-holder farming initiatives under economic empowerment programs), and financial providers who advance agricultural credit facilities.