There are three reasons why an agricultural renaissance is becoming more feasible and deserves to be explored more determinedly by East African nations notwithstanding the technological and other challenges that they undoubtedly pose. First is the industrialization of agriculture, which is increasing the efficiency of resource use and of value added downstream as raw materials are transformed into the variegated items that urban consumers want. By expanding their reach across the value chain, food-producing countries can raise their growth potential.

Second, advances in biotechnology, mechanization, IT, the capacity to accumulate and analyze data with the help of cloud computing and advanced data analytics -- the building block of smart, precision farming,<sup>38</sup> the food sciences, GPS guidance systems and geo-marking/geo-referencing, satellite imaging, and use of UAVs for purposes of crop and weed assessment using multi-spectral cameras, to name a few, are augmenting agricultural productivity and making it easier to diversify production and enter profitable niches.<sup>39</sup> Modern precision agriculture<sup>40</sup> can increase yields while at the same time reducing inputs of water (using sensors to measure soil moisture), nutrients, weedicides and insecticides, and conserving soil quality.<sup>41</sup> In fact, there are grounds for believing that the gradual worldwide decline in the growth of yields that commenced in the 1990s could be halted and possibly reversed. Big Data could be a key factor in bringing this about. Wolfert et al (2017, p.73) claim that it will change the way farms are operated with the help of “real time forecasting, tracking of physical items, and reinventing business processes... Big Data applications in agriculture include benchmarking, sensor deployment, and analytics, predictive modelling and using better models to manage crop failure risk and to boost the feed efficiency of livestock...[Together they] can improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain”.

The scope for technology diffusion is considerable and narrowing the technology gap must be an essential element of any growth strategy. These technologies have been diffusing in the advanced economies for over a decade and IT related ones are gaining momentum. Although at first glance they might appear unsuited to the agricultures in East Africa, with trying they can be tailored and made user friendly to fit the requirements and technical capacity of farmers many of whom have taken 38 Tractors can now be equipped to gather information on soil and crop conditions and seed performance, which can be analyzed and farming practices adjusted accordingly.

39 Sonka (2016), Sonka and Cheng (2015) and Wolfert et al (2017) assess the contribution that Big Data and other tools can make to the agricultural system. If they so want, farmers can entrust all major farm operations such as sowing, watering, fertilizing, and harvesting to computers equipped with smart algorithms that access and store data from multiple sources. <u>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X16303754; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302432602_Big_Data_Fueling_the_Next_Evolution_of_Ag ricultural_Innovation; http://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2015/11/precision-agriculture-not-thesame-as-big-data.html</u> 40 Precision agriculture relies upon data from multiple sources to inform and improve decisionmaking. See http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/PrecisionFarming/

> 41 - Information on productivity and other data in http://www.slideshare.net/resakss/strategic <u>policy-analysis-24-06?next_slideshow=1</u> ; CGIAR http://impact.cgiar.org/impact-agricultural- <u>research-productivity-and-poverty-sub-saharan-africa.</u>

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