REVIEW article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Climate-Smart Food Systems
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1583224
This article is part of the Research TopicTransforming African Food SystemsView all 21 articles
Challenges and Opportunities in Smallholder Agriculture Digitization in South Africa
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
- 23InsIntitute of Natural Resources NPC, 67 St Patricks Road, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3201, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
- 34Department of Meteorology, Eotvos Lorand University, Pazmany st. 1/a, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
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The use of digital technologies in agriculture has resulted in an increase in productivity and market access worldwide. Large-scale farmers have successfully adopted digital technologies. However, smallholder farmers, especially in rural areas, face challenges that hinder the integration of digital technology. This review analysed available literature with the intention to assess the current state of agricultural digitization among smallholder farmers in South Africa and identify key barriers faced by farmers. The study highlights the potential benefits of digital adoption such as enhanced precision farming, improved resource management, and better access to markets. The analysis highlights the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and policy interventions to reduce the digital divide among farmers. The results confirms that the slow adoption of digital technology among smallholder farmer in South Africa is attributed to barriers such as poor infrastructure, limited access financial resources and low levels of digital illiteracy.
Keywords: Smallholder agriculture, digitization, Digital agriculture, South Africa, precision agriculture
Received: 25 Feb 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nxumalo and Chauke. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gift Siphiwe Nxumalo, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.