Western Cape Business 2022

The future of smart farming in South Africa
Standard Bank is looking at how data can better inform financing options.
Fredox Carvalho from Pexels
Technology has completely transformed
agriculture over the last few decades. These
days, farmers are integrating everything
from drones and satellite sensing to
genetic modification and, more recently, Artificial
Intelligence into their operations to reduce costs
and enhance yield.
In the South African context, a dualistic agricultural
economy exists with highly-developed commercial
players on the one side and those that practice
farming for subsistence purposes on the other. This
differs from other regions across the continent where
there is a greater focus on small-scale producers.
Therefore, a fair amount of technology has already
been successfully applied in South Africa, specifically
within the commercial sector. The implementation
of smart farming technologies over the years has
helped farmers and growers to achieve the highest
potential in whichever farming activity they choose
to undertake.
South African farmers now apply everything from
regenerative agriculture – which relates to the use
of smart technologies to improve efficiency – right
through to gene technology. The use of the latter
has showed great results in increasing yields with
genetically modified maize production now making
up about 80% to 90% of the total.
The more recent introduction of AI is also significantly
increasing not just the quantity but the quality of
produce that we see on our supermarket shelves.
Standard Bank recently financed a citrus producer
that is now using robotics in its packhouse. This has
greatly reduced the time that is used to pack the
oranges. The use of robotics and camera technologies
has also been applied in the packing and producing
of eggs to identify “bad eggs” in the process.
The role of technology and data in finance
In the old days, a farmer’s banking partner would
be one of the institutions that sat at the end of
information chain regarding the crop, while the
supplier of pesticides might be closer to what is
happening at any given time. It was only when the
client started repaying loan facilities that there would
be some indication of a shortfall, or any indication of
a problem of some sort.
Standard Bank is currently assessing the extent to
which we can better track and trace the development
of a crop over a period. We could then identify a
possible early intervention or a requirement to do
something differently where something might be
going wrong with a crop. It might be that some
additional treatment was needed for that crop. If
that was the case, the bank would know about it
and would be in a position to finance the remedial
treatment when it’s needed. ■