*3.3. Challenges to and Risks of Digital Technology Adoption in Agriculture in MENA* 3.3.1. Challenges

The adoption of digital technologies within the agri-food sector is not automatic, and a number of hurdles have been identified. An exhaustive review of the conditions and drivers of successful technology adoption and application is beyond the scope of this article, but readers are referred to existing works in the areas of precision agriculture [50,96,97]; and big data [98,99]. Several of the key hurdles within the MENA region are reviewed here.

Cost and Profitability: High purchase, operating, and/or maintenance costs can impede the adoption of digital technologies, particularly by smaller farmers or SMEs who may lack access to credit or other financial resources [100]. Moreover, the financial benefits of adoption must be clear: Evidence shows that profitability is a fundamental condition for the adoption of new technologies by farmers, particularly smallholder farmers [96,101].

Technical Knowledge or Expertise: A lack of technical expertise to understand or utilize digital technologies (or the data that they generate) can restrict their adoption, particularly by smaller farmers or those on the weaker side of the digital divide [82].

Suitability to Local Conditions: Digital agriculture resources have often been developed outside of the MENA region, adapted to the needs of farmers in other areas or production systems, and are often available (only) in English, which can limit their use and uptake in MENA countries. For successful adoption and application, digital technologies and services need to be well suited to application in local conditions, including languages [102]. For example, e-extension services must provide timely, localized, and customized information addressing specific farming concerns in a comprehensible format and in Arabic or another relevant local language [51]. Low-performance, frugal innovations may be developed to meet the capacities and needs of less sophisticated or smaller actors [96].

Complementary Technologies: The absence of complementary technologies—notably minimum data system or internet capacities—can challenge the adoption of digital technologies in agriculture [98]. For this reason, digital agriculture applications that can operate at a low and medium internet connectivity are especially well suited to connect smallholders along agri-food value chains. Even in low-connectivity, rural environments, many (off-line) digital agriculture technologies can be deployed to support poor or illiterate farmers or marginalized groups with limited access to information and markets [51].

Underlying Constraints: The application of digital technologies alone may have a limited effect on expanding market access to farmers, unless underlying constraints are simultaneously are addressed. For example, in Lebanon, the creation of digital platforms for pricing information did not address the fact that farmers were engaged in complex relationships with both input dealers and wholesale traders. Crop farmers benefitted from informal credit arrangements with both input suppliers, who provided seeds, fertilizers, etc., on credit and received payment at the end of the agricultural season and with wholesale purchasers, who paid up-front upon receipt of the produce. These informal financial arrangements limited the ability of a farmer to shift among input suppliers or wholesale purchasers, regardless of the ability of farmers to gain price advantages elsewhere in the market [26].

#### 3.3.2. Risks

As any major technology change, the digital transformation of the agri-food sector incurs risks—or even negative future outcomes—that must be understood, acknowledged, and managed [3,17]. The various risks may relate to the use of the internet, including inequality in access and affordability; concentration of market power of e-commerce platforms, social networks, and search engines; data privacy and consumer protection; and

cybersecurity [103]. Several of the potentially most critical risks for the MENA region are highlighted below.

Labor Displacement: Digital technologies may displace agricultural labor with labor saving technologies [1,104]. Such technologies may include harvesting robots, driverless tractors, sprayer drones, AI to manage chemical and fertilizer application, and precision dairy farming. Conversely, the adoption of digital technologies to support automation within the agriculture sector could create high-skilled, high-paying jobs such as managing and maintaining robots or analyzing and interpreting data collected from digital sources and AI [104].

Adoption Gaps and Widening Inequality: Given the differences in the challenges they face, or the extent to which they face them, smallholder and larger, commercial farmers have different potential for adoption of digital technologies. It is important that small and large farmers and businesses alike should benefit from digital innovation [82]. Furthermore, digital innovations should not deepen the inequalities that typically disadvantage women, youth, refugees, and other vulnerable groups who may not have equal access to technologies and skills.

Non-Adoption: Conversely, there are implications for MENA countries associated with the non-adoption or low adoption of digital technologies [3] as their agriculture sectors may lose competitiveness and fall further behind other countries. Already the lack of competitiveness (not solely due to non-adoption of digital technologies) has limited the ability of agriculture producers in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon to sell their products to lucrative export markets [26]. In MENA countries that will pursue digital agriculture, public and private actors alike will need to partner and keep pace with fast-moving technology actors [49].

Data Ownership, Privacy, and Security: Farmers and operators may have valid concerns over the ownership, privacy, security, and equitable use (and re-use) of the data produced from digital technologies, and these concerns can limit their willingness to adopt them for use on their farms [82,99,105].

Resource Use and Waste: While digital technologies may offer important environmental benefits, including through the optimization of scarce inputs including water and energy, they may also generate new streams of resource use and waste, including GHGE related to increased energy use [10], energy-intensive data storage or the waste of electronic or digital materials. The environmental impacts of digital technologies adopted by the agriculture sector in MENA are as-yet unknown. The importance of this impact on the development of digital agriculture and opportunities to mitigate these impacts remain areas for future inquiry [26].

#### **4. Discussion**

The evidence reviewed above amply demonstrates that the digital transformation is applicable to the agri-food system at all stages of the value chain. Digital technologies such as precision agriculture, e-extension services, and digital markets matching inputs, producers, and/or consumers have tremendous potential to increase productivity on farm and within agri-food value chains, improve resource use efficiency and support adaptation to climate change, and thereby promote sustainable development within MENA. Moreover, digital technologies can help to reduce cost and increase efficiency and transparency of all public services, including those related to the agri-food system, for example by digitalizing land tenure mapping and registration, subsidy distribution, weather forecasting, and water resource management [6].

The potential economic contribution of digital technologies is presented in the literature more than either the social or the environmental contribution. While there is significant concern that digital technologies will exacerbate inequalities or contribute to labor displacement, the evidence appears to be mixed, perhaps due to the relatively early stage of digital technologies and the longer-term scale on which social phenomena play out. Similarly, the examination of potential applications of digital technologies for improved environmental

sustainability—to reduce if not eliminate damaging environmental impacts as well as to generate benefits such as ecosystem services [106]—within the agriculture sector is only emerging. Moreover, evidence on whether this potential environmental contribution will materialize is in its early stages [17]. This observed lag of the social and environmental dimensions is consistent with previous research [3,17].

Neither the adoption nor the benefits of digital technologies are guaranteed, and digital technologies may not fully deliver the promised transformation for the agricultural sector [17]. Digital technologies could accelerate the depletion of natural resources and increase the absolute value of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural production—the so-called "rebound effect" because efficiency gains could lead to increased use [80]. In terms of equity, the use of advanced digital technologies in the agriculture sector may widen the digital divide, if smallholders are unable to make use of these technologies due to a high cost and specialized skills needs [82].

Across MENA, there are some notable examples of where digital technologies have been introduced into the agri-food sector, marked by clustering around public services, high-value, export-oriented value chains (in Maghreb and Mashreq), and intensive production to satisfy local market demand (in GCC). The lack of evidence and reports of adoption suggests, unsurprisingly, that the digital agriculture transformation is less advanced in conflict-affected and less developed countries.

#### *4.1. Policy Implications and Priorities*

With the appropriate policy support, the adoption and application of digital technologies within MENA's agri-food sector could help to transform it into a source of improved economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. Without the appropriate policy support, digitalization may disrupt the sector in adverse ways such as reducing employment, widening inequalities, and further exploiting already scarce resources. Policymakers should take prompt, comprehensive, and thoughtful action to ensure that the digital transformation of agriculture is to the collective benefit of both stakeholders and societies. Policies must not only foster the adoption of digital technologies in MENA, but also address concerns around equity of access, transparency of use, data protections, and protections against adverse labor impacts. Public action should respond to the actual and urgent needs and should build on the most promising opportunities for digital transformation of agriculture in the region as reviewed above.

Vision and Strategy for Digital Agriculture: Few if any countries in the MENA region have a comprehensive vision or strategy for digital agriculture [7]. Accordingly, they those that have not yet done so, should develop a vision and strategy for the role of digital technologies within their respective agricultural sectors and wider agri-food systems. Such visions and strategies should highlight the potential contribution of digital agriculture to outcomes like food security but also acknowledge that technology-based, production-focused solutions are only partial and will not resolve parallel concerns such as problematic food access and distribution [3,5,18]. Moreover, responsible policymaking should acknowledge and articulate the trade-offs associated with innovative technologies such as digital agriculture [10]. These visions and strategies should reflect stakeholders' and the wider society's ethical perspectives on the application of digital agriculture [17,82].

Strategies aiming to promote the adoption of digital technologies at the production level should consistently consider the role of both upstream and downstream contexts and actors. Such an approach would reflect the shifting agri-food landscape: "Increasingly, the urban market, the food industry firms that mediate access to the urban market, input supply chains, and agribusiness firms that determine the development of input supply chains, set the market incentives and conditions for the affordability and profitability of new farm technologies, and thus their adoption" [107] (p. 48). This consideration is particularly relevant in MENA, given the greater dynamism of downstream segments of the agri-food sector in recent decades [22].

Strategies should be complemented with appropriate action plans and targets for implementation. Strategies, action plans, and targets should be rooted in the concrete needs of potential users and in a clear understanding of both the barriers and incentives to the adoption of digital technologies by farmers and other actors along the agri-food value chain. Within these strategies, interventions must help ensure that small farmers and small businesses benefit from digital innovation in the same way as larger operators. Similarly, gender-sensitive approaches are needed to ensure that disparities and women's lack of empowerment within the agricultural sector are addressed or, at a minimum, not widened [26].

Knowledge and Skills Development: Public actions to expand and enhance appropriate knowledge and skills can facilitate the adoption and/or development of digital agriculture technologies, including via improved education [101]. Farmers and agricultural stakeholders may require support around basic digital literacy, business and farm operations management, and the use of customer-facing technologies like digital marketplaces. Within agricultural universities and vocational training programs, exposure to digital technologies within the curriculum can improve adoption, adaptation, and development of locally appropriate technologies. Elsewhere, entrepreneurs and start-ups innovating in the digital technology space may require knowledge and skills around business development and finance, as well as a better understanding of the challenges facing the agri-food sector [26]. Education initiatives to facilitate the adoption of digital technologies must balance the optimization of resources (e.g., targeting actors who show higher likelihood to adopt) [97] with attention to widening disparities.

Data Ownership, Use, and Privacy Protections: To address serious and valid concerns over data ownership, use, and privacy linked to digital technologies, policies can help to establish and clarify the rights of different stakeholders. While such policies are typically not specific only to agricultural technologies or data [99,108], there is a need to balance the privacy and legal protections for the entities (farmers and firms) that generate data, with the potentially tremendous benefits to be gained from the aggregation and analysis of data and application of the resulting information. Indeed, open access to large datasets could facilitate critical evaluation of smart farming, or even enhance entrepreneurship and economic activity [82]. Policies can help to set the frame for positive feedback loops, in which good governance builds user trust in digital technologies. Protections for data integrity can result in greater trust in that data and its application in evidence-based policies and programs [26]. Due to the rapid evolution of digital technologies, public actors should track sector developments to ensure that policies and regulation around digital agriculture reflect current challenges and needs.

Support and Enabling Environment for Private Investment: Both the public and the private sectors will play a role in the digital transformation of agriculture, with private actors playing a particularly important role in developing and adapting digital technologies. Public policies can facilitate private investment in digital agriculture—as well as the mobile and internet infrastructure and services necessary for digital technologies—by offering a supportive enabling environment, investment incentives, and partnership opportunities. Public policies can also foster an innovation ecosystem for digital agriculture technologies and innovation, providing information, networking opportunities, and incubation and acceleration services where the private sector has yet to do so [7,26]. Policies should seek to balance an environment that supports profitable investment opportunities with protections against market power concentration that can stifle innovation [7].

Non-Digital Reforms and Investments: Policy action that is specific to digital technologies may not be sufficient to unlock the transformation of the agricultural sector, if complementary reforms and investments addressing non-digital barriers to the sector are not also addressed [7]. For example, digital technologies that facilitate logistics and target reduced food loss will offer only partial improvements without investments to improve transportation, storage, and power infrastructure, which are badly needed in many lowerincome MENA countries. To deliver on the promise of digital technologies to expand

access to finance to small farmers or rural areas, improvements to financial sector laws and regulations may be required [26]. Extending market access via e-commerce platforms may require the establishment or improvement of digital payment systems, which build on banking and telecommunications policies as well as consumer protection frameworks [109].

Public Supply of Digital Agriculture Services—E-Government and E-Extension: The public sector can not only foster the demand for digital technologies but can also adopt or supply them directly. Digital technologies may improve efficiency, reduce cost, and increase transparency and accountability of many public services—not only agriculture. Within the agri-food sector, e-government could deliver statistical data collection and dissemination; open data platforms for land, soil, weather, and market price data; e-extension services; digital identification for farmers and other stakeholders; land e-registries; and public subsidy payments [26]. Successful e-government services require administrative capacity for design and management, as well as commitment to the often slow pace of user adoption [7]. Of note, through e-extension, the public sector can support the use of digital technologies that enhance the efficient use of scarce resources (e.g., irrigation water) and optimize the use of inputs (e.g., fertilizer, pesticides) to support productivity, efficiency, and environmental sustainability. E-extension can particularly target the needs of smallholders, addressing their risk aversion, information gaps, and mistrust of technologies or their promised benefits. Techniques including digital piloting and knowledge exchange may be well-suited to the needs of small farmers [26].

#### *4.2. Research Contributions and Conclusion*

This article has sought to contribute to the topic of digital agriculture in the MENA region in several ways. First, this article briefly reviewed the key features of the agri-food sector and key challenges to its sustainability including scarcity and inefficient use of natural resources, suboptimal agricultural management practices, poor market functioning, inefficient markets, and limited access to finance. These challenges are compounded by conflict and social unrest, climate change, and insufficient public support for the agri-food sector.

Second, we reviewed the potential contribution of digital agriculture to address these challenges and found significant evidence of positive impacts across all three dimensions of sustainability. While the literature has more clearly mapped and established the economic contribution of digital agriculture, the social and environmental contributions promise to be significant and highly needed within the region.

Third, a review of the current status of digital agriculture in the MENA region generally finds an early stage of adoption, though with some notable sub-regional patterns. Digital agriculture in the GCC is oriented to ensuring a minimum level of domestic food production to ensure social needs, while in Mashreq and Maghreb digital technologies are being applied for both local and export market destinations including EU and GCC. Conversely, digital agriculture in conflict-affected countries appears to be more practically oriented to conduct or deliver basic services at a distance, while maintaining human safety. This review further highlights a gap in knowledge around the state of digital agriculture in several countries of the region, including lower-income countries (e.g., Mauritania, Sudan), small states (e.g., Comoros, Djibouti), and conflict-affected states (e.g., Syria, Yemen). While the absence of information would suggest that digital agriculture is not well developed in these parts of the MENA region, the status of digital agriculture in these countries nevertheless remains an area for future research.

From a thematic perspective, the application and introduction of digital technologies to the agri-food sector—globally and in MENA countries—have tended to focus on economic objectives, with less contribution to addressing the social and environmental challenges facing the agri-food sector. Indeed, evidence of the environmental contribution of digital agriculture in the MENA region is as-yet missing. Though expected, this gap suggests that the application of digital technologies to address the significant social and environmental challenges facing the agri-food sector in the MENA region requires prompt and careful consideration. Insofar as the countries of the MENA region have a responsibility to determine for themselves the future of digital agriculture that they wish for themselves, this consideration is timely.

COVID-19 has catalyzed the introduction of digitalization along the agri-food system, including in the MENA region. Whether this transition will prove temporary or permanent remains to be seen [9]. This introduction was not structured; rather, it was an organic response from market-based actors, rather than a public-led policy decision. This allowed for faster penetration and market-led response to needs, but the disadvantage is that this has been driven by profitability considerations. As a result, we need now to take stock of these experiences—to which this paper contributes—in order to mainstream these experiences into polices that foster inclusive economic performance as well as social and environmental goals, for a true contribution to sustainability.

Finally, this article proposes a number of policy implications and priorities for relevant stakeholders across MENA countries, to unlock the potential of digital agriculture towards sustainability. Policymakers are urged to expand their traditional, production-centric views of the agri-food sector to account for social and environmental considerations and to work towards a digital future in which the agri-food sector not only generates productive value but also delivers on social and environmental sustainability.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1 050/13/6/3223/s1. Table S1: Search results from Web of Science for "digital agriculture" and "smart farming" in MENA countries. Table S2: Selected economic, social, environmental, and policy indicators. Table S3: Evidence of digital agriculture across MENA countries.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, R.A.B. and R.Z.; methodology, R.A.B. and R.Z.; analysis, A.A.K.Y., R.A.B., and R.Z.; writing—original draft preparation, R.A.B.; writing—review and editing, A.A.K.Y., R.A.B., and R.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors acknowledge the work of the Mashreq Agricultural Initiative—an institutional collaboration between the American University of Beirut, the World Bank Group, the Food and Agriculture Organization/Near East North Africa Regional Office, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, and the Center for Mediterranean Integration—in inspiring this research and in laying the groundwork for this review.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

