The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation and the Islamic Development Bank in collaboration with IsDB Group Business Forum recently hosted a webinar, ‘Agritech Digital Solutions,’ covering how fourth industrial revolution innovations can drive sustainable change across agribusiness value chains.
With around 45 per cent of crops produced going to waste, and an 690m people estimated to have been undernourished last year, agri-value chains face enormous challenges and pressures to improve efficiency, promote financial inclusion and adapt to the current digital environment.
In this second of Agritech webinars in a series from the IsDB and ITFC, the panellists looked at how 4IR solutions can empower local agribusiness actors and enrich agriculture value chains across the region by identifying specific transformation challenges, including legal, commercial, sovereign, financial and capacity building hurdles.
Aimed at public and private sectors in agriculture from Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member states, agriculture start-ups, academic institutions and multilateral development banks, the webinar examined how to leverage the power of information and communication technology application and partnerships through a panel discussion and three presentations on ‘Paperless Trade, Digital Supply Chain Management, and IoT in the Digital Supply Chain.’
The General Manager, Trade & Business Development at ITFC, Nasser Al-Thekair, noted, “With so much at stake in agriculture – hundreds of millions of jobs, food security and the impacts of climate change – it is imperative that leading players in the agri-ecosystem come together to formulate practical 4IR solutions that can be applied easily across the value chain.
“During this webinar on Agritech Digital Solutions, we examined potential 4IR solutions to enhancing transparency and visibility across supply chains, from the farmer to the market – this is crucial in garnering trust among financiers, producers, consumers and other stakeholders.”
