Abstract:
Precision agriculture (PA) has a huge potential for growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),
but it faces a number of social-economic and technological challenges. This study sought
to map existing PA research and application in SSA countries following the methodology
for systematic mapping in environmental sciences. After screening for relevance, the initial
about 7715 articles was reduced to 128. Results show that most of the studies were
conducted in countries with socio-economic and technological advancement, mainly
South Africa followed by Nigeria and Kenya. The studies were conducted at various scales
ranging from field to country level with field scale studies being the most common. Most
studies were conducted in relatively small farms typical of most farmlands in SSA. Studies
done in relatively large farms are fewer, and such farms would likely belong to a few
organisations and individuals with high economic capacity. Many of these studies have
been conducted by researchers from outside SSA and a combination of researchers from
within and outside SSA. However, based on authorship of the articles, it appears that most
of the studies conducted in SSA on precision agriculture have either involved or depended
on non-African researchers. It is concluded that there have been significant strides towards
use of precision agriculture in SSA. However, with about 21 countries having no research
done, there exists greater potential for precision agriculture in the region. Besides, there is
need for more research to investigate the low usage of precision agriculture for livestock
management.
