„In Technology we Trust“: Digital Visions and their Implications for Agricultural Development in Eastern Africa

The rapid spread of mobile information and communication technologies in Africa has spurred new hopes for agricultural development. In contrast to earlier initiatives that focused on technological assistance in the context of the “green revolution”, projects today increasingly rely on mobile phone applications, the use of tablets and different sensor technologies to enhance agricultural productivity and resilience. In light of the long history of technological approaches to agricultural development, in this contribution, we follow the idea of a “technological fix” and examine the agricultural futures associated with these new technologies. Drawing on a document analysis as well as ethnographic research at agricultural fairs, conferences, in an online course and on farms in Kenya and Tanzania, we will show how the (re)new(ed) belief in a “technological fix” becomes inscribed in the design of concrete events and projects. Focusing on the implications this has with regard to new actors, new visions and new mechanisms of agricultural development, we thus contribute to a better understanding of the specific ways in which agricultural futures are currently transformed, not just through new technologies but also through a new character of development practice associated with them.