Transformations to sustainability: digital technologies in agricultural transition pathways

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is expected to bring about widespread changes in agri-food systems. Some scholars suggest that if appropriately designed and governed, digital innovations could open pathways toward more inclusive, agroecological models that address both social and environmental challenges. However, concerns exist regarding the transformative potential of digital agriculture, with some arguing that digital technologies risk reinforcing exclusionary, neoliberal industrial agri-food systems, marginalizing smallholder farmers, and exacerbating socioeconomic inequalities. This thesis engages with these debates by examining the role of and wider potential for agricultural digitization in supporting more inclusive agricultural innovation processes. Based on empirical work in Kenya, it explores the aspirations of Agriculture 4.0, policy, institutional, and governance arrangements that could enable agricultural digitisation to play a key role in the transition towards more sustainable agricultural futures. The research draws upon complementary theoretical frameworks from sustainability science and science, technology, and innovation studies. It also incorporates the Social, Technological, and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability (STEPS) centre pathways approach, agricultural innovation systems theory, and inclusive innovation literature to examine how inclusivity can be potentially sought and pursued.

The research contributes to knowledge and understanding by focusing on the dynamics and complexities surrounding the bridging of the gap between technological optimism and the grounded realities of agricultural innovation. It offers new insights into the pathways through which digitalisation can foster or frustrate inclusive agri-food system transitions. This thesis unpacks these dynamics across three papers, exploring how digital technologies are shaping and being shaped by agri-food systems at multiple levels: globally and nationally (macro level), as well as within institutions and among farmers (meso and micro levels respectively), and how they are envisioned in the transformation of agri-food systems.

Paper I examines how digital agriculture is unfolding in Kenya through a structured review of global academic literature, national policies, and emerging digital initiatives. Framed against broader debates on sustainable agri-food system transformations, the study investigates the types of agricultural development trajectories digital technologies currently support, how they engage with diverse actors, and the implications for equity, power, and environmental outcomes. In the absence of deliberate policies for inclusion, the paper identifies how digital innovations tend to perpetuate inequalities. Inclusive efforts in Kenya have remained superficial, focusing on technology delivery at the expense of farmer empowerment. However, the thesis observes locally led initiatives acting as ‘seeds of change’ which demonstrate the potential for more inclusive approaches. Paper II examines how Kenya’s national agricultural research agency pursues inclusive digital agricultural innovation. The paper identifies and discusses two modes of innovation: inclusive ‘innovation for’ the intended ‘beneficiaries’ and inclusive ‘innovation with’ the intended ‘beneficiaries’; this categorisation supports specific lines of inquiry which are designed to help stakeholders gain a more nuanced and holistic understanding of inclusive innovation. They help to unpack the dimensions of inclusivity and offer a practical framework for organizations seeking to operationalise deeper inclusive innovation. The paper observes that the persistent mode of innovation in the empirical cases is focused more towards inclusive ‘innovation for’, revealing challenges in bringing about deeper inclusivity in digital agriculture. Paper III goes on to interrogate the challenges in achieving inclusive ‘innovation with’ by examining how farmers and the Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organisation (KALRO)- Kenya’s leading agricultural research organisation—frame problems and solutions in digital agriculture.

It compares their perspectives and highlights how mismatched framings and narrow policy agendas limit farmer participation. The paper underscores the need to integrate smallholder farmers’ knowledge and agency into digital interventions.

These papers collectively establish an enhanced understanding of aspirations for inclusivity and how they can be pursued in digital agri-food systems in Kenya. Being among the first studies to examine inclusive digital agricultural transitions in the Global South, it offers a novel perspective for creating more equitable digital agricultural futures. The thesis concludes with recommendations for participatory innovation governance and supportive policies to scale up inclusive digital agricultural innovation.