Africa is a net importer of food, especially cereal grains, despite the importance of agriculture in the continent. The agricultural growth in Africa has been undermined by low investment in agriculture, poor infrastructure, high population growth rate, and low adoption of technologies. The agri-food value chain in many African countries will benefit from the adoption of appropriate technologies that are available in the digital landscape to leverage the agricultural sector, make it more attractive to the teeming youth population, and to reverse rural-urban migration. Attention to indigenous cereal grains and other crops that are grown locally and processed into different local foods would ensure food security. However, the availability of these crops in the market is often reduced due to damage before harvest by pests and predators leading to economic losses for farmers. In this article, we review the literature from a multidisciplinary perspective on the relevance of African indigenous food grains to food security in general and we highlight the potential application of drones to increase the yield of cereal grains in three regions of the continent—eastern, western, and southern Africa.

Climate change and changing climate variability are pressing problems that need urgent solutions, now! Climate change has global consequences, and is already being experienced, mainly by the most vulnerable groups of people in the global south. Research shows that farming activities in the global south are being complicated by added uncertainties in weather. To mitigate the effect of weather uncertainties, there is a need for holistic mobile climate services. We have taken the first step towards the service by finding out the local information needs and current mobile usage patterns in Tambuu village, Tanzania. The results show that climate change is already complicating farmers' lives and therefore they have urgent need for information on how to prepare and adapt to changing conditions. From the technology perspective, the domination of voice calls and short messages in the current mobile usage limits the adoption of new services. However, modern uses of smart devices for farming activities were also found. Building on this ground, we propose designing climate service prototypes together with local farmers and other relevant stakeholders.

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