The creation and deployment of digital technologies throughout the agro-food system contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal nine. However, various digitalization studies offer limited insight into the policy issues and solutions around emerging technologies and big data systems in agriculture. There is a need for an additional understanding of how agricultural policymaking should respond to the usage of digital technologies in the agri-food sector. Furthermore, evidence is limited on how existing agricultural government programs such as land reform can be linked with digitalization policy. This systematic review of literature sought to determine the transformation that is needed in the political and economic environment for the digital revolution to take place within South African land reform agriculture. A thematic analysis of data sampled from ProQuest Central, Scopus, Dimensions, and Google Scholar reveals five areas of intervention from agricultural policymaking. The digital revolution in agriculture can be brought about by transforming digital infrastructure, data interoperability and governance, digital markets, the compatibility of government incentives with the private sector, and the digital cultural landscape. This essay contributes to agricultural policy and decision-making dialogues that pay attention to digital technologies and land reform programs in South Africa.
The study sought to estimate the genetic gains and associated monetary value contributed by the TGCD programme of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC). The Just-Pope production function and cost benefit analysis (benefit cost ratio -BCR, and modified internal rate of return -MIRR) were employed to analyse the administrative programme costs and industry yield data for the ARC's cultivars. The results revealed an average annual yield gain of 0.21 t/ha for the period from 1965 to 2014, and a BCR of 4.85. An MIRR of 18% was also revealed. This means that for every Rand invested in the programme, R4.85 is realised and the high MIRR further confirms the worthwhileness of these investments. Thus, these results are useful as evidence for the missing information on the effectiveness and efficiency of public funds expended in table grapes research and as motivation for increased funding, as well as for participation by other industry stakeholders.
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