Digitalization and Agricultural Structural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The objective of this article is to assess the effect of digitalization on agricultural structural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve this, agricultural structural transformation is measured by the reallocation of agricultural labor, the share of agricultural employment and the share of agricultural value added. The World Bank (2020) and Polity5 (Marshall, M. G. & Ted Robert G. 2020) databases are used to mobilize all necessary data over the period from 1990 to 2018. In order to control for the endogeneity of digitalization, instrumental variables estimation technique is used. The results revealed that internet access promotes the transfer of labor from the agricultural sector to the industrial and the service sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, an increase in the number of internet and telephone subscribers translates into an increase in the share of agricultural jobs created in Sub-Saharan Africa. In terms of policy implications, digitalization is an appropriate strategy to promote agriculture structural transformation in the region.