Digital agriculture: implications for the agricultural labour market

Abstract

The advent of digital technologies and their subsequent integration in the agricultural sector has had mixed implications for various stakeholders. However, while studies on the benefits and challenges of digital transformation abound, there is limited scholarly attention on the impact of digital transformation in the agricultural labour market. This article closes this gap in the literature by exploring how digitalisation impacts the agricultural labour market. It also highlights the future trajectory of labour in agriculture under digitalisation transformation. The article a semi-systematic literature review approach and draws from existing literature in both academic and grey formats. The article shows that digital transformation has mixed outcomes for the agricultural labour market. While it smoothens operations, improve production, and accountability, it is also disrupting agricultural labour relations, compromising workers' collective bargaining power, altering income and working conditions, distorting working time and work intensity, generating discrimination in digital work, and worsening worker surveillance and control. It concludes that while highly digitally skilled workers could benefit from integrating digital tools in their operations, non-skilled, independent, and contracted workers, who are the majority in the sector, are on the losing end. It recommends that the welfare of employees be prioritised as enterprises move into digital transformation.

Keywords: {'name': 'Agriculture'}, {'name': 'digital transformation'}, {'name': 'labour market'}, {'name': 'smart technologies'}, {'name': 'livelihoods'}

Authors & affiliations

Emmanuel Ndhlovu
Affiliation not supplied

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