Digital inclusion in agriculture: Why connectivity alone is not enough
Nepal’s agriculture sector is entering the digital age. The country’s 16th National Plan (2024-25 to 2028-29), the Digital Nepal Framework 2.0, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development's modernization agenda collectively envision a technology-driven transformation of agriculture. The priorities are ambitious and necessary: climate-smart farming through digital weather advisories, precision agriculture, smart irrigation, drought forecasting, crop disease early warning systems, and digital marketplaces that connect farmers directly to buyers.
The government is investing in centralized farmer databases, digital land and production records, e-extension services, online subsidy systems, and integrated agricultural information platforms. At the same time, private-sector and development partners have introduced a growing range of digital tools aimed at improving agricultural productivity and resilience.
Platforms such as Hamro Krishi, e-Hatbazar, GeoKrishi, PlantSat, Smart Krishi, and Farm2Fork provide weather forecasts, pest and disease alerts, market information, expert consultation, farm management tools, and digital learning resources. These innovations have the potential to improve decision-making, reduce risks, and increase farmers' access to services and markets.
Yet a fundamental question remains: Who is benefiting from Nepal's digital agricultural transformation?
The paradox of connectivity
According to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, broadband penetration has surpassed 144 percent, and nearly 96 percent of internet users access services through mobile devices. On paper, Nepal appears highly connected.
However, connectivity alone does not guarantee inclusion.
For many citizens including farmers, internet use remains largely limited to social media, entertainment, and basic communication. Access to the internet has not automatically translated into greater access to education, economic opportunities, or digital services in agriculture sectors. Digital literacy remains uneven, particularly among rural populations, women, elderly citizens, and marginalized communities.
Significant disparities persist across geography and income groups. Urban centers enjoy relatively reliable connectivity and greater access to digital services, while remote and mountainous regions continue to face challenges related to network quality, affordability, and digital skills. Provincial disparities are equally striking. According to the Nepal Media Survey (2022), internet access ranges from 76 percent in Bagmati Province to only 50 percent in Madhesh Province, where millions of smallholder farmers reside.
Most digital agriculture platforms assume that users possess smartphones, stable internet access, and sufficient digital literacy to navigate applications. For many farmers, however, these assumptions do not reflect reality. According to the Multi-dimension Poverty Index Report 2021, 17.4 percent of Nepalis are multidimensionally poor, and it will be challenging to reach them with digital innovation solutions.
As a result, Nepal faces a growing paradox: more people are connected than ever before, yet many remain digitally excluded from the opportunities that digital transformation promises.
The gender dimension of digital exclusion
Nepal is experiencing a rapid feminization of agriculture. As men migrate to cities and abroad in search of employment, women are increasingly responsible for managing farms, making production decisions, and engaging with markets. Despite their expanding role, women remain among the most digitally excluded groups in the agricultural sector.
Limited access to smartphones, lower levels of digital literacy, affordability constraints, and time burdens associated with household responsibilities all restrict women’s ability to participate in digital spaces. These barriers become even more pronounced among elderly, low income-groups and those women living in remote rural areas.
In many communities, women continue to rely on family members, neighbours, lead farmers, or cooperatives to access agricultural information. Consequently, digital tools often fail to reach the very people who now form the backbone of Nepal’s agricultural workforce.
The challenge is not merely one of access. Digital solutions are frequently designed without sufficient consideration of the realities faced by rural women. Assumptions regarding device ownership, internet availability, literacy levels, and digital confidence can unintentionally exclude women from meaningful participation.
If digital agriculture initiatives are not intentionally designed to address these disparities, they risk reinforcing existing inequalities rather than reducing them.
Looking beyond access
Digital inclusion is often measured through infrastructure indicators such as internet coverage, mobile subscriptions, or broadband penetration. While important, these indicators tell only part of the story.
The Multidimensional Digital Inclusiveness Index (MDII), developed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), offers a broader perspective. It argues that digital inclusion extends beyond connectivity to incorporate meaningful participation, usability, equity, and social outcomes.
The framework highlights three critical dimensions.
First, innovation usage asks whether digital tools are accessible, usable, and valuable for intended users. A platform may be technically sound, but if it is unavailable in local languages, difficult to navigate, or incompatible with commonly used devices, adoption will remain limited.
Second, stakeholder relationships focus on whether underserved communities are involved in the design and improvement of digital innovations. Technologies developed without meaningful participation from farmers often fail to address their actual needs and priorities.
Third, social consequences examine whether digital technologies reduce inequalities or inadvertently reinforce them through exclusion, bias, data misuse, or unequal access to benefits.
These dimensions are particularly relevant for Nepal, where digital agriculture initiatives are expanding rapidly while policy frameworks for data governance and digital rights remain underdeveloped. As the country advances its digital and artificial intelligence agendas, ensuring that technologies are inclusive, ethical, and accountable becomes increasingly important.
A seven-point agenda for inclusive digital agriculture
To ensure that digital transformation benefits all farmers rather than a privileged minority, Nepal must adopt a more inclusive approach.
First, define success. Progress should not be measured solely by connectivity rates or app downloads. Indicators such as digital literacy, productive digital engagement, and gender-disaggregated usage data should become central measures of success.
Second, invest in community-based digital literacy programs. Rural municipalities, particularly in provinces with lower digital access, should establish digital learning centers where farmers can receive hands-on support and training. Digital literacy must become a core component of agricultural extension services.
Third, co-design technologies. Farmers, especially women and marginalized groups, should be involved from the earliest stages of technology design and testing. Co-creation improves both adoption and effectiveness.
Fourth, address affordability barriers. For many smallholder farmers, the cost of smartphones, internet packages, and device maintenance remains expensive. Hence, the interventions can be designed considering these aspects, for instance, public-private partnerships for internet packages support, development of apps that does not require internet access throughout.
Fifth, strengthen data protection and governance. Nepal needs a robust legal framework to protect personal data and prevent misuse as centralized farmer databases and digital information systems expand.
Sixth, build a supportive environment. Training, community support networks, accessible content, and responsive institutions are equally important for sustained adoption.
Seventh, evaluate technologies through an inclusion lens. Digital tools should be assessed from their social impacts. Policymakers and developers must ask whether technologies benefit marginalized groups, represent diverse users, and avoid reinforcing inequalities.
A digital future that leaves no farmer behind
Nepal’s digital transformation in agriculture is no longer a question of whether it will happen but how it will unfold. The policy vision exists, and technologies are emerging. Investments are also growing. The challenge now is to ensure that digital innovation does not become another source of inequality.
A farmer in Karnali should have the same opportunity to benefit from digital advisory services as a farmer in Kathmandu Valley. A woman managing her household farm should be able to access agricultural information as easily as her male counterparts. Smallholders, Indigenous communities, and marginalized groups should not merely receive technologies designed elsewhere; they should actively shape the systems intended to serve them.
Digital agriculture will succeed when every farmer can meaningfully use digital tools to improve livelihoods, strengthen resilience, and participate fully in agricultural development.
The author works with International Water Management Institute as a National Researcher — Social Science, Water and Natural Resources
