{
  "id": 8265109,
  "title": "Living with drought: can technology save African agriculture?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/living-with-drought-can-technology-save-african-agriculture",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-18T14:18:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Africa Business",
    "slug": "africa-business",
    "url": "https://african.business/2026/09/technology-information/living-with-drought-can-technology-save-african-agriculture"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Across vast portions of Africa, drought looms as an imminent threat to farming this year. In Kenya, for example, maize output is projected to fall by 28% due to an exceptionally poor rainy season, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network. Southern Africa is set to face further hardship as the Godzilla El Niño event looms at the year's end and into 2027. Countries like Zimbabwe, which typically begins its rainy season in October, are gearing up for a sharp rise in grain imports due to a likely decline in local production. Even outside El Niño years, drought is becoming more frequent, particularly in southern Africa and across parts of the Sahel and Horn of Africa. To tackle chronic food insecurity amid a climate that is growing increasingly hostile, technological innovation in farming practices will be crucial. While promising technologies exist, deploying these at scale on Africa's smallholder farms presents a significant challenge.",
  "summary": "Increasingly severe drought conditions mean Africa is in a race against time to deploy technology to boost resilience.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}