Africa–EU Digital Technology Exchange and Agribusiness Development in Developing Economies Within the African Continental Free Trade Area: The Case of Leribe and Thaba-Tseka Districts in Lesotho

Digital technologies are forces of progress in recent times everywhere in the world. This makes integration of digital technologies a priority in all areas of business contributing to the developmental economic growth and success, including rural agribusinesses in the EU and AU developing countries members, such as Lesotho. The focus of this chapter is to show the role of digital technologies in developing smallholders specifically in Lesotho agribusinesses in rural communities specific to Lesotho. The study aims to investigate the use of digital technology in promoting the use of agribusiness development in Lesotho, which AfCFTA and the EU hope to accelerate through better coordination with existing initiatives to boost agribusiness, the Economic Partnership Agreements with South African Development Countries member states. The findings of this study are drawn from the empirical literature, focus groups, and in-depth interviews and they show that most farmers cannot afford the costs the digital technology and insufficient infrastructure, while the literature also reveals that social influence, literacy, and lack of appropriate policies are the main factors that hinder digitalization. As a result, the most commonly used technology in Lesotho is mobile phones. Empirical data was collected from two selected districts of Lesotho, namely Leribe and Thaba-tseka districts. The researcher draws a sample from farmers and agribusiness owners who are conveniently available for the focus group and in-depth interviews in Leribe and Thaba-tseka districts, sixteen participants from the selected area will participate in two focus group interviews in Leribe and Thaba-tseka districts. The study will follow a qualitative method approach.