Digital agriculture: implications for the agricultural labour market

Emmanuel Ndhlovu
Additional contact information
Emmanuel Ndhlovu: University of Johannesburg

International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), 2025, vol. 14, issue 4, 335-346

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. Key Words:Agriculture, digital transformation, labour market, smart technologies, livelihoods

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/3997/2824 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v14i4.3997 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:14:y:2025:i:4:p:335-346

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) is currently edited by Prof.Dr.Umit Hacioglu

More articles in International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) from Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance Editorial Office,Baris Mah. Enver Adakan Cd. No: 5/8, Beylikduzu, Istanbul, Turkey. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Umit Hacioglu ().