Soft compliance and hard laws: regulatory strategies against inequalities in digital agriculture

The paper investigates the role of soft compliance and hard laws in regulating AI implementation in agriculture to protect vulnerable stakeholders. The integration of AI in agriculture presents significant opportunities but also raises regulatory challenges. Prior research on AI regulation debated the merits of soft and hard laws to govern ecosystems. However, scant studies investigated the agricultural system, especially small-scale farming, which is subject to systemic inequalities and injustices in developing countries, where technological advancements exacerbate existing disparities, further marginalizing those already at disadvantage. Through a mixed-methods approach involving case studies and interviews with experts from the smart-farming industry, the study identifies various digital socioeconomic inequalities that accentuate stakeholders’ vulnerabilities in the digital age. To address these inequalities, the paper proposes regulatory strategies to reduce power disparities. This research advances our understanding of the impact of soft compliance and hard laws in AI regulations in agriculture for widespread adoption, with a focus on smallholders. On a practical level, the findings offer valuable insights for AI governance and policy development in northern and western African countries, recommending regulatory strategies for the AI landscape of these regions.