Business
Apps like iCow and M-Farm, are changing the direction of African agriculture
“That creates a huge opportunity,” said Ibrahim, who along with his IT graduate colleagues developed VetAfrica, an app which provides veterinary advice.
Cojengo has been backed by Microsoft and, like most technology firms targeting African agriculture, it is also working with foreign aid donors.
Growth in agriculture is twice as effective at reducing poverty as other sectors, aid agencies say, but tech firms are also hoping to turn a healthy profit. Cojengo wants VetAfrica to build a database it can sell to African governments, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies.
To spur growth in African agriculture, however, governments need to improve transport and power infrastructure, and banks need to lend to farmers.
“The number one challenge for smallholder farmers in Africa is access to credit,” said Kola Masha, founder of Nigerian firm Doreo Partners.
“As smartphone technology becomes cheaper we’ll see an increasingly positive impact,” said Masha, who has linked-up with Swiss RE to insure farmers against drought.
Masha hopes to reach 1 million smallholders by 2025 by providing technology, fertilizer and seeds to farmers, who pay him back when their profits increase.
Agriculture giants like Syngenta and Monsanto are investing in technology in Africa but micro-tech firms are also popping up in off-the-beaten-track areas.
Botswana start-up Modisar tracks cattle herds and gives advice on feed, vaccinations and finance by text message. It won the Orange African Social Venture award last year.
Cameroon’s Mewanko Farm has set-up an online marketplace for farmers to sell fresh produce in a scheme it hopes will increase the income of 13 million people.
The growth in the use of technology in Africa could bring hundreds of millions of poorly-organized and isolated people in rural communities into global markets.
Source: Reuters
