Digital Agriculture in LMICs -5 Dec #73
SunCulture launches insurance product with Turaco; AgUnity and OpenAtlas partner for EUDR compliance tool; in Ghana, Oyster Agribusiness raises more funding
30/11/24
Ghana’s Oyster Agribusiness bags an additional $620K
Ghanaian agritech start-up Oyster Agribusiness has received USD 610,000 debt financing (term and working capital loans) from investment firm Sahel Capital via the Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA), a USD 24 million impact fund seeded by German development bank KfW. Established in 2021, SEFAA aims to empower social enterprises supporting smallholder farmers in Africa. This cash injection brings Oyster’s total funding to USD 2.92 million.
Photo credit: Africa Newsroom, APO Group
Just in October 2024, the agritech raised USD 2 million in debt from Root Capital, RDF Ghana LBG, and Sahel. Established in 2018, Oyster Agribusiness is a climate-smart agriculture company supporting smallholders through technology-based, sustainable farming solutions. The startup provides farmers with inputs, agronomic advisory and market linkages. The company states that in the past five years it has reached 4,500 farmers.
02/12/24
SunCulture and Turaco partner for farmer insurance in Kenya
Kenya’s startup SunCulture, an agritech specialised in solar-powered irrigation systems, has partnered with Turaco Microinsurance to provide affordable insurance to smallholder farmers. The product dubbed “SunCulture Protect” offers health and life coverage, safeguarding farmer households against unexpected medical expenses and the risks of extreme weather events. By leveraging SunCulture’s established pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing solution, farmers will be able integrate insurance costs into their existing payments for the irrigation system, making it easier to manage.
Photo credit: SunCulture
Founded in 2013, SunCulture provides end-to-end support to farmers using its irrigation kits, including financing, installation, maintenance and advisory services. SunCulture’s solar pumps are brought to market at a cost that is estimated to be 40-60% lower than the cost of a fuel-based pump. The majority of farmers using SunCulture’s systems, which support remote monitoring and predictive maintenance, are smallholders owing 1-3 acres and relying on rainfed agriculture.
Founded in 2019, Turaco is an insurance distributor, broker and customer interface between the underwriter and the end customer. It operates under a B2B and B2B2C model via partnerships with a variety of tech-enabled organisations, such as non-profit agri service provider One Acre Fund and asset financing company M-KOPA.
02/12/24
AgUnity and OpenAtlas to help cooperatives meet EUDR compliance
AgUnity, a provider of digital agriculture solutions to smallholders in developing countries, has partnered with OpenAtlas, a company specialised in deforestation monitoring through satellite imagery and AI. The two organizations have joined forces to help farmer cooperatives meet the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requirements. The plan is to use OpenAtlas’ deforestation compliance monitoring solution VANTAGE-X in conjunction with AgUnity’s blockchain-based digital platform supporting record-keeping, transaction security, and transparent data sharing. Through the platform, cooperatives are able to digitalise data, access markets and financial services, and adopt sustainable farming practices.
EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) stipulates that businesses that sell products in the European Union must be deforestation-free. Established in 2016, AgUnity collaborates with organisations like the UN World Food Programme and Fairtrade International. Some of the countries where AgUnity is active include Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
04/12/24
SAYeTECH gets $50K to expand smart farming solution in Ghana
Ghana’s agritech startup SAYeTECH has secured USD 50,000 in equity funding by winning the 2024 MEST Africa Challenge. Founded in 2018, SAYeTECH is an acronym for “Sustainable African Youth Enterprise Technology”. The startup has developed smart IoT-enabled post-harvest machinery for smallholders . Farmers are able to track and monitor agricultural machinery via embedded IoT devices that send data to a mobile application. As part of its value proposition, the company also offers maintenance, training, and data-driven insights to farmers.
Photo credit: SAYeTECH
The Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST Africa) Challenge is one of the main pitch competitions for emerging tech entrepreneurs. It is organised by the Meltwater Foundation, the non-profit arm of Meltwater, a global media intelligence company.
27/11/24
Good reads: African Union’s toolkit tracks food security goals
The African Union has launched a new toolkit and knowledge compendium to drive awareness and advocacy on the continent’s agricultural and food security goals. The toolkit is designed for a wide audience, including government officials, regional organisations and farmer groups. It focuses on the key elements of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Partnership Platform, a continental initiative that aims to help African countries eliminate hunger and reduce poverty. Through the platform, 47 African countries signed the so-called Malabo Declaration, which among other objectives sets the target to allocate at least 10% of national budgets to agriculture and rural development. The toolkit contains interactive tools, and country-specific scorecards to help stakeholders track progress on agricultural development goals.