Digital Agriculture in LMICs - 10 Oct #32
ThriveAgric/Heifer, DigiFarm/Family Bank announce plans to advance financial inclusion for farmers, in Nigeria, Kenya; Filipino agritech Kita raises $4M
04/10/23
Philippines’ agri e-commerce Kita raises $4M
Filipino agri e-commerce Kita has raised USD 3 million in a seed funding round co-led by Gentree Fund, a fund focused on high growth companies in the Philippines, and early-stage VC Altara Ventures. Established in 2021, Kita provides input financing to farmers and buys their produce (fresh fruits and vegetables), which is then delivered to restaurants, hotels and grocers in the Metro Manila area. The start-up operates three warehouses and a fleet of cold chain-enabled delivery trucks. It plans to use the funding to scale operations and improve its AI and big data capabilities for more intelligent and data driven services. The Philippine is the second-largest producer of fresh vegetables in Southeast Asia. The agriculture sector makes for approximately 10% of the country’s GDP.
04/1023
DigiFarm joins forces with Family Bank for agri DFS in Kenya
DigiFarm, an agritech platform by Kenya’s leading mobile operator Safaricom, has partnered with Family Bank to provide digital credit for inputs to maize farmers in the Eastern Province. About 1,000 farmers owning less than two acres in the Mbeere North and South sub-counties (Embu County) will be able to redeem credit vouchers for farm inputs at DigiFarm partner agrovets. Through DigiFarm, enrolled farmers will also gain access to agricultural insurance, agricultural advisory, market linkage services and financial literacy support. Embu is classified as a Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) county. It faces the challenge of low productivity due to climate stress resulting in draughts and diseases. The partnership has been spearheaded by a programme of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on the provision of risk contingent credit to support the resilience of smallholders. There are plans to extend the initiative to sorghum farmers in Meru County, also in the Eastern Province.
Source: KBC
05/10/23
ThriveAgric targets financial access for 125K farmers in Northern Nigeria
Nigerian agritech ThriveAgric has launched an initiative with NGO Heifer International to facilitate access to financial services to 125,000 smallholders in Northern Nigeria. ThriveAgric will facilitate account bank opening, it will distribute debit cards, and will provide up to 1,000 point-of-sale (POS) devices to young Nigerian entrepreneurs. Target states are Adamawa, Gombe, Yobe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and Bauchi. Northern Nigeria faces significantly higher financial exclusion than the rest of the country.
The project is part of a partnership initiated after ThriveAgric won the 2022 annual Agriculture, Youth, and Technology (AYuTe) Africa Challenge, an initiative of Heifer International. The AYuTe partnership project aims to drive financial inclusion and farmer profitability.
ThriveAgric operates the digital platform Agricultural Operating System (AOS), an end-to-end solution that collects farmer data through an agent network, and digitises the agricultural value chain. It supports input financing and market access and offers data-driven agri advisory. The agritech has onboarded 514,000+ smallholders and is building a network of 9,000+ rural agents across 2,900+ communities in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. Last June, ThriveAgric’s CEO said that the company is eyeing expansion into Zambia, Tanzania, and Egypt.
08/10/23
Orange, “Make-IT in Africa” launch smart agriculture programme
Mobile operator Orange and Make-IT in Africa, a think tank and start-up catalyst supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), have opened applications for the GreenAPI: Smart Agriculture Program. The program aims to support one-stop-shop digital agriculture solutions that bundle products and services for smallholder farmers, enabling productivity gains and improved livelihoods. It provides start-ups with skills development and partnership brokering and helps them developing viable business models. The program will select up to 15 smart agriculture startups from Senegal and the ECOWAS region plus Cameroon. In Senegal, it is offering a potential collaboration with mLouma, a market linkage platform that also provides advisory services via an app, SMS, and a call center. Of particular interest are start-ups that have solutions around analysis of meteorological data, soil analysis, financial services, and logistics management. Applications are open until 16 October.
08/10/23
Digital Agri Hub reaches 1,100+ solutions, launches badge of approval
The Digital Agri Hub has reached the milestone of 1,100+ curated digital agriculture solutions on its dashboard, covering all 134 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It has also recently introduced a data entry facility allowing registered entities to manage their data. Entities with reliable and up to date data earn a green badge, which guarantees a priority placement and higher visibility on the dashboard.
Hosted by Wageningen University and Research (WUR), the Hub is an online data and knowledge broker supporting agricultural transformation in LMICs. Besides data, it provides analytics and insights. Data points available include technologies deployed, available languages, and countries of deployment of digital agriculture solutions. Solution providers can also share confidentially data about user numbers, revenue, and impact of the solutions listed.
The Hub builds on the research by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) in partnership with Dalberg Advisors, which resulted in The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019 and its database. To support the Hub, WUR holds strategic partnerships with initiatives and institutes such as GrowAsia, SkyQuest, AgriTerra, MercyCorps, IICA, Enabel, CCARDESA and GIZ.
09/10/23
SAIS Investment Readiness Programme calls for African agritechs
African tech startups with scalable, market-based digital solutions for agriculture, food or climate change are invited to apply to the SAIS Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) 2024. IRP is a yearlong, tailor-made support programme to raise investments and scale up. It includes personalised coaching with local and international experts, access to investors, individual online training, and additional services such as legal advice, online marketing, and digital product optimisation.
IRP is one of the three tailor-made investment readiness programs offered by
SAIS, which stands for “Scaling digital Agriculture Innovations through Start-ups”. SAIS is a company development and accelerator implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and co-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bayer Cares Foundation. There is time to apply until 20 October.