Despite Kenya being the digital innovation hub of Africa and home to many of the continent’s innovative start-ups on digital agriculture, many of Kenya’s farmers have yet to benefit.
Kenya accounts for 23 per cent of all agri-tech start-ups in Africa, yet scaling up the impact of digital and disruptive technologies requires systematic investment in knowledge, innovation and the incubation ecosystem.
Almost one-quarter (24.2%) of Kenyans are estimated to still suffer from undernourishment, according to 2016 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Technologies such as apps, climate-smart seeds or data analytics can be used to dramatically improve farmers’ yields if scaled up and deployed effectively.
With regard to logistics, technology can enable suppliers to aggregate farmers’ demand for inputs like seeds and services like tractors, which can then cost-effectively delivered to farmers at the farm gate.
Other promising approaches include financial services, enterprise development, market access and data analytics.
A group of partners, led by the World Bank Group, ran a challenge competition from 5-6 April to identify Kenya’s most promising agri-tech innovations with the aim of getting one million Kenyan farmers onto a digital platform over the next three years.
“One Million Farmer Initiative” was formed by The World Bank Group; Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation; the Korea-World Bank Partnership Facility; Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology; Kuza Technologies; Dalberg; the UN SDG Partnership Platform and others.
The selection criteria required participants to have tried their technology on a minimum of 3,000 farmers in terms of outreach and impact; to have a developed proof of concept with a viable and sustainable business model over at least two years; to have data and evidence of impact on productivity, with a focus on smallholders and women farmers; to showcase interaction and engagement with other ecosystem players; and to demonstrate how they can reach at least 10,000 farmers in the next two years.
The first cohort of agri-tech innovators, along with two further cohorts selected annually thereafter will be eligible to apply for competitive grants totalling US $1 million to facilitate scaling up. They will also have access to in-kind “incubation” support over a 12- to 18-month period.
Each year, the Challenge will receive new applicants that will go through this same cycle; with the top 5-10 innovators winning the opportunity to participate in the agri-tech incubator.
The initiative will be part of the World Bank’s two major agriculture development initiatives in Kenya – the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project and the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project – both valued at nearly US $500 million.
The first cohort of entrepreneurs selected from the Challenge competition included:
Category 1: Productivity
Category 2: Market linkages
Category 3: Financial inclusion
Category 4: Data analytics
QUOTES
“Selecting from such an impressive shortlist of organisations was challenging to say the least,” said Anup Jagwani, Principal Investment Officer, International Finance Corporation, and a member of the judging panel. “The first cohort of technologies symbolise the future of Kenyan agriculture and were chosen because of their potential to best effect change at scale.”
“Quite simply, new technology has the ability to transform Kenya’s agricultural sector,” said Jeehye Kim, Agricultural Economist at the World Bank Group. “Other industries like telecoms and transportation have already shown technology’s ability to radically disrupt the status quo, and now it is time for Kenya’s farmers to harness this potential also.”
“The Conference has laid the foundation of a One Million Farmer Initiative, which will lay the foundation of a sustainable agri-tech ecosystem in Kenya, said Parmesh Shah, Global Lead for Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Jobs, Agriculture, World Bank Group. “We are very encouraged by the response of all key stakeholders to the platform.’