African agrotech, an opportunity for agriculture on the continent

African agritech discussed at Sxsw in the presence of Jemimah Wanjiku of Digocow and Jehiel Oliver of Hello Tractor. © Thomas Harms / RFI

Text by: Thomas Harms Follow

5 min

In Africa, new local technologies are enabling the development of the agricultural sector on the continent. Applications of African agritech were showcased at South By Southwest, the festival of innovation in Austin, Texas, from March 10 to 19.

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From our special envoy in Austin,

In Africa, only 2% of loans go to agriculture. For banks, this sector is too risky and investors are reluctant to finance anything. But with a young continental population, the use of new tools makes it possible to bypass traditional funding.

New technologies are making it possible to increase yield and get advice from scientists rather than learning by trial and error. For example, there is DigiCow. This application allows African smallholder dairy farmers to record their cows' milk production data (feeding schedules, milking data, sales data, breeding data, livestock health information...).

A feature also helps farmers improve reproduction by automatically tracking gestation dates and provides access to licensed veterinarians or artificial insemination providers in the country. Finally, DigiCow provides livestock management advice to farmers free of charge, information on market trends and dairy industry news.

This application, created in Kenya in 2018, is now used by 60,000farms. And no need to have a smartphone, as the app is now developed to send data and advice in local languages via SMS. DigiCow is one of the winners of the "Ayute Africa" prize for young innovators in agriculture, awarded since 2021 by the NGO Heifer International. With the $1.5 million prize shared with the other two winners, DigiCow hopes to reach 500,000 dairy farmers this year.

► Read also: How to enrich the agricultural sector in Africa

Lack of equipment

Agritech at South By Southwest was also the Hello Tractor app. Its founder, Jehiel Olivier, started from the observation that 70% of food is produced by small family farms. But in Africa, many are losing money because they don't have access to the equipment to make their crops profitable. What if it was possible to rent this equipment to several people? This is what the Hello Tractor application offers. It connects small farmers who need a tractor with farm equipment owners, who are willing to rent their equipment 50 or 100 km away for several weeks or months.

The interface is managed by "community agents", selected and trained to organize a tractor reservation calendar with beaches for each farmer in their community. This agent receives a commission on each task he has created in the application and that has been the subject of the tractor's use. Farmers only pay when the service is over. Hello Tractor is present in 16 countries, with offices in Nigeria and Kenya and agents in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, among others.

From the beginning to the end of the production chain

To find out what land is fertile and when, farmers on the continent can turn to ThriveAgric. With 500,000 users in Nigeria, the app hopes to have 10 million by 2027. The app's farming system (AOS) contains data on farmers and potential customers who sell their products. A total of 2,000 company agents crisscross the field with the Thrive AOS mobile app and map and record accurate data about farmers' land (such as soil composition and proximity to water). Then, they identify planting use and needs, monitor crop performance, track harvests and assist with post-harvest processing.

The company has also developed an agricultural market platform called Tradr. Some 12,000 customers, 30% of whom are women, use Tradr to buy seedlings, sell their crops, rent agricultural equipment and monitor market prices for different raw materials.

Because one of the problems faced by agricultural professionals is that once harvested, you have to sell your products. That's where ColdHubs, a small cold room application for African markets, comes in. With heat and without a cold chain, most products last a maximum of a day before damaging and rotting. Thanks to ColdHubs, market gardeners and farmers can rent cold rooms by the day or week and supply their stand as they go.

For the moment, about fifty compact cold rooms, powered by solar energy and managed by a phone application, exist in the markets of central Nigeria. By 2026, ColdHubs hopes to have 5,000 cold rooms in West Africa.

And to know the prices, there is mAgri, developed by Brastorne in Botswana. This app allows farmers to access agricultural information, markets and financing via SMS and interactive voice technology. Brastorne's Mpotsa ("Ask Me") mobile service provides rural users without internet with sought-after information. Applications that cover the entire agricultural production chain.

► Read also: Agriculture in Africa: "More investment in the agri-food system is needed"

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