ENSURING FARMERS HAVE ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE SERVICES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

About 70% of the rural population in Southern Africa relies on agriculture for their livelihoods, most of whom are highly vulnerable to climate change. However, smallholder farmers often lack technical knowledge and critical services for productive and resilient farm management. For example, key services such as soil testing, inputs provision, finance, insurance, climate information, and […]
Kvuno Soil Labs

In a world where climate change is an ever growing issue, it is an imperative to help especially small-holder farmers improve their soil care practices, and use better seeds. The Kvuno project aims to increase the performance of these farmers by providing them with access to technology in which they have continually been held from the […]
Enhancing Farmers’ Agency in Biodiversity Protection

In development, we are often confronted with seemingly impossible challenges. In our quest to support farmers to increase productivity, enhance their participation in value chains, and improve their incomes we have to also caution them on practices that could have a longer-term negative impact on livelihoods. From our vantage point we sometimes wonder why certain […]
Is the future of healthy soils pegged on soil carbon offsets?

If 100 smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa today were asked to name the greatest challenge facing them, how many would say “greenhouse gas emissions”? Let’s be honest, probably none or only a handful, if any. Yet, if you presented the same farmers with a similar question in relation to climate change or unfertile soils, probably […]
Increasing digital adoption amongst smallholders through Whatsapp

Technology has become a great enabler across different sectors. In the field of food and agriculture, technologies like mobile sensors, robotics and artificial intelligence are increasing the efficiency of food production and improving smallholders’ access to information, formal markets and finance. However, the current enthusiasm for agricultural digitization has caused an influx of “full house” […]