Techno Brain

African Smallholder Farmers Embrace GPS-Based Digital Solution

Smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable to impacts of climate change, with rain-fed agriculture accounting for more than 90% of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa. These farmers face many risks, including drought, disease and pest epidemics. But a new GPS-based digital technology may help many African smallholders improve their crop yields and income.

The new technology solution was initially deployed in India and is now being pushed across the African continent in countries like Malawi and Tanzania. This solution is the fruit of a partnership between Techno Brain (Microsoft) and the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) and ETG Farmers Foundation in Tanzania, respectively.

The technology solution will collate data, starting with the farm’s location using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, expected rainfall and weather patterns, land type and soil nutrition. The collated data will be processed via intelligent cloud to create insights that help farmers in Africa make better farming decisions.

Farmers will receive tips on their mobile via SMS and voice platforms. These insights will include: best crops to plant, optimal sowing week, pest growth alerts, adverse weather notices, preferred harvesting time, market information and general farming tips.  According to cp-africa.com, Microsoft says that the implementation of this solution will also enable development of new agribusiness models and make agriculture a viable livelihood for many farmers across the continent.
 

Publication date: 6/18/2018