As Africa embraces digital technology, young, innovative and techno savvy farmers are changing this traditional sector. Young innovators are applying big data, analytics and mobile applications to attract more young people to farming, while growing healthy food and boosting agri production.
Hydroponics and Aquaponics Farming
Willard Charawe Maina (20) from Kenya grows crops using mineral nutrient solutions in water solvent. Hydroponics does not require use of soil for crop production. Mosesi Mosesi (28) runs a hydroponic and aquaponics farm in Tembisa, an East Rand township in Gauteng, South Africa (SA). Aquaponics combine conventional aquaculture with hydroponics in symbiotic environments.
These young farmers have brought progressive change into the agricultural space, eliminating seasonality of fruit and vegetable. As land has always been an issue in SA, soilless even addresses this problem as all a farmer needs is some space and not actual arable land.
Drones to the rescue
Ivory Coast founder of INVESTIV, Aboubacar Karim (24), specialises in precision agriculture to grow the country’s agricultural sector, raising productivity and creating a more sustainable environment.
Using drones, he has since 2019, mapped more than 13 000 hectare of land to provide information on soil quality, plant health conditions, spraying of crops with pesticides and fertiliser, as well as measuring and monitoring crop development on an online platform.
In the same vein, Nigerian-based agribusiness development expert, Adeyeni Adeniran, also uses drones to map the accurate size and shape of farmlands, predict flooding and identify water bodies and dense vegetation. This aids in in optimal resource allocation and increases production as a result.
Digital payments for farmers
Another Nigerian youth, Michael Ogundare (20), started Crop2Cash, a mobile-based channel enabling payments to by farmers. By partnering with banks and other formal lenders, the usual long agricultural lending process now takes mere 24-hours.
From obtaining urgent credit, farmers now also have to access insurance, mechanisation, seeds and chemicals.
Big Data to boost productivity
Big data provides useful information to farmers on rainfall patterns, fertilising requirements, pest management and water cycles while enabling them to make smarter production and marketing decisions.
Emeka Nwachinemere’s Kitovu Technology Company in Nigeria, collects, analyses and aggregates soil and geolocation data to reduce the natural and technical forms of post-harvest losses and boost farmers’ yield by up to 300%. In addition to this, the company matches soil types with appropriate seed qualities, fertiliser and other input quantities to improve farm production.
