What is One Million Farmer Platform?
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. On April 5-6, 2019, a group of partners, led by the World Bank Group, ran a Challenge competition to identify Kenya's most promising agri-tech innovations to bring one million Kenyan farmers onto an impactful digital platform over the next three years.
Technologies such as mobile apps, data analytics, and digital extension can be used to improve farmers' yields if deployed and scaled effectively dramatically. Technology can enable suppliers to aggregate farmers' demand for inputs like seeds and services like tractors, which can then cost-effectively be delivered to farmers at the farm gate. Other promising approaches include financial services, enterprise development, market access, and data analytics. Given the significant level of World Bank investment in agriculture with the Kenyan government, the application of robust technology solutions can also be a force to accelerate impacts.
Why does Kenya need One Million Farmer Platform?
The World Bank through two of its existing projects, the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture (KCSAP) and the National Agriculture Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) is cumulatively investing 450 million USD to enhance productivity, resilience and profitability of the million farmers across all 45 rural counties in Kenya. As part of these projects, there are dedicated analog investments earmarked at the farm level and the producer organization level. In addition, dedicated teams across all 45 rural counties have been recruited and are working closely with the farmers.
Kenya is leading the agricultural technology space, with 30% of DATs located in Kenya. Kenya is also rated as one of the top-rated digital ecosystems on the continent. Kenya's public sector strategies are aligned to the agri-tech agenda. The Government is engaging one million farmers through its existing World Bank operations who could benefit from improved access to DATs. These three reasons made Kenya an ideal location for piloting the DAT Knowledge and Challenge Conference and launching the One Million Farmer Initiative.
What does the Platform offer?
Mentorship
You are developing your idea or looking for inspiration for new product or service development for your existing business
Training
You are developing your idea or looking for inspiration for new product or service development for your existing business
Exposure
You are developing your idea or looking for inspiration for new product or service development for your existing business
What is the program objective?
We help innovators scale up their technologies
We link the innovations with the counties
We provide a platform for innovation to achieve SD goals
Our Aim
The platform with the first cohort of innovators will offer a holistic solution keeping small holder farmers' challenges as a focal point. Through the One Million Farmer Initiative, the first cohort of innovators will achieve economies of scale in reaching smallholder farmers. The platform will enable the first cohort to take advantage of large-scale identification, data collection, data analytics services (e.g., agronomy content and geospatial farm and soil maps), as well as digitized farmer profiles. As such, each ecosystem actor will save on undertaking these activities themselves or spending more resources by operating without this information. Consequently, this will translate into improved business model sustainability of the first cohort.
Over the last few months since April 2019, in partnership with Ministry of Agriculture and World Bank teams have facilitated several workshops between the cohort of 14 innovators and counties that has resulted in partnerships between the innovators and of these innovators with 16 counties so that farmers could access bundled services on the ground and enhance their productivity and profitability.
Our Co-Sponsor
Our Partners
