Blog

COVID-19 and Agriculture in Africa: implications for Digitalisation

by Benjamin Addom and Didier Muyiramye

In January 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak which started in Wuhan - China was declared by the World Health Organisation as ‘pandemic’. Since that time, the COVID-19 pandemic has speedily spread across the world and caused significant impacts on many sectors of the economy globally. As of early August 2020, more than 800,000 cases and 13,779 deaths have been confirmed across 53 countries in Africa, with South Africa and Egypt being the hardest hit countries.

“CTA have been scanning the horizon and introducing the future to the farmers of today”

by Theo De Jager

Theo de Jager is President of the World Farmers’ Organisation, which represents more than 1.5 billion farmers across the globe. Here, he speaks on what he learned from his experiences with CTA over 10 years, and the secret to the organisation’s success.

Blockchain: an opportunity to improve the traceability of sustainable cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire

by Julien Gonnet , Ken Lohento and Brad Mulley

Lack of traceability is a major issue in the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire. The French NGO, Nitidae, believes that blockchain could provide a solution that would fight fraud and promote ethical production. With the support of CTA and blockchain specialists, Gaiachain, Nitidae carried out a project, from February 2019 to April 2020, with a cooperative in the Mé region of Côte d’Ivoire to develop and test a blockchain traceability application. Here is an initial assessment of the ‘Cocoblock’ experience.

Project Manioc 21: Towards commercial cassava cooperatives in Central Africa

by Aichetou Ba and Vincent Fautrel

By providing key management tools, CTA’s project Manioc 21 is supporting cooperatives in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to adopt new business models and modernise their capacities in cassava processing and commercialisation.

Gaining vital agricultural expertise

by Willy Mboukem

At 30 years old, tropical agronomist Willy Mboukem from Cameroon, is starting his own agribusiness consultancy agency. The Farming Agency aims to help people become more productive in agriculture, and will teach farmers how to use drones and grow organic crops. Whilst studying for his masters, Willy was introduced to CTA and Spore magazine. He tells us what impact this had had on himself and others.

Farmers’ Hub: introducing young agripreneurs from the Sahel to innovative greenhouse farming

by Aichetou Ba and Vincent Fautrel

The Farmers’ Hub project, supported by CTA and the Syngenta Foundation for a Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA), is benefiting young farmers in Mali and Senegal. The initiative aims to improve the productivity and quality of fruit and vegetable farming using greenhouses, whilst creating youth employment opportunities. After a year of operation, the young agripreneurs have shown promising results and significant profits.

Digital agriculture to help Africa through coronavirus

by Sabdiyo Dido Bashuna and Benjamin Addom

As COVID-19 continues to devastate lives all over the world, agriculture and food systems come under critical strain. Recessions, food shortages, hunger and malnutrition are feared to be likely, with grave impact on vulnerable communities in developing regions like sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Turning value chain challenges into business opportunities

by Jana Dietershagen

Jana Dietershagen, CTA Technical officer for the project ‘Promoting Nutritious Food Systems in the Pacific Islands’, explains the importance of stakeholder and value chain mapping and how targeted capacity building approaches create ownership.

Weather-index based insurance – a viable option for small Pacific islands?

by Judith Francis and Simon Cole

In the last two decades, Pacific Island countries (PICs) have suffered billions of dollars in damage and loss due to catastrophic weather events such as cyclones and floods, and other natural disasters including volcanic eruptions. Their predominantly small size and the diverse nature of their agricultural production systems make investments unattractive to private insurers.

A declaration for the better use of West Africa’s agricultural open data

by Didier Muyiramye , André Laperrière and Chris Addison

Government delegates from French-speaking African countries met to discuss the importance of open data in economic and social development.

“CTA is like a good farmer who knows they cannot cultivate yield from a big field alone”

by Wellington Ekaya

Wellington Ekaya, head of capacity development at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), has engaged with CTA throughout his academic and professional career. In this article, he outlines the instrumental role of the Centre in linking him with networks, mentors and development opportunities over the last 15 years.

Farm data supports agricultural decision-making in Burundi

by Didier Muyiramye , Annick Sezibera and Chris Addison

The CTA-funded project, Monitoring Family Farms Within CAPAD Member Cooperatives, aims to improve agricultural product development and marketing activities through the trial and use of ICTs. These technical developments are intended to better support farmer members of the Confederation of Agricultural Producer Associations for Development (CAPAD), in Burundi.

CTA expertise informs concept for new International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture

by Benjamin Addom

Extensive consultation with CTA and other stakeholders has resulted in a concept note for the establishment of a new International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture. Once operationalised, the Digital Council will advise governments and other relevant actors with the aim of realising the immense potential of digitalisation for the global agri-food system.

Vouch Digital: Tracking development impacts in real time

by Evelyn Namara

In the face of recurring famine and drought in Karamoja, Uganda, the area is receiving enormous developmental interventions by developmental agencies, NGOs, governments, private companies. Most if not all of these initiatives share one aspect in common lack of transparency and accountability, a scenario where organisations are not sure if the interventions reach the target beneficiaries.

Accelerating open data policy formulation for agriculture’s transformation

by Chipo Msengezi , Jeanne Nel and Didier Muyiramye

Data is only be valuable if it can be accessed and used. Unfortunately, access to data is challenged in many countries by a lack of open data policies in many sectors of the economy – including agriculture.

hiveonline: working with communities to help them access credit

by Jaclyn Bolt and Chris Addison

hiveonline is a digital platform that builds financial trust. This young start-up works with NGOs, merchants and microfinance institutions to help support small business ecosystems. The goal is to help communities grow by giving them access to credit and markets. We spoke with Sofie Blakstad, CEO and founder of hiveonline, about her initiative and the role of blockchain technology.

Farmerline: “People who look at challenges as stepping stones for the prize ahead will win in this market”

Ghanaian technology company, Farmerline, CTA top 20 innovations in 2015, is empowering 100,000 smallholder farmers to become successful entrepreneurs by connecting them to agricultural information, services and markets. We spoke with Alloysius Attah, Farmerline CEO, on the challenges facing African agribusinesses, and the platforms that have supported the company along the way.

TechShelta: Greenhouse farming solutions powered by digital technology

by Bob Hawkson

Four young Ghanaians armed with technological insight and passion, are making it their mission to revolutionise agriculture in their country. The group, that met in 2018 during an innovation challenge competition, pooled together to form one of Ghana’s youngest agritech companies focusing on maximising greenhouse farming efficiency through innovative solutions.

CTA awards digital solutions at SARA in Abidjan

by Arsène Birindwa

The Salon International de l’Agriculture et des Ressources Animales (SARA) – the international exhibition of agriculture and animal resources – is one of the biggest agricultural events in West Africa. The most recent exhibition, held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 22 November to 1 December 2019, ran under the theme "Smart agriculture and technological innovation: What prospects for African agriculture?" At the event, CTA awarded two digital solutions in the first-ever Agreen Start-up competition.

Building partnerships for agricultural transformation

by Bertil Videt

After nearly 10 years as CTA Director, Michael Hailu’s mandate at the Centre will conclude at the end of February 2020. We spoke with him about how CTA has contributed to the advancement of agricultural transformation in ACP countries over the last decade, and how this important work will be continued in the future.