Impact Stories
For farming fortune, dial mAgri
A Botswanan start-up is breaking the barriers to digital technologies for rural smallholder farmers. Brastorne Enterprises, a winner of CTA’s 2016 Pitch AgriHack competition, operates a mobile platform called mAgri to improve farmers’ access to information, markets and finance.
Read MoreBlog articles
Visites d’études, échanges et réseautage en France pour les startups lauréates de Pitch Agrihack
Des jeunes entrepreneurs soutenus par le CTA participent à une rencontre internationale des start-ups e-agricoles, l'Agri-Start-up Summit, à la Roche-sur-Yon, en France, du 22 au 24 novembre 2017. La rencontre est organisée avec la collaboration du CTA par un groupe d’institutions comprenant Inf’Agri85, la Chambre d’agriculture de Vendée (France), Business France, AGRA’up, la Ferme Digitale. Ces journées « collabor’actives» ont pour objectif de promouvoir l’innovation du monde agricole grâce aux technologies ouvertes.
Read More
A dynamic future for young agripreneurs
Among the numerous topics addressed during the inaugural Pacific Week of Agriculture in Port Vila, Vanuatu from October 16-20, the place of young people into agribusiness ventures has caught a lot of attention. A concrete way to bring new incomes in Pacific Island states and to fight youth unemployment and rural exodus.
Read More
News
Of financiers, farm-ternships and a failed catfish farmer
After losing 700 of 1,000 catfish fingerlings in her debut fish farming enterprise, Divine-Love Akam switched to working in agriculture, a sector many investors and banks think twice about supporting.
Read MoreCTA at the 2018 AYA forum
Under the theme “Technologies and Innovations for Youth in Agribusiness”, the 2018 African Youth Agripreneur Forum (AYAF) and AgriPitch Competition will be held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on 9–13 April 2018. The events, organised by the African Development (AfDB), the Government of Côte d’Ivoire and with CTA’s collaboration, are expected to attract over 400 participants from across the continent, including young agripreneurs, agribusiness leaders, investors and development partners.
Read More
Bayseddo: a digital platform to boost agriculture in Senegal
In 2016, Mamadou Sall, working with Thierno Souleymane and other young Senegalese entrepreneurs, launched Bayseddo, a networking platform for farmers and investors in Senegal, aiming to optimise agriculture through digital technology. The start-up won the CTA’s Pitch Agrihack 2017 competition, and its first results are already beginning to show.
Read More
Communiqués
Young Pitch AgriHack entrepreneurs awarded during Presidential Summit
Kigali, Rwanda, 8 September 2018. Awards for the Pitch AgriHack 2018 were given today in front of African leaders: H.E. Paul Kagame, President, Republic of Rwanda; H.E. William Samoei Arap Ruto, Deputy President of Kenya; H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President, Republic of Ghana; H.E. Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, Prime Minister, Republic of Gabon.
Read MoreInnovative agribusiness project promises bright future for Kenya’s youth
Nairobi, Kenya, 29 August 2018 – A new project launched today in Nairobi will boost business and employment opportunities for thousands of young people in the agricultural sector in Kalifi and Nakuru counties, Kenya.
Read More
10,000 smallholders to benefit in new Central African cassava project
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA), together with the Regional Platform for Central African Producers Organisations (PROPAC) and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has launched this week in Kinshasa a new project to unlock the economic potential in cassava value chains in both DRC and Cameroon.
Read MorePitch AgriHack seeks to promote greater engagement of young women
Wageningen, The Netherlands, 13 April 2018. CTA has launched ‘Pitch AgriHack 2018’ a competition to support young agricultural entrepreneurs (agripreneurs) build viable businesses and boost innovation for a more sustainable agricultural sector. Winning innovations will be awarded up to €15,000, as well as mentoring and networking opportunities.
Read More
Innovations in rice value chains offer increased job opportunities for rural youth
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA), together with the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, has launched a new project that will foster youth entrepreneurship, strengthen market ties, and enhance livelihoods in the rice sectors of Mali and Senegal.
Read More
Interviews
Online platform improves the livelihood of small farmers in Ghana
Michael Ocansey, a computer science specialist, and Francis Obirikorang, a chemical engineer, developed the online platform, AgroCenta, won CTA’s 2017 Pitch AgriHack initiative, which gives youth entrepreneurs an opportunity to develop their business services and accelerate the adoption of their services. In an interview with CTA, Ocansey talks about AgroCenta – which links small-scale farmers and farmer organisations in Ghana with a big online market to improve the prices they receive for their commodities.
Read Moree-Agribusiness: A vital resource for Togo’s agriculture sector
Back in March 2015, Togolese entrepreneur Edeh Dona Etchri launched the e-Agribusiness platform to connect people and organisations across the country’s agriculture sector. It has proved a vital source of information for otherwise isolated farmers and is helping to grow the sector nationwide. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) worked with the founder to help him expand and market his business. Today, there are around 6,000 farmers across Togo using the platform.
Read More
Technical and scientific articles
Home-grown ICT solutions in agriculture come from young entrepreneurs
Young innovators in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific region, have recognised the need for creative solutions to raise agricultural productivity and the huge prospective market for their ICT-enabled services in agriculture. Although they still face many challenges, their products have the potential to transform agricultural value chains in developing countries.
Read MoreBackground articles
Linking farmers to markets with just a click
A winner of CTA’s Pitch AgriHack competition, Farmart – an online farmers market – enables farmers to sell their produce for more money and reduce post-harvest losses.
Read MoreAywajieune, developing online fish trading in Senegal
Aywajieune, winner of the Suguba Award for the best Senegalese start-up at Pitch AgriHack West Africa 2017, is the first platform in Senegal to connect fish sellers and buyers. Thanks to the CTA, the startup will receive support from Ernst & Young to help it develop plans for growth.
Read More
Offering ICT solutions to meet the specific needs of Ivorian farmers
In Côte d’Ivoire, ICT4DEV, the best Ivorian start-up at Pitch AgriHack 2017, has developed mobile applications to meet the needs of local farmers.
Read More
Karim Sy: ‘We cannot think Africa without agriculture’
Forty-six-year-old Karim Sy rejects the label of ‘incubator’, preferring to describe himself as a ‘serial entrepreneur’. Nevertheless, Jokkolabs, his non-profit organisation set up in Senegal in 2010, now has 12 hubs spread in Africa and Europe, and is trying to uncover the African entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Recently appointed to the Presidential Council for Africa by French President Emmanuel Macron, Sy has also been working for several years with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) through the AgriHack programme.
Read More
A shared journey of learning at the Pacific Week of Agriculture
The first Pacific Week of Agriculture (PWA) opened on 16 Oct 2017 in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Taking the theme CROPS – Culture, Resilience, Opportunities, Products, Sustainability - PWA sets out to foster dialogue and commitment for realising the potential of agriculture in a region that is facing a number of economic, social and environmental challenges.
Read More
