Articles
Blog articles
Pitch AgriHack boosts agri start-up development
Beninese start-up and CTA Pitch AgriHack winner in 2018, Fenou Packaging, offers 100% biodegradable food packaging through its online sales platform. One year after the awards ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda, how beneficial has CTA’s support been?
Read MoreLocal products to promote healthy eating in Africa
The Innovative Cooperative for Optimal Nutrition (ICON) was launched in March 2018 in Burkina Faso by 16 Ashoka fellows, with the aim of supporting the consumption, production and trade of local, highly nutritious food products through a new collective brand. Its Director General Lamisse Kandil looks back at the efforts made to establish the ICON Africa label as a guarantee of health and nutritional quality and a model for sustainable development.
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Jaguza Tech: Livestock management simplified
One Ugandan boy’s vision to improve, modernise and simplify livestock management for farmers in his country has blossomed into an international business that has the potential to positively impact countless persons along the agricultural value-chain.
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A Nigerian start-up unlocking the potential of large markets for smallholder farmers
One of 11 woman-led finalists in CTA’s 2019 Pitch AgriHack competition and, ultimately, a winner in the mature platform category, Nigeria-based Foodlocker is helping smallholder farmers to access large and lucrative markets. Jennifer Okoduwa, the company’s co-founder, explains how.
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The business of farming: How digitalisation is bringing Africa’s youth back into agriculture
They say that the future belongs to the young. In Africa, the future of the continent’s agriculture almost certainly belongs to its youth. More than 60% of Africans are under 25, and every year, 10-12 million young people enter the job market in search of employment. Vast numbers work in farming in rural areas – agriculture employs almost 70% of the population – but the prospect of higher wages and a more secure livelihood is driving urban migration for many others.
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Impact Stories
New technology and business skills create rural jobs
CTA’s PEJERIZ project is applying technology in the field, encouraging mechanisation and coaching young entrepreneurs to create jobs in the rice value chain in Mali and Senegal. Launched in March 2018, the project is already making a difference.
Read MoreWhen young Africans hack the farming sector
The AgriHack Talent initiative is one of the CTA’s best-known projects, particularly through its AgriHack Pitch start-up support programme. We take a look back on this initiative, which, over the course of just a few years, has succeeded in bringing together agriculture, entrepreneurship and new technologies.
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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.
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Lovin Kobusingye, the accidental entrepreneur
Sharing actionable knowledge helps to turn ideas into reality. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has seen powerful returns from bringing together young entrepreneurial thinkers and doers from all over Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
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Press release
Young innovators transforming African agriculture awarded in Accra - Winners of Pitch AgriHack competition announced
Accra, Ghana, 6 September 2019. Seven young agricultural entrepreneurs, including four women, were awarded today for digital innovations during the closing plenary at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Accra.
Read MoreCompetition to promote agri-innovation and entrepreneurship in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 8 August 2019. A Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) sponsored competition that will support Ethiopian agricultural entrepreneurs was launched yesterday with a prize fund of an estimated €35,000 (over 1 million Ethiopian birr).
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Ground-breaking digital innovation sought for Pitch AgriHack 2019
Wageningen, the Netherlands April 25 2019. Pitch AgriHack, the annual competition that awards young entrepreneurs in ICTs for agriculture (ICT4Ag) is open for applications. Now in its fourth year, Pitch AgriHack is an initiative by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) that supports ICT4Ag entrepreneurs through capacity building and funding to accelerate youth employment and agricultural transformation.
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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.
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Innovative 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.
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ICT Update
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 MoreSpore
Bottling Mali’s wild plants for nutritious drinks
In 2016, Aïssata Diakité launched Zabbaan Holding – a company that makes juices from plants grown locally in central Mali by over 5,000 farmers.
Read MoreAn entrepreneur must be competitive and creative, but above all, open-minded
At the age of just 24, Madagascan Heritiaina Randriamananatahina heads up a cheese and syrup processing business that is growing fast. Lacking any formal qualifications, he discusses the barriers facing any aspiring young business man or woman in the agri-food industry.
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Young agripreneurs create markets for farmers in the Congo
To encourage value addition of cassava and provide employment opportunities for local farmers, women and youths in the Democratic Republic of Congo, young entrepreneurs have established eight processing centres across the country.
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A passion for porcine production
Accounting for 38% of worldwide meat production, pork is attracting a new generation of African entrepreneurs – bucking the continent’s traditional aversion to the meat.
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Developing a winning strategy
The rapid evolution of ICTs is providing new opportunities for young entrepreneurs in agriculture. However, there are many hurdles to be overcome before these fledgling agribusinesses become profitable.
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Events
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Nov 20
AgriTech Movers Ethiopia Forum
Digital technologies bear transformative powers in connecting, scaling and transforming the agriculture sector. The Green Innovation & Agritech Slam 2019 is an agri innovation platform that aims to identify young agri-entrepreneurs, businesses and start-ups in Ethiopia with the highest potential to tackle existing problems in agriculture using digital technologies. The AgriTech Mo…Location:Menelik II Ave, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Sep 6
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Sep 6
African Green Revolution Forum 2019 - Youth in agriculture: Showcasing and scaling models for agripreneurship
Across the continent, young agripreneurs are recognising untapped opportunities in the agrifood sector. Yet, ideally, they would be fostered by a supportive ecosystem to progress faster and more successfully along their journey. The ambition of scaling digitally-enabled, environmentally conscious, market-led ventures to deliver jobs and healthy food, while respecting the natural environment, ca…
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Sep 5
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Sep 2
African Green Revolution Forum 2019
Africa is on the move, with signs of progress and growing prosperity for millions of its people. The continent has witnessed sustained economic growth and a modernisation of its economy for more than two decades powered by an increasingly inclusive agricultural transformation and by rapid growth in digital innovations.
