Project Lead(s): Obidimma Ezezika
Issue
About 234 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are affected by issues of food security and malnourishment.
Malnutrition can arise from a lack of trust in, and access to, critical information about new agricultural technologies and development programs/sustainable practices.
Solution
Implemented in Kenya, the project developed a mobile phone application to be used by farmers in accessing information on improved agricultural technologies for vegetables and fruits.
The overall purpose of the project was to empower farmers to participate in the agricultural innovation process, foster trust with key agriculture players, and improve nutrition through access to the critical information on sustainable agriculture and improved seeds/technologies.
Outcome
An app was developed called AgriFAIDA and 20,640 small-scale farmers were registered to use it.
The app serves as a database, and provides farmers with two-way communication with public and private partners to access information on improved cultivation of fruits/vegetables for better nutrition.
Loyalty points have been integrated with the app to award farmers for adopting technology and using the information.
Knowledge about the project was disseminated through conference publications.
The project team will be seeking Phase II Transition To Scale funding, in part to enable recruitment and training of farmers over a three-year period.