Heifer Unveils Digital Agriculture Champions Initiative in Africa

Gilbert Ekugbe

Heifer International, a nonprofit organization on a mission to end global hunger and poverty, has unveiled her Digital Agriculture Champions (DAC) initiative.

The initiative, said in a statement, will leverage exponential digital technologies as a key component in the design of signature programs covering 11 countries of Heifer’s operations in Africa.

Heifer added that the effort will deliver sustainable, cost-effective training modules for smallholder farmers across Heifer Africa, starting with Kenya.

“Heifer is advancing technology and mechanization to address some of the post-pandemic challenges across different Agricultural value chains in Africa; investing in digital extension systems for training as a post-pandemic response strategy that will create efficient, scalable solutions for farmers and help boost the value chains in which they work.

“Heifer is also committed to mentoring the youth who often constitute the extension staff, and is focused on empowering them to become digital champions with entrepreneurship skills to ensure quality services for farmers, and sustainable business models beyond the life of Heifer project interventions.

“Heifer is committed to catalyzing ground-up engagement of the youth in Agriculture. The Digital Agriculture Champions initiative will foster the application of digital technology in Agriculture, delivering solutions that address challenges faced by smallholder farmers at scale, ”said Adesuwa Ifedi, Senior Vice President Africa Programs, Heifer.

“The idea for the AYuTe Africa Challenge (AYuTe stands for Agriculture, Youth and Technology) was conceived by Heifer based on four decades of work as a trusted partner of African farmers—and seeing first-hand the stark difference between local farms that have access to new technologies and those that do not;” she added.

Kuza’s founder Sriram Bharatam explains: “We are a strong believer in the fact that one plus one is 11. When you bring tools to partners together with a common, shared vision and values, you can create magic.”

“The Digital Agriculture Champions will capitalize on the network effectby first running programs that incubate young entrepreneurs, who then each engage approximately 200 households in rural communities, giving them the knowledge, tools, and networks needed to transform how they do business in a sustainable way, especially in agriculture.” he added.