IBM launches Digital4Agriculture initiative

IBM LAUNCHES DIGITAL4AGRICULTURE INITIATIVE TO SUPPORT AFRICAN STARTUPS

Multinational technology and consulting company IBM in December announced the launch of the Digital4Agriculture Initiative (D4AG) which aims to support African startups in the agricultural sector. In addition, the initiative will also aim to improve the living conditions of local smallholders in the long term by increasing productivity and quality.

D4AG will make use of IBM Services’ digital expertise, as well as access to weather data provided by IBM’s The Weather Company.

IBM said in a statement that the initiative is currently helping over 36 African agribusiness companies to prepare for the digital future.

Reliable weather forecasts are very difficult to make for the African agricultural economy due to the lack of IT infrastructure. Small farms not only lack internet access and suitable hardware, but the existing data is often unreliable or difficult to process.

By providing high-resolution weather data to agricultural startups, D4Ag provides smallholders with valuable information that can help them make important decisions with greater confidence. For example, historical weather data from a tea plantation served as training material and showed how the data analysis can be used to increase yields and to determine the best harvest time or the optimal use of fertilisers or pest control.

"We also want to promote cooperation between startups and platform operators in order to fully exploit the possibilities of the digital world" D4AG lead & Make-IT in Africa consultant Desiree Winges

Make-IT in Africa consultant and D4AG lead Desiree Winges pointed out that the initiative wants to help local startups to reach more customers and open up new markets.”To do this, we impart basic knowledge in the areas of data analysis, interoperability and business modelling. We also want to promote cooperation between startups and platform operators in order to fully exploit the possibilities of the digital world,” said Winges.

D4AG is being implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and as part of the Make-IT in Africa project which IBM joined in 2017 as part of its #GoodTechIBM initiative. Make- IT in Africa promotes the start-up scene in the digital sectors of developing and emerging countries together with (primarily) European technology companies, startups, associations, research & science, and non-governmental organisations. IBM Public Sector Account

Executive Florian Scheil commented that smallholder farmers are the backbone of Africa’s food supply, and their success and quality of life depend on having reliable weather forecast data and insight from it. “We pride ourselves on providing African farmers with weather information and services that will help them manage and improve their crop production more efficiently,” added Scheil.

Three-stage training IBM said experts from GIZ and IBM Services have been working together on the D4AG project for about three years and have developed a digital coaching concept for startups that offer agricultural services for African farmers. GIZ and IBM Services have created a threestage, interactive training concept, consisting of individual e-learning, workshops on business modeling, interoperability and data analysis, as well as detailed materials with tips and suggestions for future projects. The virtual training lasted several weeks and taught participants how to use high-resolution weather data and up-to-date alerts to help smallholders grow their products in a more sustainable and healthier way.

The workshops saw the participants analyse historical data about a tea plantation - harvest volume, temperature, precipitation, etc. - and determine whether there is a connection between weather conditions and yields, for example.

D4Ag Capacity Development Workshop trainer Silas Machaira explained that the next step was to use the results to predict and plan for the future.”If you discover a pattern, you can plan future harvest phases accordingly and thus increase yields in the long term,” he added.

Overall, the use of weather data can make our food healthier: If a farmer adjusts the use of fertilisers to the weather, he can reduce the amount required. The consumer benefits from healthy products - the farmer, in turn, can achieve a better price with the high-quality products. This is made comprehensible - right down to the supermarket shelf - through blockchain-based platforms such as FoodTrust.

Access to information from industry enables startups to successfully establish themselves on the market in the long term, thus creating more jobs in the region and stable growth. In the first edition of the training, over 36 startups from around 13 countries including Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Zimbabwe in Africa took part. Around nine out of 10 participants then draw a positive conclusion and look to the future with optimism.

One of the 36 participants is Fred Zamblè the co-founder of Seekewa, an agrifintech that identifies promising agricultural projects and promotes them with the help of third parties. He said The course came at “exactly the right time” for his company. “We’re currently thinking about integrating it into a larger digital platform and this week really opened my eyes,” he added. ai