We are committed to ensuring farming communities are equipped with AI, IoT, edge computing tools – Microsoft

We are committed to ensuring farming communities are equipped with AI, IoT, edge computing tools – Microsoft

edge computing Africa Agritech Microsoft Kenya

Microsoft hosts a media round table event throwing light on its endeavours in the agricultural sector in Africa. With partners, Amiran Kenya Limited and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) joining Microsoft to share on their partnership journey in Kenya.

At a time where industries are called to relook operation models to survive, the agricultural sector has emerged as key to long-term growth in Africa and the world. Recognising the need for continuous investment in this area, particularly through technology, Microsoft today hosted a virtual roundtable – further reaffirming its commitment to digitally transforming the sector.

On the continent, investments in agriculture technology have grown year-on-year. This is evident in the number of agri-tech start ups increasing by 110 percent in the past two years. Furthermore, according to World Bank estimates, food production and processing in Africa currently generates over $300 billion annually, but that figure could rise to $1 trillion a year by 2030 if farmers are given the right access to inputs and resources.

Speaking at the event, Amrote Abdella, Regional Director at Microsoft 4Afrika noted that a long-term approach is key to enabling lasting change and impact in the sector.

Our strategy has always been to build deep partnerships with leading industry, governmental and non-governmental organisations; invest in infrastructure with a focus on solving unique challenges with globally-relevant approaches and build a relevant solution ecosystem. Investing in skills and agri-tech and the sector at large falls directly into this strategy.”

With the sector sustaining 70 per cent of Africa’s livelihoods, we’ve taken the lead to develop a data-driven, connected farming that optimises yields, boosts farm productivity and increases profitability. Leveraging our extensive partnerships and initiatives network, we are committed to ensuring that all farming communities are equipped with the latest tools like AI, IoT and edge computing to improve productivity and sustainability across the sector,” continues Abdella.

The organisation has worked with various partners and customers across the region to realise this strategy and ensure access to the solutions developed. On a regional level, through its partnership with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Microsoft is exploring the use of big data and artificial intelligence in enabling data-driven, precision farming to support and increase farm productivity and profitability. The partnership also supports farmers in adopting new technologies through digital training content, develops digital skills in agriculture through an internship programme and supports policy advocacy and government engagement around the design of national agriculture digitisation strategies. The collaboration continues to support AGRA’s digital transformation as it works to improve food security for 30 million farming households across 11 countries by 2021.

Our work with Microsoft has allowed us to deepen each area of work we have begun together both technically and geographically. Drawing on Microsoft’s digital architecture support on digital ecosystems and big data platforms has been beneficial for our organisation internally and externally, to the farmers,” says Vanessa Adams, Vice President Strategic Partnerships and Chief of Party, AGRA.

The organisation, through its 4Afrika initiative also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MALFC) to collaborate in accelerating innovation in the agricultural sector in Kenya. As a partner to MALFC, 4Afrika is promoting sustainable growth and development in this sector – helping to preserve its socio-economic value and accelerate much-needed innovation in farming. Microsoft have been designing, piloting and launching a programme to drive innovation that addresses key challenges, such as pests and disease control, sustainable agricultural resource management, agri-weather data, and others.

Locally, SunCulture helps farmers improve their crop yields through solar-powered irrigation systems. Using IoT technology, SunCulture customers are generating 10x more annual income, experiencing a

300% increase in crop yields and saving 17 hours of manually moving water per week. And by leveraging TV white spaces (TVWS) technology that expands high-speed internet access to underserved areas, SunCulture is bringing precision farming to more smallholder farmers.

Another example from Kenya concerns Twiga Foods  , a mobile-based business-to-business food supply platform, links smallholder farmers in rural Kenya to informal retail vendors in cities. With Twiga’s mobile platform, vendors can order fresh produce from farmers across Kenya at competitive prices. Twiga is driving microfinancing for smallholder farmers in Kenya, by creating credit history through goods transactions powered by Microsoft cloud solution. It currently benefits 8,000 farmers and 15,000 vendors.

Kenyan farmer-led agricultural product distribution company Amiran has also worked with Microsoft to enable the digital transformation of the industry at large. “Working with Microsoft, we have seen a positive impact, particularly with the ChatBot where PowerBI dashboard capabilities have the potential to be instrumental in accelerating the transformation and access to quality services for those who need it most,” says Trevor Sherwin, Head of Business Development, Amiran

 “The purpose of todays virtual roundtable was to draw attention to and create awareness around an industry that is vital for the survival of humanity. We hope that by the insights explained and stories shared, that individuals will embrace the impact of digital transformation in the sector. We also look forward to cultivating new partnerships while strengthening current ones as we continue to work towards food security across the continent.” concludes Abdella.

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Cutting-edge technology can drive Africa towards a food-secure future

Cutting-edge technology can drive Africa towards a food-secure future

Amrote Abdella, Regional Director Microsoft 4Afrika, believes cutting-edge technology such as data-driven agriculture can solve the challenge of food security in Africa. Find out more on why she believes this through partner activities and programs across Africa.

Cutting-edge technology Microsoft Africa agritech partnerships in technology

One of most the prominent challenges facing Africa is providing food security for its citizens. While many farmers still rely on traditional techniques to coax a living from the land, there are opportunities to use cutting-edge technology to drive Africa towards a food-secure future.

2 billion – no access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) reports that over 2 billion people do not have access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. A steady increase in hunger since 2014 together with rising obesity, clearly indicates the need to accelerate and scale up actions to strengthen food systems and protect people’s livelihoods. It seems only fitting then, that in 2020, the theme for  World Food Day is ‘Our Actions are Our Future’. Accelerating innovation in agri-tech will enable data-driven farming that can optimise yields, boost farm productivity and increase profitability – all while feeding a nation.

AI – Cutting-edge technology

AI in agriculture uses cutting-edge data, advanced analytics and machine learning to bring centuries-old farming knowledge into the modern age, giving farmers the tools to optimise crop yields and mitigate the effects of climate change through tools like smart irrigation. With agriculture sustaining 70% of Africa’s livelihoods, Microsoft is committed to ensuring that all farming communities are equipped with the latest tools including AI, IoT and edge computing to improve productivity and sustainability across the sector, leveraging our extensive partnerships and initiatives network in the process.

AI as an Enabler

There have been references in the recent past of AI replacing people in jobs, but what happens when AI and IoT devices enable people to spend less time on menial manual labour and more time boosting productivity and crop yields? AI and cloud technology can be used to monitor soil, climate changes and more to make better decisions on when, where, and how much to plant on farms. Precision farming, brought about by the adoption of advanced technologies into the agricultural sector, will revolutionise food production.

Kenya

In Kenya, SunCulture helps farmers improve their crop yields through solar-powered irrigation systems. Using IoT technology, SunCulture customers are generating 10x more annual income, experiencing a 300% increase in crop yields, and saving 17 hours of manually moving water per week. And by leveraging TV white spaces (TVWS) technology that expands high-speed internet access to underserved areas, SunCulture is bringing precision farming to more smallholder farmers.

Nigeria

The Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft to collaborate in helping Nigerian farmers become more productive, reduce costs, practice sustainable agriculture and achieve better agricultural outcomes through the deployment of the FarmBeats platform, which harnesses sensors, drones and cameras for seamless data collection, helping farmers improve crop yields as well as increase income. As many as 8 million farmers and 4 million hectares will be positively affected.

Particularly for smallholder farmers, it’s a challenge to get reliable weather and market information in real-time that can help with agricultural decision-making. But almost every farmer has a phone in their back pocket.

Democratizing access to information

A mobile platform has recently been built by a team of Microsoft developers to democratise access to information using a feature or a smartphone. Farmers can access information on pest and soil diagnosis, market prices, agricultural news, success stories from neighbouring farmers, weather, soil testing and personalised recommendations for maximising yields based on their soil tests, with an intended initial impact of 100 000 farmers.

Agri-tech social entrepreneurs

Other agri-tech social entrepreneurs are effecting real changes for farmers and their supply chains. Twiga Foods is a mobile-based business-to-business food supply platform that links smallholder farmers in rural Kenya to informal retail vendors in cities. N-Frnds brings the power of digital via mobile to subsistence and smallholder farmers in Africa and other emerging markets and has nurtured a community of farmers who can communicate with each other without the need for an internet connection or mobile data. It also provides access to financial services for market segments that are traditionally underserved by formal banking and insurance.

Microsoft believes in increasing access to agricultural knowledge through collaboration. It takes an entire ecosystem to initiate change, and that includes companies, government departments and agencies, and a network of startups and entrepreneurs, all with a common goal of solving food insecurity.

Microsoft, through the 4Afrika initiative, has collaborated with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to co-create technology solutions in Africa as it works to improve food security for 30 million farming households across 11 countries by 2021. The partnership stands alongside investments such as our support of the World Bank’s 1 Million Farmers Platform, which aims to bring one million farmers onto a digital platform over the next three years.

Driving impact in agriculture across Africa

We are also working with ministries across Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt to drive impact in agriculture. In Egypt, in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture, the engagement includes intelligent crop detection and water demand forecasting. Key focus being on a successful farmer engagement to promote good agricultural practices, secure data sharing between agricultural entities, and connected farms that enable data collection through agricultural IoT sensors.

Additionally, in South Africa, Microsoft commissioned Research ICT Africa, in partnership with the University of Pretoria, to help identify opportunities within the industry to make farming more efficient and cost-effective, and highlight key regulatory and policy issues to address.

The Kenyan National Agriculture Platform is a key initiative to drive digitalisation in agriculture. Earlier this year, Microsoft started engaging with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MoALFC) to collaborate in accelerating digital transformation in the agricultural sector in Kenya.

Across the continent, from South Africa to Kenya, Ghana, Egypt and beyond, we are working hard to enable agri-tech through various channels and partnerships. Technology has the potential to change the face of farming, using smart tools and platforms for precision farming, predicting weather patterns, and maximising the use of scarce water resources.

By harnessing cutting-edge technology in agriculture, we can help solve the pressing issues around food security to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #2 of Zero Hunger and enhance economic development in the process.

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Microsoft announces USD 2 million investment for smallholder farmers in South Africa

Microsoft announces USD 2 million investment for smallholder farmers in South Africa

smallholder farmers Microsoft investment south Africa farmbeats

Smallholder farmers in South Africa are set to benefit from a 2.3 million dollar Microsoft investment aimed at driving sustainability in South Africa’s agricultural sector.

Through the investment, Microsoft will use technology to solve some of the challenges these farmers face. That prevents them from becoming commercially viable, efficient and sustainable.

Microsoft notes that smallholder farmers form an important part of the agricultural workforce in South Africa.

To achieve this, Microsoft will identify and work with South African tech companies to conceptualise, develop and roll-out various agritech solutions.

Lillian Barnard, Managing Director at Microsoft South Africa notes the investment is aimed at making a real difference in one of South Africa’s most vital sectors.

There is no doubt that South Africa’s smallholder farmers have significant potential to drive growth and employment opportunities. As well as enable other sectors within the country to ultimately drive food security.

This makes it critical to invest in the sector to address the challenges they face. Key challenges are a lack of infrastructure, access to competitive formal markets, production and business skills, funding and financial support to re-invest in their farming activities, and compliance with food safety regulations and legislation.”

Our investment is aimed at making a real difference in one of South Africa’s most vital sectors by harnessing the power of technology. High-impact technological solutions will improve efficiencies in smallholder farming, lower the cost of production, improve access to local and international markets, improve compliance with legislation, and drive access to information, among others.

By investing in the agriculture sector and unlocking the potential of technology to act as an enabler for growth and skills development, we are showing our commitment to driving sustainability and creating opportunities in one of South Africa’s most critical, job-creating industries.”

Lillian Barnard, Managing Director, Microsoft South Africa.

Investments in AgriTech

Last year, Microsoft South Africa announced a new evolved Microsoft Equity Equivalent Investment Programme to focus on investments in technology solutions in agriculture and digital transformation in the manufacturing sectors.

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MALFC, Microsft collaborate to achieve 100% food and nutrition security in Kenya

MALFC, Microsft collaborate to achieve 100% food and nutrition security in Kenya

MALFC

Microsoft and Ministry of Agriculture sign MOU to help farmers in Kenya solve key challenges

As part of its ongoing investment into agriculture for social good and AI, Microsoft announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MALFC) to collaborate in accelerating innovation in the agricultural sector in Kenya.

The Memorandum of Understanding will enable the Government of Kenya, through MALFC, to tap into Microsoft technology to accelerate the aspirations of achieving 100% food and nutrition security in the country as part of the Government’s Big Four programme. This is an accelerated five-year development plan designed to fast-track the realisation of Kenya’s Vision 2030 programme through four key pillars, including food security.  

“To ensure that we achieve our Food Security goal, we are striving for a 34 percent increase in the daily average income of farmers, a 47 percent reduction in the cost of food as a percentage of income, a 50 percent reduction in the number of food-insecure Kenyans and to create 1,000 Agro-SMEs and 600,000 new jobs. Microsoft’s technology will enable us to find innovative solutions that drive progress in agriculture and support our 2030 vision,” says Principal Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, Proff. Hamadi Boga.

Microsoft aims to support digital transformation in agriculture in order to drive economic growth.  Microsoft is deeply engaged with finding innovative agri-tech solutions for African agricultural problems, and has previously partnered with the World Bank through its One Million Farmers Platform, and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), to co-create technology solutions in Africa.

As a partner to MALFC, Microsoft will design, pilot and launch a programme to drive agricultural solutions innovation that addresses key challenges facing the agricultural sector such as pests and disease control, sustainable agricultural resource management, agri-weather data, and others.

“Microsoft believes that adoption and integration of technologies such as the cloud, AI and more, into the agricultural space will bring about this transformation in the form of precision. Microsoft wants to enable agricultural firms to become thriving digital businesses that provide sustainable food and nutrition to the world,” says Microsoft Kenya Country Manager Kendi Nderitu.

Microsoft will leverage its Open Data Platform and Azure Chatbot services to help farmers with agricultural pest control diagnostics. Microsoft 4Afrika will also co-host workshops involving a wide range of agri-tech stakeholders including the World Bank Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Kenya Agriculture Livestock and Research Organisation (KALRO), AGRA and others, to address issues in Kenya’s agricultural data ecosystem.

In addition to its partnerships with AGRA and the World Bank, Microsoft’s investments in agriculture include its FarmBeats project, which is using is low-cost sensors, drones and machine learning algorithms to support data-driven, precision farming. Previous winners of its AI for Earth grants in Africa include SunCulture, DHI Group and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, who are all using artificial intelligence to address food security and nutrition in Africa.

Through its 4Afrika initiative, Microsoft will also partner with MALFC to recruit, train and place interns through its Interns4Afrika programme. This initiative seeks to offer young graduates the chance to grow their careers through six-month placements in Microsoft partner organisations. The programme helps bridge the gap between graduate skills and the skills set employers are looking for, while providing graduates with real-world, hands-on job experience to assist them in moving from learning to earning. By having access to Microsoft trained and certified interns, Interns4Afrika partners can extend their talent pipeline and retain strong talent.

“Agriculture is a priority area of investment for us, not only because of the enormous number of livelihoods it supports and the economic growth it drives, but also because it has a high potential to be a data-driven sector,” says Amrote Abdella, Regional Director of Microsoft 4Afrika. “We’re fully committed to supporting agricultural transformation starting in Kenya – and the rest of Africa – and more critically, the innovators who are key drivers of this digital transformation.”

Microsoft 4Afrika has previously collaborated with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to co-create technology solutions in Africa. The partnership explores the uses of big data and AI in enabling data-driven, precision farming that increases farm productivity and profitability, and supports AGRA’s digital transformation as it works to improve food security for 30 million farming households across 11 countries by 2021.

The partnership is demonstrative of Microsoft’s ongoing investment in agri-tech across the continent, which also features partnerships with Twiga Foods, a mobile-based business-to-business food supply platform that links smallholder farmers in rural Kenya to informal retail vendors in cities.

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Microsoft to provide 14 Kenyan innovators with technical and business support

Microsoft to provide 14 Kenyan innovators with technical and business support

Microsoft will support fourteen Kenyan innovators as part of its pledge to the World Bank’s One Million Farmers Platform initiative.

Kenyan innovators one million farmers platform

The software company through its 4Afrika engine will provide technical and business assistance to fourteen agritech kenyan innovators. Through mentorship in business development, technology architecture and go-to-market strategies.

Kenya has the highest AgriTech intensity in Africa

The selected fourteen innovators displayed promising ideas during a two day disruptive agricultural technology challenge organized by the World Bank. Through those ideas they will  build technology solutions for the One Million Farmers platform.

The World Bank shares that ” Kenya has the highest AgriTech intensity in Africa. With approximately 30 percent of AgriTech start-ups in Africa operating in Kenya.”

The One Million Farmers Platform initiative will address some of the challenges faced in Kenyan agriculture. Which include access to extension, financial services, markets and data-driven applications. With the aim of improving productivity, profitability and resilience through disruptive agricultural technologies. The platform will target reaching one million small holder Kenyan farmers in the next three years.

Committed to supporting agricultural transformation in Africa

As part of the partnership, Microsoft will also empower participating Kenyan government ministries with technical skills development. Both through workshops and by skilled resources through its programmes.

Agriculture … has a high potential to be a data driven sector

Microsoft says “additionally, the innovators will have the opportunity to apply for it’s AI for Earth grant. A US$50 million programme that invests in solutions promoting sustainability around water, climate change, biodiversity and agriculture.”

Amrote Abdella, Regional Director of Microsoft 4Afrika shares that Microsoft is “fully committed to supporting agricultural transformation in Africa“.

Agriculture is a priority area of investment for us. Not only because of the enormous number of livelihoods it supports and the economic growth it drives. But also because it has a high potential to be a data driven sector”, she notes.

With an expanding population, there’s an opportunity to use technology to improve farm productivity, optimise resource use and increase crop yields to combat rising food insecurity. We’re fully committed to supporting agricultural transformation starting in Kenya – and the rest of Africa – and more critically, the innovators who are key drivers of this digital transformation.”