Microsoft through its business and market development engine in Africa, 4Afrika is partnering with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The collaboration will see Microsoft co-create technology solutions in agriculture. Supporting AGRA’s digital transformation initiative to improve food security in Africa.
In a report, continued use of outdated technologies and practices is the biggest hurdle to increasing farmer productivity in Africa. Microsoft will therefore work with AGRA to build locally relevant technology solutions. Solutions that are mindful of challenges local farmers face says Microsoft 4Afrika director Amrote Abdella.
We’re excited to work with AGRA in building locally-relevant technology solutions that are mindful of challenges local farmers face. Offering solutions to farmers and policy makers alike to deliver meaningful impact.”
Amrote Abdella
The partnership is part of Microsoft’s ongoing investment in agritech across Africa. This year the company introduced a $100 million Africa Development Center investment with sites in Lagos and Nairobi. The center according to Microsoft will help to advance AI innovation in agriculture.
Technology to transform sector
The collaboration will see Microsoft supporting farmers to adopt new technologies through digital training. As well as help them develop digital skills in agriculture through an internship program. Microsoft will also support policy advocacy and government engagement around the design of national agriculture digitization strategies in the region.
Agriculture is a priority sector of investment for us not only because it sustains some 70 percent of livelihoods. But because we believe technology can significantly contribute to the transformation of the sector.
Africa has many farmers with varying farming practices. We believe technology can augment this knowledge to improve crop yields.
Amrote Abdella
Microsoft will begin to expand its FarmBeats initiative across Africa, having piloted it in Kenya.
AGRA’s digital transformation in agriculture wants to improve food security for about 30 million farming households across 11 African countries by 2021. These are Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.
AGRA president, Dr. Agnes Kalibata says “digital technologies are now firmly with us. It is increasingly important that we keep finding use of such innovations in our farms“.
“Going forward, digitalization will transcend every sphere of our life and it is highly likely that most of our farming investments will gain more yields as a result. Overall, with more innovation, farmer-centric products and services can now be deployed with great success. The goal, ultimately, is to adopt digital technologies in ways that positively impact whole agricultural and food systems.”
An area of focus in Microsoft’s research is Agriculture. Microsoft research scientists are focusing on unleashing the future of agriculture using data driven techniques called precision farming. The process involves using broadband connectivity through TV whitespaces, connected to IoT sensors that enable data driven farming. These data when collected over time will help farmers improve their yields and lower costs. This initiative from Microsoft is called FarmBeats.
Piloting FarmBeats in Africa
Microsoft is expanding the pilot program of FarmBeats to Africa, starting in Kenya. The program in Nairobi will be focused on addressing the specific challenges of farming in Africa with the intent of expanding to other African countries.
Data-driven digital agriculture
FarmBeats
“AI doesn’t replace human knowledge; it augments it“
Satya Nadella
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO says “AI doesn’t replace human knowledge, it augments it. Talking about Microsoft FarmBeats initiative he shares that “Data from low-cost sensors in soil and drones with machine learning algorithms work with farmers’ knowledge and intuition to help them gather and parse data about their farms. Informing what, when, and where to plant in order to drive the highest-possible yields and reduce costs”.
Microsoft FarmBeats will help farmers benefit from technology innovation at the edge. Microsoft says although technology could help the farmer, its adoption is limited. This is majorly due to farms not having power, Internet connectivity on the farms and farmers not technology savvy.
To address this Microsoft says “We are working towards an end-to-end approach. From sensors to the cloud, to solve the problem. As part of the FarmBeats project, we are building several unique solutions to solve these problems using low-cost sensors, drones and vision and machine learning algorithms“.
Bill Gates visited a pilot site and shares his experience in the video below.
If you are a student, there is a Student Kit that will help you learn about precision agriculture.
Now on Azure Marketplace
Microsoft releases FarmBeats on the Azure Marketplace to help farmers with low-cost agtech solutions. Azure FarmBeats in the Azure marketplace will be a business-to-business offering. Offered at no additional charge and users will only pay for the Azure resources used. It will include a Datahub. (An API layer that enables aggregation, normalization, and contextualization of various agriculture datasets across providers). As well as an Accelerator. (A sample solution, built on top of Datahub, that jumpstarts your UI and model development).
Microsoft’s 4Afrika Regional Director, Amrote Abdella shared on how Microsoft is supporting digitally enabled services in the agricultural industry.
A speaker at this years AFA Annual Learning event in Nairobi, Kenya. Discussing Agile tech development and the role of the internet in agricultural development. The event, AgriFin Accelerate Annual Learning event encourages dialogues, sharing and learning around challenges and opportunities in increasing digitally enabled services for smallholder farmers.
Digital transformation can free farmers from their fields, and disrupt local economies and long-established working methods.
Amrote said, Digital Transformation can free farmers from their fields, disrupt local economies and long-established working methods. For farmers to embrace digital transformation, technology has to provide platforms for affordable access and for scalability.
Speaking on the role of the internet in driving agricultural development and smallholder farmer services. Amrote Abdella shared on the extent that technology is addressing the challenges facing smallholder farmers. Microsoft 4Afrika has supported various agricultural startups in its 5 years of existence. We develop skills for entrepreneurs, we empower start-Ups who build solutions by Africans for Africa and we provide affordable access to the internet, smart devices and cloud services.
Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa manage 80% of all the farmland and contribute up to 90% of the region’s food supply. The majority of these smallholders are based in rural communities, where agriculture is the dominant source of livelihood. These farmers have assets but they cannot access the services and help they need to be profitable.
Microsoft 4Afrika has supported various agricultural start-ups
Using mobile and Microsoft cloud technology, Felix Musau developed AGIN to plug the infrastructural challenges that exist within the agricultural sector. AGIN with the support of Microsoft 4Afrika’s initiative has grown to serve over 140,000 farmers in Kenya and currently facilitates over $1.3 million per month in transactions including loans and insurance.
We also began working with N-Frnds. A start-up that aims to digitise entire ecosystems from healthcare to government and agriculture through cloud-based SaaS services. We worked with N-Frnds when they had a demo and a dream. We have since helped them grow to 15 million users across sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Using Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365, N-Frnds enables organisations to improve engagement with their stakeholders and streamline processes across their supply chain.
The Agricultural sector stands to benefit from widespread affordable internet access, as technologies like the Internet of Things start to digitally transform Kenya’s biggest industry.
