Sokopepe at 6th African Green Revolution Forum

By Bob Aston

The 6th African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), which concluded on September 9, 2016 at the United Nations (UN) complex in Nairobi, Kenya, featured Sokopepe among 15 Information and Communication Technology for Agriculture (ICT4Ag) innovations.

The landmark forum themed: ‘Seize the Moment: Securing Africa’s Rise through Agricultural Transformation’ aimed to advance the policies and secure the investments that will ensure a better life for millions of Africa’s farmers and families.

The open session on “the digital harvest: How to grow and sustain ICT4Ag solution” reviewed though a video documentary ICT4Ag Innovations, consumer feedback and steps made towards sustainability.

Dr. Agnes Kalibata,AGRA president addressing delegates.PHOTO/AGRF

Sokopepe director Mr. James Nguo, was a panelist in the session moderated by Ms. Carol Kyazze Kakooza, Chief Technical Advisor, and Chief of Party for Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW)-Market-led, User-owned ICT4Ag Enabled Information Service (MUIIS), Uganda.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) supported an assessment of the business models of fifteen ICT4Ag solution providers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana. The fifteen solution providers volunteered to share their successes and challenges in making ICT work for smallholder farmers during the forum.

The review of Sokopepe business model by Advantech Ltd indicated that the two year old company is already 25 percent towards sustainability.

During the session, policy makers, farmers, private agribusiness firms, financial institutions, Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, scientists, and other stakeholders watched a video of Sokopepe highlighting testimonies from farmers and value preposition offered by Sokopepe through its Farm Record Management Information System (FARMIS) innovation.

Mr. Nguo shared the successes and challenges faced by Sokopepe. He noted that data obtained through FARMIS would enable agriculture stakeholders such as County governments and central government, agro-input providers, providers of agriculture credit and development partners to get evidence of the status of agriculture.

 “FARMIS gives farmers holistic year-round monitoring, data collection, entry, storage, and mid-season analysis to enable appropriate farm planning and sustainable market linkages,” said Mr. Nguo.

The participants appreciated the efforts made by Sokopepe in Meru County, Kenya in addressing lack of accurate production, marketing and operational data in agriculture as well as limited access to finance by smallholder farmers.

The session reviewed examples of successful business models as well as how to improve uptake and usage of ICT4Ag.  The panelists also deliberated on what is hampering ICT4Ag solutions to grow and sustain.

The panelists agreed that challenges in business models such as lack of clear and unfavourable revenue models, limited view on cost drivers, and unwillingness by farmers to pay for services coupled with lack of clear business case for users usually lead to solutions that do not have robust revenue models.

The delegates concurred that sustainable ICT4Ag solutions have revenue models, diversified sources of income, organize regular customer feedback, have copyright protected technology and key performance indicators to monitor the business among others.

Other featured ICT4Ag solution providers included WeFarm, VOTO, Esoko, mFarming, iShamba, AGRIinsight, National Farmers Information Service (NAFIS)   , aWhere, Prep-eez, BR Solutions, Mfarms and Ignitia.

The forum realized a pledge of more than US $30 billion in investments to increase production, income, and employment for smallholder farmers and local African agriculture businesses.