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Author: Karen Smith

  • Smallholdr app enables pioneering combination of health and agri services in rural Zambia

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    Smallholdr app enables pioneering combination of health and agri services in rural Zambia

    Multi-skilled agents in Zambia, digitised by Smallholdr, deliver health and nutrition products, collect socio-economic data and provide a market for beans to ‘last-mile’ communities. A partnership between a beans processing company, Mushili, and a social enterprise, Live Well, has led to an innovative deployment of Smallholdr to efficiently deliver business and social information. The link…

  • The impact of COVID-19 on African smallholders

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    The impact of COVID-19 on African smallholders

    As COVID-19 takes hold in Africa we are concerned about the impact it will have on our clients, the small farmers that they work with and the agricultural sector as a whole. Many Africans are simply not able to stay at home in a “lockdown” to avoid contracting and spreading the virus – they would quickly…

  • Seven ways in which data can empower field officers

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    Seven ways in which data can empower field officers

    Call me old fashioned, but I firmly believe that the best way to support small farmers is through field officers. These staff are the crucial link between an agribusiness and rural farmers and the relationship that they build is critical for successful contract farming models. Half-hearted attempts to provide support, with field officers too thinly…

  • Lean data: Big benefits for smallholder supply chains

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    Lean data: Big benefits for smallholder supply chains

    Our Smallholdr customised mobile app and web-based dashboards empower our clients to better manage their smallholder supply chains and deliver ‘lean data’. Lean data, a concept developed by Acumen, puts the voice of the customer at the heart of impact measurement; it is the collection of high quality impact data to demonstrate social change with…

  • Follow the honey: how Smallholdr enables product tracking in rural Tanzania

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    Follow the honey: how Smallholdr enables product tracking in rural Tanzania

    Knowing the exact origins of food – and other products – is becoming a hygiene factor rather than a novelty among many consumers now there is an increased awareness about a whole range of factors when selecting brands. Was a fair price paid to the small farmers for their avocados? Is a particular Ethiopian coffee…

  • Rwanda: commercial beyond its high profile Arsenal campaign

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    Rwanda: commercial beyond its high profile Arsenal campaign

    Even I – as a non-football fan – had noticed the unusual tourism advertising campaign launched by Rwanda last year to reach the Premier League’s massive audience. The move received mixed reviews but reflects the invest-to-succeed ethos of Africa’s second fastest growing economy. To put a twist on that rather patronising term, the overwhelming thought…

  • Smallholdr’s mobile app for GNA’s Private Extension Agents (PEAs): supporting real time data collection at lead farmer level

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    Smallholdr’s mobile app for GNA’s Private Extension Agents (PEAs): supporting real time data collection at lead farmer level

    Seed multiplication by smallholder farmers is the core business model of Good Nature Agro (GNA), a Zambian seed company based in Chipata near the western border of the country. It therefore follows that provision of hands-on extension is a vital part of the company’s business; multiplying certified seed requires a very specific set of farming…

  • What does the dramatic slowdown in global growth of internet access mean for agritech?

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    What does the dramatic slowdown in global growth of internet access mean for agritech?

    A recent Guardian article reported a dramatic decline in internet access growth suggests digital revolution will remain a distant dream for billions of people. With a proliferation of technology solutions aimed at improving the livelihoods of poor farmers it is a challenge to evaluate which options are the ones that will really endure and make…

  • Is smallholder farming sexy?

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    Is smallholder farming sexy?

    One of the Big Questions arising from the Innovation Forum’s conference this week on how business can make smallholder supply chains resilient was: what does the future hold for smallholder farming? While the current trend is for millennials to venture into niche ethical food businesses in the western world, farming is not seen as the…

  • Private sector extension: a sustainable agri-retailer model for improving smallholder productivity?

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    Private sector extension: a sustainable agri-retailer model for improving smallholder productivity?

    Central to the challenges of food security and poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa is the need to increase the productivity of smallholder farmers. Access to better inputs and agronomic advice via extension services is therefore vital. A Malawian agri-retailer is rising to these challenges by customising fertiliser blends for smallholders, using extension as a marketing…