Ashley Olson Onyango
Head of Financial Inclusion and Agritech
In recent years, the climate crisis has taken its toll on agricultural production.
In today’s world, pressing concerns for farmers include a growing demand for food, diminishing arable land and water scarcity. For the 475 million smallholder farms across low- and middle-income countries, the combination of increased global food demand and declining natural resources presents a unique set of opportunities and challenges.
Limited access to improved technologies, formal markets and finance hinders the resilience of smallholder farmers and their ability and willingness to invest in their plots. This often results in agricultural yields that fall far short of their potential, while limiting their ability to take advantage of growing opportunities.
Increasing agritech solutions
With smallholder farmers managing 25% of the world’s cropland and producing around a third of the world’s food, increasing access to agritech solutions can transform how farmers grow their crops and manage their business. Ultimately this will create a positive impact on individual livelihoods as well as food security.
Only by making agricultural value chains more productive, cost-efficient, transparent and agile can we ensure we continue to feed the world.
The good news is that the agritech revolution is already well underway. Growing investment in agritech is being hailed as the third Green Revolution. Currently, some 90% of the population in low- and middle-income countries have access to a mobile phone. Evidence already shows that mobile devices are delivering life-changing digital services like healthcare. Now they are also transforming rural communities by helping to build resilience and transform current food systems. Only by making agricultural value chains more productive, cost-efficient, transparent and agile can we ensure we continue to feed the world.