Heifer International, a not-for-profit organisation, has deployed more technology in its programme with the Digital Agriculture Champions initiative unveiled across Africa.
On Tuesday, the Senior Vice President of Africa Programmes, Heifer, Adesuwa Ifedi, said the initiative would deliver sustainable, cost-effective training modules for smallholder farmers across Heifer Africa, starting with Kenya.
Ifedi also said that the firm was advancing in technology and mechanisation to address post-pandemic challenges.
The statement read in part, “Heifer is advancing technology and mechanisation to address some of the post-pandemic challenges across different agricultural value chains in Africa; investing in digital extension systems for training as a post-pandemic response strategy that will create efficient, scalable solutions for farmers and help boost the value chains in which they work.”
“Heifer is also committed to mentoring the youth who often constitute the extension staff and is focused on empowering them to become digital champions with entrepreneurship skills to ensure quality services for farmers, and sustainable business models beyond the life of Heifer project interventions. Heifer is committed to catalyzing ground-up engagement of the youth in Agriculture.”
She said, “The DAC initiative will foster the application of digital technology in agriculture, delivering solutions that address challenges faced by smallholder farmers at scale.
“The idea for the AYuTe Africa Challenge, AYuTe stands for Agriculture, Youth and Technology, was conceived by Heifer based on four decades of work as a trusted partner of African farmers and seeing first-hand the stark difference between local farms that have access to new technologies and those that do not.”
