Case studies across Africa demonstrate the positive impact that access to even the most basic mobile technology can offer smallholder farmers. This underscores the importance of driving inclusive access to digital technology, especially mobile-based, to help the continent’s farmers mitigate the impact of climate change.
“Sustainably increasing farming productivity is imperative, and technology has a great role to play as a developmental tool. There is anecdotal evidence of this development in the markets in which Vodacom operates within the continent where smartphone penetration is still low but small scale farmers are not outpaced,” says Takalani Netshitenzhe, external affairs director at Vodacom South Africa.
To this end, Vodacom remains committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 50% by 2025 to contribute to the climate change targets that governments of the markets in which we operate have made under the Paris Agreement on climate change. Inclusion also requires tailor-making products and services for each market segment and where smartphone penetration is still low, creating and making available, innovative solutions that are not data driven to pivot the developmental agenda. For instance, URL and USSD-based platforms that enable access to financial services and farming opportunities are able to easily connect small scale framers to the agricultural value chain.
In South Africa, Vodacom partnered with UN Women and South African Women in Farming to establish and drive a Women Farmers Programme aimed at making agriculture more accessible and profitable for women by teaching them how to use apps to connect to potential customers and unlock enormous economic growth.
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Source: ITNewsAfrica - 🏆 27. / 59 Read more »