For almost two years, many innovative agricultural technologies have demonstrated their effectiveness in the various 2SCALE partnerships. Access to inputs, pest control, soil fertility, crop protection or access to financial services: this whole range of technologies have changed the old practices of farmers, while improving their working and living conditions. Let us take a look at the solutions that they bring to the daily challenges faced by farmers.
Access to quality and low-cost inputs has always been a huge challenge for smallholder farmers. The difficulties are mainly related to the distance the farmers have to cover from cities or sales centers, and especially to the lack of savings for the purchase of inputs at the start of the raining seasons.
In order to facilitate access to quality inputs for farmers involved in 2SCALE partnerships, the green innovation team has introduced Yup-Mambo, a mobile payment solution that allows farmers to have a savings account on their phone and make payments for agricultural inputs through a network of input dealers organized across the villages.
Pests are a major problem in agriculture. They cause damage and loss of crops in the field and even more in storage. Globally, pre-harvest pests cause 35% of potential yield loss (Oerke, 2005). Farmers often apply synthetic pesticides to control pests in the field and during storage. If this process is not well managed, it could lead to soil and water contamination and even pest resistance.
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a consolidated approach to pest management that relies on the use of multiple pest control mechanisms to achieve optimal results with less impact on the environment. 2SCALE facilitates the introduction of technologies such as IPM to improve access to quality, nutritious and healthy food products for consumers and reduce pre- and post-harvest losses while providing additional income for farmers. The provision of spraying services also contributes to job creation for young people.
Sustainable management of soil nutrients is essential to increase productivity. However, soil management is often done poorly by most of the farmers, resulting in soil degradation and low yields. Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) reverses the decline in soil fertility through the efficient and complementary use of organic and inorganic fertilizers and by adapting these practices to local conditions. The overall objective is of ISFM to obtain both agronomic and economic benefits without having a negative impact on the environment.
ISFM is an eco-efficient practice that improves soil nutrient management for sustainable productivity enhancement. Thanks to this innovative approach, farmers increase their productivity and strengthen their resilience to climatic extremes such as droughts and heat. Above all, it helps revitalize degraded lands.
Also related to soil fertility: the unavailability of organic manure in quantity and quality is also a major concern for farmers. The mission of Activator Compost plus is to produce a mature compost of very good agronomic quality in record time and at a lower cost. This solution, developed by Green Cross Burkina Faso, is an environmental technology for the accelerated production of high quality organic manure in only less than two months instead of 6 to 8 months. It is innovative due to the reduction in decomposition time, drudgery and its ability to decompose all types of plants without adding manure.
Agribusiness organizations in agricultural value chains face multiple challenges in their relationship with smallholder farmers affecting their ability to efficiently procure produce and offer beneficial services. Their use of inefficient paper-based records and cash transactions makes them unable to serve more farmers while lack of important data on the value chain activities make it difficult to make informed decisions.
Digital technologies now exist that can address the pain points faced by farmers and value chain actors in the agricultural last mile. CropIn has developed an end-to-end digital platform that combines ground information, remote sensing and weather data to help create digitized, traceable and sustainable agricultural supply chains. This platform enables organizations working with farmers to manage and monitor farm activities, digitize farmer profiles, provide advisory services, manage their farmer engagements, track field staff activities, digitize procurement of produce, certification and training programs.
Digital tools like CropIn enable 2SCALE and partners to build databases that enable tracking of impact and inclusion of special groups like Women and Youth.
40% of food products in African markets fall short of authorized standards. This is due to aflatoxin which infects up to 65% of maize, peanut and sorghum crops. According to the FAO 95% of children in Africa have aflatoxins in their body due to high exposure.
Aflasafe eliminates up to 80% of aflatoxin in food crops. In view of the dangers and the scale of the problem caused by Aflatoxin, 2SCALE has introduced Aflasafe in its partnerships in Ghana and Burkina as part of the popularization of this technology for the benefit of producers, and intends to expand it to other program intervention countries in the coming months.
Rice productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is low, averaging 2.22 tons per hectare a compared to the world average of 4.51 tons per hectare. The Intensive Rice Cultivation System (IRS) is a rice production technique that promotes the use of fewer inputs to obtain maximum yields. The innovative production technique optimizes the management of plants, the use of soil, water and nutrients (from organic and inorganic sources). IRS also promotes a productivity increase of 50 to 100% for smallholder rice farmers, while reducing the cost of production by 24%.
To promote eco-efficient and sustainable farm intensification, 2SCALE’s approach consists of supporting farmers to increase farm productivity and income through the introduction of best practices and innovative technologies that help to increase adaptation to climate change and to reduce the greenhouse gas footprint. Both on-farm and off-farm innovations are supported by the program. On-farm innovations are targeted at improving farm productivity sustainably whereas off-farm innovations are those that improve value chain efficiency, conserve environmental resources and reduce post-harvest losses.
2SCALE will combine training programs, trials, demonstrations, participatory learning plots and analyses, adapted to local contexts, to introduce innovative climate-smart technologies and practices. The program aims to achieve at least 375,000 ha under eco-efficient production, and 50 non-farm innovations by 2023.