Agritech as the Solution to Improved Profits to Kenyan Farmers

In the recent years, Agritech has proven to be an effective platform for improving and generating profits for Kenyan farmers and vendors.

Kenyan farmers need to be provided with more technological platforms that can help them reap more from agriculture.

These platforms are capable of leading to higher yields, and higher profits for the farmers who solely depend on middlemen to have access to markets for their produce.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world population will reach 9.1 billion by 2050, and to feed that number of people, global food production will need to grow by 70 percent.

For Africa, which is projected to be home to about 2 billion people by then, farm productivity must accelerate at a faster rate than the global average to avoid continued mass hunger.

The food challenges in Africa are multipronged: The population is growing, but it is threatened by low farm productivity exacerbated by weather changes, shorter fallow periods, and rural-urban migration that deprives farming communities of young people.

For decades, African governments have used many policy instruments to improve farm productivity. But most farmers are still only marginally improving yields.

Some continue to use traditional processes that depend heavily on historical norms, or use tools like hoes and cutlasses that have not evolved for centuries.

Such farmers depending on middlemen to be able to sell produce need to be enlightened on the financial benefits of embracing agritech.

Most farming communities in Kenya live in quite remote locations. And so access to certain agricultural inputs in most places, they’re not readily available.

The other issue is the price point. The cost of the product is significantly higher than what it would be in an urban area. So really, the name of the game is getting the raw materials they need to them in the quantities they need when they need them.”

With agritech proving to be successful, the government needs to work more closely with companies that have embraced technology as far as agriculture is concerned so as to help farmers scale even faster.