On Tuesday 08th June 14:00 - 15:30 (Rome time, GMT+2), the FAO Technical Network on Sustainable Food Value Chains - Development & Finance (SFVC D&F) will organize the webinar "Removing Roadblocks: Lessons Learned in Leveraging Digital Technology to Increase Smallholder Farm Mechanization". 

This SFVC D&F TN webinar will bring together innovators in digitally-enabled farm mechanization rental services in sub-Saharan Africa to share their learning and inspire ongoing innovation in smallholder farm mechanization.

In many places where the majority of smallholder farmers still operate with manual or animal labor, mechanization holds tremendous potential for increasing farm yields, opening new market opportunities for smallholders, attracting youth to the sector, and boosting agricultural production. But a tractor is a major investment, and few individuals, small-scale farmers have the financial resources or the justification to purchase such equipment. Meanwhile, equipment owners who could earn extra income by providing mechanization services confront the hurdles of finding and aggregating customers for profitable delivery of mechanization services.

Through the Financial Inclusion for Smallholder Farmers in Africa Project (FISFAP), implemented by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with funding from the Mastercard Foundation, several innovators have been tackling these challenges. Three of them—TROTRO Tractor Limited in collaboration with AGRO Africa in Ghana, Hello Tractor in Kenya and ETC Agro in Tanzania, a subsidiary of ETG—have experimented with a range of partnerships, digital platforms and solutions that bring together banks, farm equipment owners and operators, smallholder farmers, maintenance providers and other value chain actors to align their interests, facilitate mechanization service provision, and ultimately increase smallholder production.

AGRA and its partners will discuss how they are using the potential of digital technology to unite value chain actors, expand farm mechanization and create a viable business model for renting out mechanization services in sub-Saharan Africa. As digital platforms for agriculture and other agritech solutions continue to evolve, the experiences of these digitally enabled mechanization service pioneers can help advance innovation, practice and scalability to make farm mechanization rental a viable proposition for all stakeholders.

Opening and closing remarks

Massimo Pera, Project Coordinator/Value Chains and Rural Finance, FAO, Italy

Hedwig Siewertsen, Head of Inclusive Finance, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Kenya

Speakers

Kamal Yakub, Chief Executive Officer, TROTRO, Ghana

Jehiel Oliver, Chief Executive Officer, Hello Tractor, Kenya

Shashi Gupta, Business Head, ETC Agro Tractors and Implements Ltd/ETG, Tanzania

Myka Reinsch, Knowledge Product Consultant to AGRA, France

Zoom Link

ZOOM ID: 966 6786 9913

Passcode: 10203030