Hail Africa’s new age farming

topic:	Sustainable Agriculture
located:	Uganda, Kenya
editor:	Bob Koigi

For a continent that numerous institutions have branded the food factory of the world – capable of comfortably feeding its people and exporting the surplus thus creating a trillion-dollar food market by 2030 – technology is becoming a panacea for achieving this renaissance. Such innovation continues to provide more jobs to a sector that provides income to over 70 percent of the African populace, especially those in rural areas.

Indeed for a booming youthful population majority, who are well educated, technology has given them a reason to dump suits for boots, finding long-lasting job opportunities while helping return dignity to the soils.

From using drones and sensor technology in Uganda and detecting animal diseases 48 hours before they manifest themselves, finding ready markets at the click of a button in West Africa, to intelligent greenhouses in Kenya that allow farmers to perform duties like watering the crops using mobile phones even when they are far away, innovation has assumed a new, modern and sophisticated face that has caught the world's attention.

And as scientists have predicted that climate change is going to hit Africa the hardest in the coming years, investment in new age farming remains the silver bullet to protect farms from weather vagaries while ensuring that no one goes to sleep hungry.

With the internet wave, especially in agriculture, moving at such a supersonic speed, the onus is on governments across the continent to invest more in creating an enabling an environment from which the young people to drive the farming revolution.

Image: CTA

Call to Action

HELP UGANDAN FARMERS ACCESS GLOBAL MARKETS AND END POVERTY