Techno and Microsoft Launch Agriculture Platform for African farmers
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TechnoBrainhas partnered with Microsoft Corporation to launch a Digital Agriculture Platform in Africa to help farmers improve crop yields and increase income. Farming
Smallholder farmers are the most vulnerable to impacts of climate change, with rain-fed agriculture
accounting for more than 90% of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa.
These farmers face many risks beyond their control, including drought,
disease and pest epidemics.
The technology solutions being offered by Techno Brain will collate
data; farm location using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates,
expected rainfall and weather patterns, land type and soil nutrition,
and process the information on intelligent cloud to create insights that
help farmers in Africa make better farming decisions.
Microsoft is already working with government and enterprises in India
to help farmers with small hold farmlands and dependence on rain-fed
agriculture and this partnership is now being extended in Africa.
The pilots are starting in Malawi and Tanzania, in partnership with
National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) and ETG
Farmers Foundation, respectively.
Farmers will receive insights on mobile via short message service
(SMS) and voice platforms; best crops to plant, optimal sowing week,
pest growth alerts, adverse weather notices, preferred harvesting time,
market information and farming tips developed in collaboration with
other knowledge partners and African Governments.
Speaking during the official launch, Anand Mohan, Chief Operations
Officer Techno Brain said, “Agriculture is the main stay of African
economies but has a lot of untapped potential. Many African smallholder
farmers lack access to information and knowledge that would help them
maximize agricultural production, and we believe that this platform
offered by Techno Brain and Microsoft will empower African smallholder
farmers to increase their yields and income significantlyAnil Bhansali,
Corporate Vice President
Cloud + AI Microsoft said “Microsoft’s vision is to use the power of
our cloud and AI tools to help solve problems in core and
infrastructural areas by enabling innovative and scalable solutions. The
partnership with Techno Brain marks an important milestone in our
ongoing efforts to help create sustainable livelihoods in Africa, India
and rest of the world.”
This partnership between Techno Brain and Microsoft will enable
smallholder farmers develop climate and market resilience. This will
also enable development of new agribusiness models and make agriculture a
viable livelihood for many farmers across the continent. We anticipate
that smart and precision agriculture will further attract youth to
farming.
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