Case studies across Africa demonstrate the positive impact that access to even the most basic mobile technology can offer smallholder farmers. This underscores the importance of driving inclusive access to digital technology, especially mobile-based, to help the continent’s farmers mitigate the impact of climate change.
“Sustainably increasing farming productivity is imperative, and technology has a great role to play as a developmental tool. There is anecdotal evidence of this development in the markets in which Vodacom operates within the continent where smartphone penetration is still low but small scale farmers are not outpaced,” says Takalani Netshitenzhe, External Affairs Director for Vodacom South Africa.
“Across the continent, where Vodacom operates, examples show how simple mobile-based technology can unlock opportunities, even for farmers using entry-level feature phones, no matter where they are based,” says Netshitenzhe. M-Kulima is also integrated with the financial-services platform M-Pesa, to nurture financial inclusion by providing a mobile-phone-based money transfer service and enabling payments and micro-financing.