‘Uber-ising’ access to tractors for improved productivity in Nigeria and Kenya

CTA and Hello Tractor project's booking Agent. Credit photo: Hello Tractor

As the world’s population continues to increase, it is projected that crop yields will need to double to achieve food security. Sub-Saharan Africa alone holds 60% of the global inventory of uncultivated farmland; yet average crop yields continue to fall well below global averages. In addition to food security, increased agricultural productivity remains critical to alleviating entrenched poverty and improving livelihoods for the millions of farmers that survive on less than US$2/day.

Tractor owners lack the data, knowledge and experience

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Caribbean farmers could be going digital

Sugar cane - Credit photo: iStock/yupiyan /

NB: Article that I published in Scitech Europa

Guest writer, Ken Lohento, is the Senior ICT for Agriculture Programme Coordinator at the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA). The CTA was established under the Lomé Convention between the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and EU member states. Lohento, explains how blockchain could unlock new markets for Caribbean farmers.

Blockchain might be best-known for disrupting the financial sector, thanks to Bitcoin and more recently, Facebook’s Libra.

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ICT and youth in agriculture in Africa (Report)

This report that I co-authored (with Oluwabunmi Ajilore), on behalf of CTA, examines the role ICTs are playing in supporting youth engagement in agriculture in Africa, and explores the current status, usages and emerging trends.  Furthermore, it highlights the key challenges and opportunities for youth in agriculture and makes recommendations to policy makers and other stakeholders on how to foster increased involvement of young people in the sector.

A key observation the report stresses is that young people using ICTs

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The role of agri-entrepreneurship and farming innovations for youth in agriculture engagement

An article giving an account of a seminar that I co-facilitated. Source and authors at the end — Ken L

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On January 20, 2016 a seminar was organized on the topic of entrepreneurship and innovations in developing countries for young peoples’ involvement in farming. Participants were mid-career professionals from Africa and Asia as well as Netherlands-based professionals that were representing knowledge, policy and private institutes. Three presenters brought in ideas from the fields of information and communication technology (ICT),

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