The
Democratic Republic ofthe Congo (DRC) is the second largest country in Africa and it has a significant
potential for agricultural development as the country has more land (235
million hectares) than Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia, combined, of which
only 3.4% is cultivated.
Despite this, around 13
millions of Congolese live in extreme food insecurity, among them 5 millions
acutely malnourished children. Current assessments show the trend is
increasing.
In the southern provinces formerly known as "Katanga" the needs in maize for human consumption sum up to 700,000 tons per
year, while the local production barely amounts to 120,000 tons per year. This
means the provinces have to resort to importing food from neighboring countries,
which represents a huge burden on the region's economy.
Another aspect of the
problem is that 80% of the local production is made by women farmers, and the
biggest challenge they face is the lack of daily agronomic monitoring and
guidance. There is only a limited amount of agriculture experts in the region
and without assistance, the farmers’ average output is
at best one ton per hectare. However, field trials have proven that by using
smart farming technology they can easily produce up to 6 tons per hectare year
over year with the right sustainable approach and support. Artificial
intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data analytics underpinned
by mobile connectivity can even do more. They bring significant potential for capturing
carbon, optimizing water, pesticide and fertilizer usage, and reducing soil
erosion. Thus, African women can not only provide the solution to the local
food gap/insecurity but also become the primary protectors of their
environment.
The basic technical concept
is not new. Back in 2016 Ooredoo Myanmar launched Site Pyo, a mobile
agriculture information service for smallholder farmers. At its core Site Pyo
is a weather forecast app that was enhanced with weather-dependent advice for
ten crops, from seed selection to harvesting and storage. In addition the app
displays the actual market prices for these crops. GSMA as a co-funder of the
project celebrates Site Pyo as a big success, but it seems to be limited to
Myanmar. Why?
„A lot of customization
needs to be done to adapt the application functionality for a particular
region“, says Dieu-DonnĂ© Okalas Ossami, CEO of „e-tumba“, a French Start-up
specialized in smart farming solutions for Sub-Sahara Africa. His company
partners with iTK, a spin-off from CIRAD, the French Institute for tropical
agronomy. The iTK crop-specific predictive models are based on years of
agronomic data, but have originally been designed for big farmers. To meet the
demands of women in Katanga requires more granular data for both, input and
output.
As in case of Site Pyo
weather predictions are important, but in addition there are data feeds from
sensors on the spot. Weather stations measure constantly temperature and
rainfall while sensors in the soil report its saturation with water, nitrogen
and potassium.
„A typical real-time advice
that our software provides is to delay the harvest for some additional days to
maximize the yield“, explains Okalas Ossami. „However, even for two neighboring
fields the particular advices are often different.“
Also the communication
channels need to be taylored. Many women farmers are illiterate. For them the
advice must be translated into the local language they speak and transmitted to
their phones as a voice message. Those who can read and write will receive the
notifications through short message service.
The mobile connectivity
that links all elements of the system is realized by the mobile network
operators present in the region.
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| Infographic: The Technical Environment Behind the Project |
„Actually NB-IoT would fit
to our use case“, says Okalas Ossami, „but it is not available. And there is
neither LoRa nor SigFox.“ Hence, the sensors are using data connections of 3G
and 4G radio access technology. In case of network outage or missing coverage a
local field technician must collect the sensor data manually and transfer it to
the data center through alternative channels.
It is the same field
technician who installs the sensors. The woman farmers receive a basic training
to understand how the system works, but they do not need to care about
technical components - except keeping their mobile phones charged.
Here comes another
important aspect into the game: How can the women trust this technical
environment?
In case of Site Pyo the
operator Ooredoo observed a quickly increasing user community measured by the
number of app downloads. However, there was no indication to which extend the
Myanmar farmers really used the app. The e-tumba solution addresses this gap by
partnering with the non-government organization „Anzafrika“.
Anzafrika is present in the
villages where the people live. One of its major targets is to overcome the
extreme poverty by developing the regional economy. A key factor for this is
that the smallholder farmers do not just see the market prices for their crops,
but get real access to large, stable and long-term markets where these prices
are paid. Anzafrika is brokering contracts between the woman farmers and large
multinational corporations committed to the Economics of Mutuality, growing
human, social and natural capital. The business model behind this concept was
outlined by Bruno Roche and Jay Jakub in their book „Completing Capitalism:Heal Business to Heal the World“. Instead of focusing on greenhouse gas
emissions (output) they insist that climate-resilient business models must
measure the input needed for manufacturing goods. As an example: For one hot
cup of coffee the greenhouse gas emissions are extremely low, but 3.4 liters of
water are needed (most for packaging, processing and drinking) and 12 gram of
top soil will be eroded. These are (among others) the expenses paid by the
planet that are not taken into account by a carbon tax.
Coffee plantations are
monocultures with all the known disadvantages resulting form this kind of
farming. In the past the Congolese women farmers have grown maize as a
monoculture. Now, with advice from Anzafrika and e-tumba they transitioned from
an „all-maize“ sustenance crop to a semi-industrial „maize-sorghum“ production.
This helps to minimize the top soil erosion and thus, to remunerate the natural
capital involved in the process.
Regarding the human and
social capital Anzafrika monitors how the overall situation in the
villages is improving. The focus is on
progress in well-beeing, satisfaction and health not just for the women
farmers, but for their entire communities.
In 2019 smart farming
technology have been tested and deployed with a group of 150 women in the province of Lualaba. Now, in 2020, their number is expected to rise to 500 and
after 6 years the stunning target of 100,000 participants shall be met. A look
at the download numbers of Site Pyo (206,000 in the course of one year) shows
that these numbers are not over-optimistic.
The partnership between
Anzafrika, e-tumba and iTK is now considered as a best international practice, as indicated by
Patrick Gilabert,
UNIDO Representative to the European Union in Brussels. It fully
aligns with the development of new comprehensive strategies for Africa that aim
at creating a partnership of equals and mutual interest through agriculture,
trade and investment partnerships.
UNIDO, as the UN convener
for the implementation of the “Industrial Decade for Development of Africa” (
IDDA 3) is always ready to join forces with innovative partners.
