AgTech industry leaders advocates for increased investment to meet growing demands of the industry

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PHOTO: AgTech Stakeholders and industry leaders pose for a photo during the AgriFin learning event.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 19...The two-day 8th Annual learning event hosted on October 15-16 2024 by Mercy Corps AgriFin focused on driving innovation and digital agriculture with industry leaders in Agricultural technology (AgTech) called for urgent need for increased investment particularly to support women entrepreneurs.

According to the state of AgTech investment Report 2024 the sector has attracted close to $1.6 billion in funding over the past decade stakeholders are further advocating for to more than $3 billion in investment as experts say it will help in meeting the growing demands for the industry.

"AgTech has been better than most sectors in Africa in directing funding to where it can be most impactful but challenges still exists with more than 40 percent of AgTech ventures remain unfunded with a large portion of these being women-led ventures who have the potential to scale solutions that can improve lives of smallholder farmers, particularly for women", stated the report.

Furthermore, they called for technological solutions such as mobile apps that provide wheather updates and market prices as well as digital platforms connecting farmers and buyers to address smallholder farmers especially women who countinue to struggle and lack tools and support needed to scale their operations.

"Our program has developed a gender toolkit to help public and private sector actors better understand the nees of women farmers", said Sieka Gatabaki, Program Director Mercy Corps AgriFin.

Gatabaki noted that the initiatives allow for the creation of gender responsive products that enhance productivity and income for women in agriculture.

"As more women become involved in the sector, new ways of addressing some of the pressing challenges can be discovered and solved".

David Saunders, Director of Strategy and Growth at Briter Bridges highlighted importance of fata collection to direct funding where it is most needed.

"Going forward we need to improve quality and relevance of data on the AgTech ecosystem in Africa to ensure that we can match ventures with the right type of funding and right type of support to unlock their potential to support smallholder farmers and improve food systems in Africa", stated Saunders.

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