HEIFER International Empowers Young Innovators to Eradicate Hunger Through Technology

By Elias Hakizimana.

Heifer International in collaboration with its partners and governments, remains committed to eradicating hunger and malnutrition in Africa by supporting smallholder farmers and developing innovative solutions to improve the agricultural ecosystem.

This year, as Heifer celebrates 80 years globally of supporting smallholder farmers and 50 years in Africa creating agricultural solutions, they have launched the ‘AYuTe Africa Challenge’ (Agriculture, Youth, and Technology) in Kigali, Rwanda, on June 11, 2024.

The event was held under the theme ‘Reimagining Africa’s Agriculture in the Next 50 Years.’

The initiative aims to catalyze ground-up innovation that addresses challenges faced by smallholder farmers at scale, providing the incubation and catalytic financing needed for these businesses to thrive.

A key element of the Challenge is a competition that fosters the creation of agritech and social businesses, particularly by young Africans who might not otherwise innovate in agriculture.

At the launch event, the top three winners of the AYuTe Africa Challenge, who presented outstanding pitches, were announced and celebrated.

The winners were Samson Alemu of Thur Biotech Ethiopia, who took the top prize, Eliud Rugut of Silo Africa from Kenya, who was the second runner-up, and Tajuddeen Yahaya of Extension Africa from Nigeria, who placed third.

The first three winners will receive $600,000 collectively, with the total awards for all winners amounting to $800,000.

 

The program also seeks to elevate agriculture as a desirable occupation with numerous opportunities for leveraging and integrating technology from farm to market, making the sector more attractive to the next generation of farmers.

Addressing participants at the launch of this initiative at Intare Conference Arena in Kigali, Surita Sandosham, President and CEO of Heifer International, commended the efforts of the initiative in the region and in various districts in Rwanda like Nyagatare and Kayonza.

“We have witnessed the impacts of innovative solutions developed by the young entrepreneurs in Agriculture. These solutions have enhanced productivity, livelihoods of smallholder farmers to improve their own lives and those of their families, eradicating poverty, ensuring food security for the families and communities,” Surita said.

“At Heifer, we extremely believe in the power of the youth to shape the future. Today, we are gathered to celebrate the bright minds by reimagining the future of Agriculture in Africa. To the talented young people innovators, entrepreneurs in this room today, I encourage you to use this opportunity to propel your entrepreneurial journey forward,” she added.

Eric Rwigamba, State Minister of State for Agriculture and Animal Resources in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), highlighted the collaboration between Heifer International and the government to bring youth together to leverage technologies to transform agriculture.

“The idea is to follow up on how youth use technology to find solutions to the problems facing Agriculture,” he said.

He emphasized the role of the youth’s tech solutions from production to seed, fertilizers, irrigation, and mechanization, linking agriculture and farmers to the markets.

“All these are big challenges, and the youth we are having today are being given the chance to innovate, to work hard and find solutions to the problems in agricultural technology,” Rwigamba noted.

Commenting on the rationale behind the awards for the best young tech innovators in agriculture, Verena Ruzibuka, Heifer Rwanda Country Director, said: “In this AYuTeNextGen, we are reimagining how agriculture in Africa will look in the next 50 years and the role of youth and technology in this journey. We organize this competition to bring together different youth with different tech innovations so that they contest and we give them the support they need to implement the solutions they have.” Rwigamba said.

Young Innovators Speak Out

Norman Mugisha, Rwanda’s innovator from Afri-Farmers Market, a platform that links farmers to markets, celebrated the achievement of their innovation, which was among the top five compelling pitches.

“Our innovation has increased household income by eradicating post-harvest losses. We work with more than 10,000 smallholder farmers from 13 districts of Rwanda and help them to boost income through our e-commerce platform,” Mugisha said.

Samantha Ainembabazi, a youth tech innovator from Uganda and one of the top five winners, has a project called ‘Freza Nanotech’ that helps keep fruits and vegetables fresh using enzymes that prevent them from breaking down.

“We have many farmers in Uganda, but they struggle to manage post-harvest losses of their fruits and vegetables produce. In 5 kgs, they can lose 2 kgs and remain with three, and this issue puts their profit margin down. In order to help them increase their profit margin, we need to embrace technology,” Samantha said.

Heifer International’s mission is to end hunger and poverty sustainably by supporting and investing alongside local farmers and their communities.

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