Market Access project nominated by the United Nations And the International Telecommunications Union
Mar 13, 2021
First story
vote here to support smallholder farmers including women in farming - https://bit.ly/voteforushere
Out of 1,270 submitted projects, 360 (twenty in each of the eighteen WSIS Action Line Categories) were nominated. SmartAgrIoT was one of them. Agriselana for agriculture trading.
Our project - https://bit.ly/voteforushere
Description
South Africa sits in the fortunate position of having a world-class national food system, thus is largely self-sufficient in terms of food production, and will in all likelihood remain so in this pandemic and beyond. While highly productive, the food system is characterized by high levels of concentration, with 96% of farming units (Census 2011) falling in the SMME category as per the Department of Trade and Industry’s definition (agricultural operations with a turnover of R35 million and below). This positions South Africa as a nation of relatively small-scale family farms, with over 3 million farming units considered subsistence in nature. Our focus as a company is on the 3 million farming units considered subsistence in nature as we believe that the growth in the sector will only emerge if they are developed to becoming small-scale commercial and later large commercial farmers. Our INNOVATIVE MVP focuses on taking smallholder farmers to the next level by creating access to local and export markets for them using a digital Agriculture marketplace, developed and owned by ourselves. This solution provides innovation in the following ways: 1. Business Process innovation – we offer post-harvest service with a pre-harvest and logistics service. By buying the product at the back of the offtake, farmers are paid 3-6 months faster than they would if they wait for the transportation and delivery period. 2. Technology Innovation – placing of farmer's produce in a global marketplace, to exhibit their products, estimating potential farming revenues prior to farming, providing back-office support including quotations, invoicing, payment. 3. Supply Chain Innovation – we secure the buyers for the farmers relieving them of the stress to find buyers, as they do not have the marketing skills required. Smartagriot assists these farmers across the farm management cycle.
Project website
