A platform of farmers, retailers and service providers, civil society organisations, NGOs, government officials, and researchers improves livelihoods in Rwanda. Through interaction and collaboration, these groups experiment with various technological and institutional innovations, thereby tackling local agricultural challenges. This experience illustrates the importance of institutionalising a space where knowledge can be co-created
ICT-driven digital tools to support smallholder farmers are arguably inevitable for agricultural development, and they are gradually evolving with promising outlook. Yet, the development and delivery of these tools to target users are often fraught with non-trivial, and sometimes unanticipated, contextual realities that can make or mar their adoption and sustainability. This article unfolds the experiential learnings from a digital innovation project focusing on surveillance and control of a major banana disease in East Africa which is being piloted in Rwanda.
Digital as well as other technical and institutional innovations underpin the success of agriculture in developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). Such innovations are encouraging a new generation of young ‘agripreneurs’ to tackle agri-food challenges, explore ways to build resilience to climate change, and improve the incomes and livelihoods of people in agriculture.