Presented by Green Belemy Africa Revolutionizing Agriculture and learning through partnerships and bridging the skills Gap Presented by Green Belemy Africa

Background on Green Belemy Africa Green Belemy Africa is a company owned by Berlyne Ogonji (natural resources mgt)and Catherine Wanjiru (Gender specialist). It was initially a partnership with an agronomist who has since opted out to create this new and strong partnership We are an all young women led and run social enterprise based in Nairobi and Nakuru offering agricultural consultation and training on climate adaptation to farmers. We aim to enhance and strengthen women’s capacity and role in agricultural production through leveraging on technology and digital media We have been in operation since 16TH October 2015. We are still a new company and are concentrating our effort on improving the live of Kenyan farmers and female professionals in the Agricultural field

The problem for farmers There are a lot challenges in farming especially in light of climate change There is a broken chain of information to farmers from learning institution who have access to such information Most students with the knowledge on how to improve farming are rarely involved in farming or in some cases are not clearly aware of the problem

Instead of learning so that we can solve some problems in our society Our students are learning in order to get jobs

The Problem for the students There is a disconnect between classroom education and practical situation Most students especially female students studying agricultural related courses struggle to get jobs after graduation. Most settle for less paying non agriculture jobs There is a disconnect between research that is being done by students and the problems that farmers actually face

What we need as a country There is need to create a link between the farmers day to day problems and the students studying agriculture and who are in a position to research and solve such problems. We can achieve this by creating a scenario where students will be actively involved in solving farmers day to day problems Farmers need to have access to relevant and current information which they can apply to improve productivity, we can achieve this by Creating a chain which farmers can use to access the necessary information to solve their day to day challenges Female students between ages of 20-35 need to have a competitive edge in the job market after graduation, we can achieve this by giving them some experience while they are still in campus

Our solution Our idea is a digital platform and outbound call centre operated by female university students undertaking agriculture and related courses.

Steps to the solution Select a number of female students (for the pilot project) and get them trained on call centre ethics Look for partnership with fertilizer and crop protection companies to train these students on their products Enter all trained students into a database where an office agent will be able to access them through mobile phone Open a toll free number where farmers can call and state their problem The office agent will enter the farmers details into a database and alert the students. The students will be required to call back the farmer with answers after a certain period of time The students will fill into the database the solution given and reasons for that solution The students will then earn some money for every correctly handled question

Advantages of this approach Farmers have access to relevant and timely information improving production and facilitating climate resilience in agriculture Female students between 20-35years studying agriculture or related courses will get training, experience and income hence closing the gendered unemployment rate and digital divide Green Belemy will have forge partnerships with female students who will not only be part of our human resource but will support our social enterprise in solving real problems for farmers through design challenges Universities will benefit from having motivated and relevant graduates and this will improve exposure if students to job market and minimize the skills gap including contributing to body of knowledge through research projects. Other Agricultural private companies will benefit from marketing and direct linkages with fresh experienced and already trained female talent The database compiled will be a source of data on various agriculture sectors farmers and will not only facilitate innovation but will be critical for sector players who would need it to access markets or for agricultural research Universities; the manuals produced and audio materials will be disseminated through our website and other digital platforms including through the call centres, this will foster learning and information sharing to improve curriculum improvement in universities and shape agricultural research

How we will benefit Farmers will have to subscribe for the service or pay before accessing the service We will partner with the fertilizer and crop protection companies to advertise some of their products in our platform

What the farmer will get Subscribers to the service will get a maximum number of calls per month( to avoid so many prank callers) Three text messages will be sent to subscribed farmers monthly to provide information on climate information and any updates in the sector Three text messages will be sent monthly on need basis in case of a warning Four messages will be sent to farmers to advertise products and services

Information to be provided Seed-type of seed and where they grow best Crop protection-pests and diseases Plant nutrition-nutritional requirement of crops, fertilizers and fertilizer blends Harvesting- timing and procedures of harvesting crops Post harvest management -post harvest handling of various crops Market – where can a farmer market his products, at what price,

Points to note We will have a knowledge base from which the students can refer to avoid giving farmers wrong information We will have a team of experts available for the students to call and confirm information if need be We will require the selected students to attend a certain number of field days and farmer trainings to keep them up to date and also to market the platform

“IT IS NOT JUST THE LEARNING THAT’S IMPORTANT IT’S LEARNING TO KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH WHAT YOU LEARN AND LEARNING WHY YOU LEARN THINGS THAT MATTER” NORTON JUSTER