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The project’s main objective is to increase the resilience of farmers to climate change, and improve climate risk management skills, leading to higher productivity for Rwandan farmers.

SeedAssure is a digital decision support tool for seed industry professionals with a much stronger reporting and corrective action management capability than existing paper-based processes. Through a checklist of online questions that interrogates every aspect of producing seed to the standard required by National regulations, SeedAssure ensures the Seed Inspector and the grower can analyze and record how the seed fields are performing at different stages of the crop cycle.

Twiga Foods is improving Kenya’s agricultural market by helping address key economic issues: high food prices, food safety and the need for established, sustainable markets. Using a mobile-based platform through which vendors can buy their stock - instead of travelling to wholesale markets at 4.00am and haggling for goods - the Twiga solution allows vendors to access better quality produce at competitive prices from their cellphones, which are then delivered directly to their city shops and stalls. Twiga’s all-year-round aggregation of demand for fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) serves to create a sustainable market for farmers.

Biofortified with zinc and iron to fight micronutrient malnutrition, varieties of lentils developed by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) mature in less than 100 days and fit well in cereal-based cropping systems. Lentils provide a protein-rich legume crop that can improve nutrition and strengthen rural livelihoods.

Nyabon Enterprises Ltd. has developed a business model that centers on providing low-horsepower tractors and accompanying implements to smallholder farmers so they can effectively mechanize production and primary processing on their farms. The model combines farm mechanization with linkages to finance and markets, and it has seen paddy rice farmers enjoy significantly increased crop yields while keeping production costs low.

Future Link Technologies (FLT) leverages the relevance and network of Savings and Credit Co-Operative Societies (SACCOs) to accelerate the adoption of digital financial services in rural farmer communities. These services enable farmers to grow their personal savings, access credit and make payments with ease and convenience.

The Amplio Talking Book (ATB) audio device provides smallholder farmers with technical information and lessons to help them increase their productivity, food security and nutrition. Implemented by Literacy Bridge Ghana (LBG), the Talking Book program has reached 23,000 women farmers in northern Ghana, with participants rating the programme as their top source of information for farming.

By measuring levels of major nutrients like nitrogen, sodium and potassium, soil analysis allows farmers to gauge the appropriateness of growing a particular crop and adjust fertilizer use accordingly. However, because soil-scanning technology is costly and difficult to use, it is not widespread in Africa. AgroCares provides an inexpensive, easy-to-use scanner that helps farmers perform soil analyses on their farms, enabling them to manage soil health and increase their yields.

Agrimech has identified a pressing need for an innovative business model that offers whole-value-chain mechanization services that are available, accessible, affordable, and accountable. The Agricultural Mechanization Services Hub enables farmers to access and hire holistic professional mechanization services in order to increase their production.

The reproductive platform aims to establish low-cost, low-infrastructure reproductive laboratories that transform breeding programs in Ethiopia by enhancing the management of reproductive cycles and genetic improvements to popular sheep and goat breeds. It reduces the risk that potentially unsuitable rams would be used for breeding and provides communities with new business opportunities.

To improve incomes from sheep fattening in rural Ethiopia, ICARDA took a new approach that leveraged youth as influencers to scale up adoption of improved sheep fattening technology and practices. Young people received a start-up package, participated in youth group trainings, were supported by a community of practice and disseminated their knowledge by organizing field days. This approach has continued in the communities despite the project ending. Thus, ICARDA continues to provide support and trainings to youth groups.

Ten years ago, community-based breeding programmes appeared as a pioneer solution for improving the genes of sheep and goat in low-input systems. CBBPs focus on building local capacity by training farmers, leading to sustained genetic improvement of indigenous breeds. The solution has made economically important genes more common, increased farmers’ income by 20 per cent and helped the community triple their consumption of animal source foods.

Supplemental irrigation provides higher and more stable yields, a lower risk of crop failure and much higher crop water productivity, which together significantly improve farmers' incomes. Supplemental irrigation helps mitigate inconsistent seasonal rainfall, which is intensifying because of climate change. Already, frequent droughts cause substantial crop losses.

The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has developed high-yielding wheat varieties with resistance to extreme heat, drought, salinity, insect pests and diseases. The varieties have been adopted throughout Central and West Asia, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, areas highly vulnerable to climate change. This solution aims to enhance productivity, raise farmers’ incomes, create jobs and increase value addition by encouraging higher levels of wheat self-sufficiency.

The Sustainable Rangeland Management (SRM) toolkit, tested in Tunisia, lays out a scalable, holistic and multidisciplinary approach for addressing the biophysical and socio-economic trade-offs among different land uses. The toolkit helps communities, policymakers and development actors apply key sustainable rangeland management practices to targeted regions. It can play a major role in achieving a neutral level of land degradation, increased forage production and enhanced ecosystem services.

VBAs help smallholder farmers improve their farm productivity by enhancing their access to both appropriate farm inputs and information on good agronomic practice. VBAs work with all willing farmers within a community, regardless of gender, age or social status. They believe in empowering farmers to learn by doing, providing small packets of inputs like seed and fertilizer for farmers to test on their own fields with little risk.

eHakiki is an e-verification solution for tracking genuine agricultural inputs. It helps smallholder farmers protect themselves from counterfeit and adulterated inputs that would hurt their incomes and food security. The innovation was devised by Quincewood, a Tanzanian mobile services company, in collaboration with the Tanzania Seed Certification Institute. eHakiki has reached more than 350,000 farmers.

The automated credit-scoring system allows smallholder farmers to more easily access loans. The system enables savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOs) and farmers’ organizations to access in real time farmers’ historical financial data and better determine their creditworthiness. So far, Amtech has reached 89,000 farmers, one-third of the farmers they have in their database. Amtech plans to mobilize the other two-thirds over the next two years.

Mechanized raised-bed (MRB) irrigation is a field-configuration technology that enhances water use efficiency in dryland conditions. This technology, along with improved crop varieties and agronomic practices, is part of a MRB production package that improves farm productivity and income. For wheat in Egypt, MRB led to an average 25 percent increase in yield, more than 60 percent increase in water productivity and about 20 percent in farming cost reduction.

Harnessing the power of ICTs to improve agricultural extension services in Malawi

A low-cost tool that measures food dryness

Building food security with an agribusiness e-finance system.

Digitizing the agricultural inputs subsidy program to increase agricultural productivity among smallholder farmers in Rwanda

Improving water quality with natural infrastructure.

Helping hard-to-reach smallholder famers improve household food security and generate income.

Tackling malnutrition through knowledge sharing and practical demonstrations among farmers

Through expert advice, farmers improve the health of their crops and access best practices.

SMS and radio shows introduced productivity-enhancing technologies to 2 million farmers.

Facilitating smallholders' access to working capital to improve food and income security.

Improving soil fertility and combating flood damage through bocage agroforestry.

Uniting local organizations improves farmers' incomes.

Using sustainable apiculture to offset climate change.

New data measurement capabilities could hold the key to building climate change resilience.

Adding female voices to agricultural radio programmes empowered communities in Africa.