Digital Services In Agriculture III
Overview
ACWICT in collaboration with the ICT Authority, is leading the implementation of the Digital Services for Agriculture Project III (DSA III). This project aims to enhance agricultural productivity, improve livelihoods, and promote social inclusion among small holder farmers in rural Kenya. It aligns with the Kenyan government’s agenda to impart digital skills to 20 million citizens, as delivered by the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy through the ICT Authority. The overall objective is to catalyse affordable, inclusive, safe, and secure digital access for underserved populations, fostering a more thriving digital ecosystem.
Building on the success of the first two phases, DSA III aimed at consolidating and expanding the learnings from earlier phases. Now in its final stages, Phase III has several key objectives:
- Establish data-driven evidence to assess whether the Digital Services in Agriculture, as implemented in Laikipia County during the UK financial years 2020/2021 to 2021/2022, truly empowered small holder farmers, improved their livelihoods, and enhanced social inclusion.
- Further test and refine models developed in Phase II, applying them in different contexts across additional counties.
- Empower 75,000 farmers, including youth, women, and PWDs in rural Kenya through digital means to improve their livelihoods and social inclusion.
- Capacity build 15,000 Community Digital Champions/Trainers of Trainers (TOTs) to cascade knowledge and skills to the small holder farmers.
- Promote the use of agricultural content and data as functional tools for decision-making among key county government stakeholders.
- Develop, package, and disseminate evidence and knowledge products through reputable outlets.
- Strengthen partnerships and collaborations to mobilize additional resources, supporting the digitization and access to agricultural content for priority value chains in selected counties.
- Create awareness of the Digital Services for Agriculture Enablement Model.
- Use the knowledge and insights generated to inform enhancements in Kenya’s agriculture policy and regulatory framework.
Impact so Far...
- Tested and refined DSA II & III models. Among the models tested include:
- Last mile Connectivity model
- Coaching/by AEO and championing farmers’ Model
- Training model
- Stakeholder engagement model
- Digital content access Model;
- Bundled Services model – Bundled services include; The content has been bundled in one platform – https://digi4farmers.org/
- Disseminated evidence and knowledge products. Among the Knowledge products disseminated are: Conference paper presentations; Policy Briefs and Impact Evaluation Reports
- Trained 15,359 TOTs trained to date
- Trained 50,033 small holder Farmers trained to date
- 3,446,254 citizens engaged through awareness campaign
