Cameroon has honoured 10 outstanding startups in its inaugural Agritech Innovation Challenge, which seeks to reward the most innovative ideas that promote inclusion and use of digital agricultural solutions.

The laureates, selected from a pool of hundreds of startups proposing diverse solutions from precision farming through AI to climate change adaptation through kits, were celebrated recently, at an event held in Yaounde.

The Agritech Innovation Challenge is part of the country’s Project for the Acceleration of the Digital Transformation of Cameroon (PATNUC), and is supported by a $100 million funding from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA).

According to the organisers, the contest’s aim was to trigger competitiveness through the promotion, digital inclusion and use of agritech innovations by players in Cameroon's agropastoral sector. 

Each of the 10 winners will receive cash prizes of up to CFA 40 million ($66 640), as well as technical support from PATNUC with the implementation of their business plans.

Minette Libom Li Likeng, minister of posts and telecommunications, said: “The Agritech Innovation Challenge is an opportunity to explore and discover local talent and ingenuity, in terms of digital transformation in the growth sectors of agriculture, livestock and fisheries.”

The minister added that the government is also committed to using the initiative to stimulate self-employment in the digital sector, to counter the effects of youth unemployment in the country.

Bang Pamela Ncho, COO of eFarm.CM, whose e-commerce startup emerged overall winner, said she is keen to provide adequate market access and competitive prices to farmers for them to sell their agropastoral products.

“We assist our famers with logistics for the distribution of products upon purchase,” she said.