While Africa’s agriculture sector provides employment for many people – estimated between 70% to 80% of those living rural communities – it is highly fragmented and struggles with weak digital infrastructure.
This issue formed part of a panel discussion hosted at the AfricArena Nairobi Climate Tech Summit 2025 this week, in Kenya’s capital city.
Start-up founders, venture capitalists and business leaders offered insight into the role that smart climate technology can play in addressing climate change, and improving the efficiencies of agriculture on the continent.
Eugene Gikonyo, investment principal, Mercy Corp Ventures, commented: “Agritech is a challenge in Africa… We need to recognise the hurdles and the infrastructure that needs to be built. But there is a long lead time (from concept to implementation of technology) in this space, which speaks to apprehension from other commercial investors.”
Francis Nderitu, MD and founder, Keep it Cool, said the continent cannot continue to rely on traditional weather or climate patterns, and that smart climate technology is key to sustainability.
“This is about efficient use of resources. We cannot depend on the status quo,” he added.
While there are increasing levels of interest in climate technology, entrepreneurs face barriers to entry that include policy and regulations, which differ from one country to another.
Panellists agreed that practical scaling and an increase in investor support does help.
“You have to be resilient” said Nderitu. “It’s about having the expertise in place, understanding compliance, and reducing operational cost by using the same assets. Rather than looking to expand geographically, practical scaling to ensure sustainability is very important.”
Fares Seaidi, advisor, Scaling Digital Agriculture Innovations Through Start-Ups, added that start-ups targeting the smart climate infrastructure space need capital to prove their business models and to grow operations. “Working capital can help start-ups to test models, adjust their revenue models and think of margins to grow as a commercial venture.”
Elias Ngotho, product marketing manager, Ishamba, stressed the importance of data and how this serves to encourage inclusivity of all stakeholders in the climate technology ecosystem – especially smallhold farmers.
“It all starts with data; data is the bloodline of our core business… it helps farmers to be productive. We need to put systems in place to collect data efficiently, to collect data for farmers to increase productivity. There’s a lot of technology and innovation, but I have the feeling these approaches are top-to-bottom rather than bottom-to-top. We need to make technology simple, easy to implement and manage,” said Ngotho.
To illustrate his point, Ngotho said 70% of farmers opt for SMS as a premier channel of communication.
“The reality is that those farmers with smartphones don’t have the knowledge to be able to use the technology and some cannot afford data. We have to adopt a farmer-centric approach to providing tech, remember that farmers tend to listen to their peers above anyone else.”
A key takeaway from the panel discussion then is that while there is innovation in the climate tech and agritech spaces, with good ideas in the market and capable technology, these mean very little if the digital technology is not adopted and making a real difference on the ground.
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