Mastercard today launched 2KUZE, a digital platform that connects smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks in East Africa.
The multinational financial services corporation explains that 2KUZE, which in Swahili means "Let's grow together," enables farmers to buy, sell and receive payments for agricultural goods via their feature phones.
The platform is aimed at empowering farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania who can conduct the entire transaction of selling produce and receiving payments via their feature phones.
2KUZE was developed at the Mastercard Lab for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi, which was set up in 2015 to develop financial tools.
The Lab is using an US$11 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to engage the East African market and develop local products.
In the initial pilot, 2KUZE is being launched in partnership with Cafédirect Producers Foundation, a non-profit organization working with 300,000 smallholder farmers globally.
Currently, 2,000 small-scale farmers in Nandi Hills, Kenya are currently using the solution to sell their produce and working with farmer-friendly agents to ensure they reach the right buyers for the best price.
"Eighty percent of farmers in Africa are classified as smallholder farmers having less than 1-2 acres of farming land, making it extremely difficult to drive growth and prosperity within this community, " said Daniel Monehin, Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa and head of financial inclusion for International Markets at Mastercard.
"We believe that by using mobile, a technology that is so ubiquitous among farmers in Africa, we can improve financial access, bring in operational efficiency and facilitate faster payments. "The collaboration between the Lab team and farmers in the market helped to deliver a solution that can be implemented and make an impact without any major changes to the day-to-day."
Technology continues to play a role in Africa's agriculture sector.
In October 2016 the government of Zambia launched an e-voucher system to address corruption within the supply of inputs in agriculture.
However, the project was stalled as a result of higher costs, a weakening currency and delays, according to officials.
A month later government representatives backtracked and said the project would go ahead, with K42 million set aside to support the effort.
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