Uganda is an agro based economy and thus efforts to modernize and transform agriculture are always well received. With more than 60 per cent of Uganda’s work force involved in agriculture, it is always refreshing to engage with stakeholders that using technology to the change the fortunes of this industry.

In Eastern Uganda, large and smallholder farmers now have access to quality inputs and market information thanks to Essymart Africa.

Essymart Africa is an agricultural technology enterprise that is focused on providing smallholder farmers with access to quality farm inputs at competitive prices such as stress tolerant seeds, organic fertilizers and pesticides, input financing to ease farmers cash flow, training in regenerative farming techniques, technology-based services and communication, post-harvest services to reduce spoilage, and access to premium markets for better crop income.

Essymart leverages USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) technology to deliver information to farmers via their cell phones. Farmers can dial a USSD code on their cell phone to access farm inputs, information on the weather, local market prices, farming practices, water management techniques and agricultural subsidy programs. In addition, it also provides personalized advice to farmers based on their location and type of farm. Farmers can also ask questions and receive answers from agricultural experts via the service.

“Currently, we are serving hundreds of farmers in Eastern Uganda districts of Mayuge, Iganga, Luuka and Kaliro but intend to expand our services to all over the country. Majority of these farmers are smallholder women farmers. By using Web Application, common SMS technologies and telephone calls, we are achieving positive results, improving access to information, increasing productivity and farm incomes, and helping to reduce poverty among small-scale farmers in Eastern Uganda,” Mr Elvis Kadhama, the co-founder and CEO of Essymart said, adding;

“We are disrupting Africa’s agricultural sector using the Fourth generation revolution technologies such as AI to end hunger and poverty among marginalized smallholder farming communities in the African rural areas. We endeavor to help farmers become more productive and efficient by analyzing large amounts of data about weather patterns, soil conditions, pest and disease detection, fertilizer application, crop yields, fertilizer use, and other factors.”

Mr Kadhama noted that they have integrated financial technology in the platform to enable farmers, input dealers and other platform users to be able to seamlessly make and receive payments through mobile money and bank transactions. The platform also facilitates access to farm input on credit thus saving farmers from endless stress.

“We are working with 20 agents. We have so far impacted over 4000 farmers, majority of them being women smallholder farmers dealing in maize, beans and vegetables,” he said.  

Essymart Africa was hosted on Day 6 of the HiPipo 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative season five.

Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.

With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.