ADDIS ABABA- Expanding multiple digital initiatives including e-voucher is a means to transform the agricultural sector, Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI) announced.
Yesterday, ATI and United Nations Capital Development Fund held a discussion aimed at enhancing digital agricultural financing to small holder farmers across rural areas.
During the discussion, ATI Deputy General Director Firew Tegegne (PhD) said that the institute is providing support to ministry of agriculture and engaging in the digital expansion in the sector.
"Digitalizing agricultural and rural finance is one of the key pillars for agricultural transformation. ATI's mandate in this regard is providing digital advisory service for farmers and other users of agricultural extension service."
Firew pointed out that ATI has been conducting online surveys to detect crop and animal diseases and providing early warnings.
He, moreover, said that enabling national market information system (NMIS) is another initiative of the institute.
As to him, collecting and disseminating market information, activating e-Voucher system help to make efficient input distribution.
It was learnt that Extending Rural Saving and Credit Cooperatives (RuSACCO) support and improving access to finance are also some initiatives under implementation.
"We will delve into the critical role of farmer profiling in ensuring digital solutions to address the specific needs of our diverse farming communities and explore digital identification systems as a key to empowering farmers and unlocking access to vital services."
In Future, ATI will engage in a rich learning exchange, drawing inspiration from successful digital Agricultural initiatives across markets and sectors fostering collaboration between government, private sector and farmers themselves to unlock the immense potential of digital Agriculture, he remarked.
United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Country Director, Ibrahim Mamma also said that UNCDF is financing digital agricultural projects. The e-voucher project is which allows farmers to access information about agricultural inputs are one of target projects.
UNCDF is providing financial and technical support to projects working on fostering the public private partnership and enhancing digital literacy of farmers, according to Ibrahim.
