Agriculture is the main economic activity for most Kenyans, contributing about a quarter of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employing a large number of people across Africa.
Yet for a long time, it was difficult for policy makers and other stakeholders to determine the number and types of agricultural projects in their countries let alone on the entire continent.
But following the January 2014 launch of the AgInvest Africa web portal that seeks to track all agriculture and food security interventions in the continent, this may change.
By navigating the site or using its interactive maps, users can get information on agricultural programmes in various countries such as project names, cost, duration, geographical location, objectives, funding or implementing agencies and the intended beneficiaries
The portal, which is the first of its kind in Africa, will support countries to implement the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) signed by heads of states in 2003 with an aim of eliminating hunger and reducing poverty in the region through agriculture.
As part of the CAADP agreement, African nations like Kenya committed to using evidence for decision making as well as holding various development agencies (donors, government or private sector) accountable for specific agricultural programmes they implement.
“Through the portal, nations can meet this goal and many more,” says Joseph Karugia, East and Central Africa coordinator for the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS), facilitated by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
As a common practice, most agencies have their own online platforms where they post information on projects.
AgInvest Africa seeks to pull all this disintegrated information to one site and create a ‘one-stop-shop’ for agricultural investments in the continent, says Mr Karugia.
He says the portal is expected to forestall duplication of agricultural investments, which is a major impediment to the sector’s development.
“An organisation aiming at investing in irrigation in a particular region may look for alternative options if they discover – through the portal – that the targeted location has similar projects. They can choose instead, to help farmers get markets for their products,” says Mr Karugia.
In addition, he notes that AgInvest Africa will contribute towards the formation of synergies that promote the growth of agriculture.
“Agencies can use the portal to identify institutions partaking projects related to theirs and foster working partnerships,” says Mr Karugia.
By simply scrolling through the portal, Mr Karugia notes that governments and key policymakers will be able to locate projects in their countries and identify gaps or neglected regions requiring special attention.
For instance, he says, certain regions may have many projects yet register low agricultural productivity rates based on national statistics.
“This will mean that some adjustments need to be made.”
The portal is also set to facilitate mutual accountability between project implementers and beneficiaries.
“If a politician promised to invest maybe Sh20 million in agricultural initiatives, constituents can confirm if the same amount is reflected in the portal,” says Stella Massawe, the monitoring and evaluation analyst for ReSAKSS East and Central Africa.
In the same vein, advocacy groups and organisations can use the information to back claims they may make regarding agricultural projects in their areas of operation.
Ms Massawe adds that farmers often have a need to learn from one of their own. Thus, the beneficiaries’ section of the portal will enable them to reach out to fellow farmers who may be implementing projects in areas of their interest, like dairy or vegetable farming.
Moreover, Mr Karugia says, farmers in need of extension services such as training or information on new technologies can equally use AgInvest Africa to identify agencies offering these.
The portal mainly relies on the willingness of various agencies to provide information on projects they are implementing in Africa.
“This cooperation is very important because in the end, we will all benefit from it,” Mr Karugia says.
AgInvest Africa currently has close to 2,000 projects and covers about 17 African countries including Uganda Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan.
AgInvest also allows individuals and organisations to create accounts and key in information on projects missing on the portal that they may be aware about.
It also allows users to transfer information from the portal into excel sheets that are reader and printer friendly.
The portal, however, can only be accessed through the internet, which may not be available in remote regions. “We are, therefore, partnering with non-governmental organisations and even government institutions that can bridge this digital divide by relaying the information to farmers on the ground,” says Mr Karugia.
He is, however, optimistic that increased mobile phone penetration will enable many people to access the portal.
Mr Karugia says ReSAKSS conducts training to strengthen the capacity of countries to set up their own knowledge-based systems, which in the future could feed into one main portal hosted by the African Union.
“In the meantime, we seek to add more projects into AgInvest Africa as well as monitor how people are using it so as to further improve the portal,” he says.