Aisha founded Farmz2U with the aim of helping farmers farm better with tailored agricultural expertise and access to market. Created following a personal health experience, Aisha saw the need to address unsustainable practices in food production not limited to excessive use of chemicals in food production and increasing levels of food waste.
Despite Sub Saharan Africa having a significant portion of the world's fertile land, smallholder farmers in the region (which make up 80% of all farmers) rarely achieve profitability and commercial scale. With Africa’s population doubling by 2050 (1), the continent must expand its agricultural production capacity to ensure global food sustainability. The Sub-Saharan African region has the necessary resources required to grow its agricultural operations including fertile and unused land, a growing youth population and favourable government policies. Nonetheless, the market is disconnected and farmers have poor access to capital, quality-assured inputs and technical expertise to produce optimally. Furthermore, they have little influence on the value chain.
Farmz2U uses technology to support farmers with agricultural advisory and decision support services. Furthermore, it increases smallholder farmers’ access to market services including finance, input suppliers and produces buyers through API integrations (which are doorways to other service providers). For instance, data sharing with banks (within regulatory constraints) reduces the default risk of loans to farmers.
Farmz2U’s solution supports farming operations across production in the agricultural value chain while increasing farmers' connectivity with service providers, and it was recognised as a promising practice by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in 2020. Since launching in 2019, Farmz2U has worked towards the primary objective of increasing agricultural productivity and income for smallholder farmers.
