Let's Talk Agriculture: Recent Episodes
letstalkagriculture
[00:00:00] Grace Njoroge: Hey, beautiful people. Indeed, that is one of my biggest pleasure, is always when I went to my [00:00:06] Sharon Idahosa: own farm. So, I think it is important to first understand what a healthy relationship with food is, for us to know what it is not. Not trying. I can relate, I can relate. Selfish. So, you could be your own farmer for years.[00:00:18] Sharon Idahosa: Who knows? [00:00:21] Grace Njoroge: Trust, trust me when I tell you there will always be challenges. There will always be risks. [00:00:26] Sharon Idahosa: Seems like we have a lot in common. Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. And of course, it's your favorite girl, Sharon De La Rosa. Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show.[00:00:46] Sharon Idahosa: My name is Sharon Idahosa and I am your host. Today I'm excited to bring another episode, Your Way, still on the AgriFinance series, here on the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. Joining me [00:01:00] today is one of Mexico's finest, Grace Njoroge. Hopefully I got that correctly. She is the technical director of programs.[00:01:09] Sharon Idahosa: And she will be discussing the impact of digital finance in the agriculture sector. Now they have been actively supporting smallholder farmers, you know, to easily get access to finance and we are here to get more details about it and ensure that. Those that are looking out for finance, especially women can really benefit from this.[00:01:28] Sharon Idahosa: So please guys, stay tuned and get the best out of this episode. Thank you for joining the show today. How are you doing Grace? [00:01:35] Grace Njoroge: Thank you for having me Sharon. I am doing very well. Thank you. Um, thank you for having me on the show and I'm looking forward to the discussion. [00:01:44] Sharon Idahosa: Great. Great. So tell us, how has it been so far working in, in this space?[00:01:49] Sharon Idahosa: Great. I know many people do not like, uh, or many of us that got into this space, we didn't really study agriculture or it wasn't, uh, it wasn't something we planned, [00:02:00] but then again, we found out Celsia maybe because we wanted to, we saw a problem and wanted to solve it. So I want to know what actually got you to this space.[00:02:08] Sharon Idahosa: direction while you're working in agriculture and agri finance as well. So please do share if you can. Thank you. [00:02:15] Grace Njoroge: Thank you. Thanks Sharon. So, um, I always, um, say for those who know my story is I, I got into the Um, digital space, the agricultural space. Um, um, by fluke, I studied, um, I studied, I studied bachelor's of business administration for my undergrad.[00:02:34] Grace Njoroge: Um, and I remember I was in a public university. So, um, I remember we still have the career fairs where, you know, most of the institutions that used to come for the career fairs were, um, financial institutions, the banks, the insurance companies. Some of the consultancy companies, the audit companies, etc.[00:02:51] Grace Njoroge: And so when I was graduating, I really was looking forward to working for, um, you know, that kind of institution and my, my dream did come true. I [00:03:00] joined one of the leading financial institutions, uh, banks here in Kenya. Um, and when I joined I was, you know, starry-eyed. I was very looking forward to it. Um, I got some money from my grandmother to, you know, buy a couple of, um, suits, um, you know, the, um, nice power suits because I, I thought I'd be walking in the banking hall in my power suit, in my high heels, um, you know, serving customers.[00:03:23] Grace Njoroge: 'cause this is the image we had of, um, bank stuff, um, when we were young. But then, um, shocker me when I joined, um, there was this new department that had been opened in the bank, um, the microfinance department.
Intro: [00:00:00]Sharon Idahosa: [00:43:00] Hello beautiful people. Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show, where we bring you the latest trends, opportunities, and innovations in the agriculture industry. Now this episode is brought to you by Opportunity International, a nonprofit organization equipping families with the tools [00:01:00] and training that they need to build their businesses, improve harvest, provide for their families and send their children to school, and even break the cycle of poverty.Now talk about innovative financial solutions. They can help families living in extreme poverty to build sustainable livelihood. Now, if you'd like to learn more and support the work that they do, quickly visit opportunity.org. Now, this is me bringing to you the impact that they have created so far when it comes to gender financing.We already know that women face so much challenges when it comes to getting access to finance. And if you're one of those, this is the best place, you know, to, you know, learn and get access to this initiative that they've put in place for you as a woman. And of course, if you are one of those supporting women, this is the best place to go.So, I encourage you to really just check out opportunity. org to see the best [00:02:00] ways that you can benefit. So, joining me today is Tim Strong, head of agricultural financing at Opportunity. Tim has successfully led the agri finance initiatives with his team in Malawi and beyond. Hello, Tim. Thank you so much for joining the show today.How are you doing?Timothy Strong: Thank you, Sharon. I'm really excited. As I said about it being Friday, I'm looking forward to the weekend ahead. It's absolutely a pleasure to be invited to join you on the podcast today.Sharon Idahosa: It's a pleasure to have you. I mean Fridays just look almost the same to me anyway. So, yeah, I looked through, um, the recent feature with you and your team on Bloomberg and I must say that you have done incredibly well.I mean a great job so far. So, I mean, why don't you share with us Um, the objectives of the gender finance projects and the implementation in Malawi. I know it was Implemented in Malawi or is it beyond Africa already? But I mean, let's just have this as a case study.Timothy Strong: Very cool Sharon So, um, it's definitely been a [00:03:00] pleasure to be able to spread the good news I think you and I have some very similar perspectives in terms of the gospel of the small holder farmer Uh, for us at Opportunity, it's really been a journey for us as we've continued to really focus what we do on listening to our clients.Um, so a lot of what, uh, you referenced to in terms of the Bloomberg article and how we're innovating with generative artificial intelligence to support farmers, it all boils down to that same piece is how do we make sure that we implement human centered design. How do we become specialists and listening to the needs of the variety of clients that we have for opportunity has been, uh, as I said, a journey and we've been in operations now for over 53 yearsOrganizationally We've been able to reach over 19. 4 million clients and 95 percent of those whom are women. And we've partnered with 130 different financial institutions across 33 countries within our overall lending book of roughly 2. 3 billion. Um, over 450 million of [00:04:00] that, uh, is financing directly the unlock. Um, so for us, we really see our mission and our mandate to really make sure that we're bringing together the right partners and the right relationships to access, uh, to really have a centered focused on X.It's really, you know, capital as an access piece for farmers, training and support networks. Um, really a lot of this, uh, builds up on that, but, um, for our team and our program. We've come together for agricultural finance around a belief in rural prosperity. How do we really see that farmers are the major driving engine of economic growth in all of the countries that we live in?And how do we make sure that they're served as such? So, when I, when I mention rural prosperity in shorts, our mandate as a program is helping farmers to grow more. And to earn more. Um, and really that becomes one of the most. So, we see that investing in agriculture is one of the most powerful actions we can take for more inclusive future, more opportunities and agriculture mean that fewer people go hungry, fewer children miss [00:05:00] school, and rural families are able to build.So, you know, that's a really ambitious goal for us as a program and as a whole. And yet, we’ve really developed our work and our portfolios because of one key fact. And it's really that many farmers here and across sub Saharan Africa still only do at 20 to 30 percent of them. So, for us, really making sure that we're supporting farmers again, on that same mandate of supporting farmers to grow more and to earn more is key.Um, but you know, for us, When we look at some of the numbers and the figures and listen to our, listen to our clients, we also see that on average, about 55 to 60 percent of all labor on all farms across Africa is conducted by women. So, if we're not really developing strategies, tactics, and mechanisms to make sure women are included in this economic growth.Then we've lost the plot, um, we've really missed the target as a whole. Um, so Sharon, I am really grateful for the time today to really share in terms of opportunities, [00:06:00] agriculture, finance, work, and our women's economic advancement strategy. Uh, my team has given me a liberty to name the strategies. So, we're calling it our GROW strategy, which is Guaranteeing Rural Opportunities for Women.It's really exciting for me to be able to share, uh, the Uh, what we're launching now after we've conducted a number of highly rigorous equity audits across our programming and our staffing, how do we really define support and targets for partners and outcomes for women? Really defining our activities and targets across all of our programmatic pillars, uh, and committing to, to partnerships with specialists.Uh, especially for areas that are outside of our, our own professional remits. So, you know, specifically looking at violence against women, how do we make sure we build partnerships? Um, so that's just kind of a briefer in terms of what we're looking at, but ultimately have a very robust, in my opinion, strategy for how do we move forward and really look at why this is important to us as an organization as a whole.So, Sharon, that's kind of the brief overview. [00:07:00] Um, I can of course talk for hours and hours and hours as I think, Sharon, you can acknowledge, um, around what we're striving to do, but we're really excited about next steps.Sharon Idahosa: Yeah, I know definitely women contribute greatly to the agricultural sector, but they still definitely face some sort of, um, barrier when it comes to accessing finance.And it's really amazing to know that, um, your team is doing something to get them involved. I mean, they contribute, I think, about 60 to 70 percent of the food that we eat, they are majorly, um, women involved in farming. But yet, we still see them getting, um, um, struggle when it comes to accessing finance.And most of the financial institutions, um, Um, I believe that they should, um, tailor some of their policies or tailor the products to the farmers directly. And I think I heard you saying something about, um, speaking to the farmers to know what they need for you to, you know, um, set up. a [00:08:00] policy or a product that fits them.Because sometimes I don't know about your location, but I know that, um, I've heard so many farmers complain about, um, having to, um, bring their husbands, you know, get access to finance that they need to, you know, scale business. I think is, um, sorry to say, but if you ask me, I think it's ridiculous. I mean, because sometimes.And in some locations, rather here in Nigeria, uh, many of the farmers are women, right? And, um, their husbands are not involved. And when they go to the farms, most of the husbands end up collecting the, the funds that was given to them because they had to bring their husbands, you know, head of the home to get access to that finance.But I think that if there is a particular, um, product that is targeted to women and they do not need to Um, um, fill out all of those criteria or have to bring their, their, their husbands, you know, get access to finance, they will [00:09:00] be able to have access or better control of the funds that they've been given, and they will be able to scale their businesses without, um, in form of, um, challenge.So I would like to know, maybe there's some sort of, um, innovative approaches or technologies or something that have been leveraged by your organizations, you know, support women in accessing this finance without experiencing all of this barriers or something.Timothy Strong: Yeah, sure. And I, um, would love to, to dig into this deeper.And this is a topic that's very near and dear to my heart as well. Um, especially as my wife is also a woman in agriculture, as we have a small cattle farm in the Southern part of Malawi. So, um, definitely see firsthand a lot of the limitation. Um, first off, I think there are two really important points from the last five years of our overall gender strategy within our agriculture finance and a running, uh, from 2018 until now, as we're looking to revamp our approaches, um, the first and foremost is that [00:10:00] women and gender, it's not a monolith, right?So really understanding that one woman's need is not the same as the next. So, making sure, uh, as you, as you called out from the previous comment that we're listening and understanding to the varying needs of different women in agriculture. I can guarantee you that a woman who's running a multinational dairy business Central Nigeria.Her needs and, and her educational background and her capacity is extremely different from a small holder farmer in Uganda or in Rwanda. So, making sure that you're building specifically to clients' needs, uh, regardless of gender and then applying a gender lens afterwards. Um, so you know, when we looked at that and also looked at developing.Really a business case for financing rural women, uh, where we really can talk to financial institutions and many will say outright many bankers across the continent say, yeah, we know that women are better investment than their male counterparts. They repay better in general, they have a lower default [00:11:00] rate, but very, very few of these bankers could actually say by how much.How much better is a, is a, is a female farmer as a client to a bank than a male. And it really became just anecdotal and just comments. So really making sure that we can measure that on a portfolio by portfolio basis is critical. Um, when you're able to do that and really have the data on hand, that means that a financial institution can do risk adjusted pricing.And really make sure that, you know, those clients who are women within their portfolios, who are better investments and better clients can get better access to better terms. So really making sure that we have the numbers there is important for anyone within the, either the financial industry or the agriculture, I'm really proving it and, and saying it's more than just anecdotal and an observation on those two things in particular paired with making sure that we're training on farming as a family business, inclusive business, how to husbands and wives work together for access to resources, access to decisionsThat [00:12:00] helped move our portfolios from what was historically only 18 to 28 percent women to now, you know, we're able to really, uh, expand our financial footprints to, uh, our agricultural finance portfolio sitting.Roughly at about 56 to 61 percent fans, right? And then, and this is in two heavily male dominated sectors of agriculture and finance. Um, for us, it's also, you know, we, we already know. Oh, that agriculture growth. And we also know that women provide the majority of agriculture labor. However, Sharon, to your points, due to a lack of agency, resources, women farmers’ productivity, and incomes are significantly lower than those of men.So when we look and scan through those constraints, constraint to productivity is the ability to invest in your ag, as we also know access to finance, to be able to make those investments is particularly limited to women due to Collateral requirements, saying a typically own fewer assets and land on many financial service providers are reluctant to lend to women as they [00:13:00] view them as more risky, despite stating that women are better investments, but I think there's also some cultural norms that we have to take into account and really reflect that these do influence women's unpaid care work.Decision making and agency safety and time use all of these influence women's ability to participate in and benefit from rural income generating activities. So, it is really for us, we would say this is a marathon and not a sprint. There's a lot of things that we have to overcome in this process together to really make sure that there is equitable access, but we really do believe that offering more and equal access over control of productive resources, agricultural income.Um, we really think that our, our clients can improve their productivity leading to an increase in economic growth and a decrease in poverty and hunger. I mean, the simplest statement I can make here is that a woman is economically empowered when she has both the ability to succeed and [00:14:00] advance and the agency to make an act on decision. SoThere is so much research done and analytical frameworks considering power systems and resources, enabling environment, community and market level influences, and even in the household and how gender and social norms influence that. But I think what I like the most about our new growth strategy, guaranteeing rural opportunities for women is we're moving beyond the discussion of gender.Um, we've just spent five years talking about gender and, and how to really grow that. But for us, you know, making sure that we have a stronger focus explicitly on outcomes for women instead of gender, right? So, we will do the gender work as long as it results in those same outcomes within our side a lot of it is making sure that we're looking at women's economic advancement being guaranteed throughout our program, right?So, it's incredibly important for us to focus and listen to it in order to [00:15:00] actually deliver results. We also have to look at our partners and really how they're working and also look at ourselves. It's weird to look at our staff, really acknowledging that women's economic advancement is not a vertical, um, but it's actually a horizontal that cuts ac
[00:00:00] Sharon Idahosa: Hey, beautiful people. Indeed,that is one of my biggest pleasure, is always when Iwent to my own farm. So, I think it is important to first understand what ahealthy relationship with food is, for us to know what it is not. Not trying. Ican relate, I can relate. Selfish. So, you could be your own farmer priest.
[00:00:19] Sharon Idahosa: Who knows? Trust, trust mewhen I tell you there will always be challenges. There will always be risks.Seems like we have a lot in common. Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculturepodcast show. And of course, it's your favorite girl, Sharon Idahosa.
[00:00:44] Sharon Idahosa: Hello, beautiful people.Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. I want to appreciate all ofmy listeners for being patient with me for the past two months. I mean, Ireally appreciate your support. So I had to go on ashort break to welcome my little princess to the world. And I'm back now to,you know, bring fresh [00:01:00] episodes yourway. So if this is your first time listening to thepodcast, my name is Sharon Idahosa.
[00:01:06] Sharon Idahosa: And I am the founder of Let'sTalk Agriculture Limited, a public relations and communications firmspecializing in agriculture. Now, Let's Talk Agriculture handles everythingabout your agriculture business. So if you're ready tobuild your brand, kindly get in touch with us at hello at letstalkagriculture.com
[00:01:25] Sharon Idahosa: The website and email linkwill be available. So today my message is simple. I want to share with you allthe impact of podcasting on your agriculture communication. So yes, you are anagricultural business founder and you run your own business, or you are anentrepreneur looking to connect and share your message with a wider audience.
[00:01:49] Sharon Idahosa: Podcasting is one of the bestways you can do that. Now in agricultural communication, podcasting has emergedas a powerful tool or a medium to, you [00:02:00]know, share valuable insights, engage your audience and establish leadershipand even showcase your business. You know, it allows you to freely connect andgive to your target audience.
[00:02:12] Sharon Idahosa: Making a mark in their lives,positioning your expertise right in front of them and becoming a go to personwhen they decide to buy. You see now podcasting can do a whole lot and in notjust communicating your brand message or connecting with your target audience,it can also set you up for life. Now here are some of the key reasons.
[00:02:34] Sharon Idahosa: Podcasting matters for youragriculture communication. Number one is that it helps you reach a globalaudience. Now, podcasting helps you to connect with more than just your targetaudience. You get to connect with farmers, researchers, industry professionals,Consumers and a lot more it doesn't just limit you to just your target audienceIt helps you to connect with more people more people [00:03:00]from across the globe get to listen and hear about you about your brand Soleveraging podcasting will help you connect to a global audience Another one isthat it helps you to build credibility now credibility is something that Youneed as a business owner, it is something that you need for your business.
[00:03:17] Sharon Idahosa: Soone of the best things that podcasting can do for you is to help buildcredibility. And that's one thing, like I said, that you need. Now, throughpodcasts, you get to share your insights, industry trends, engage with industryexperts via your podcast. And this will help you to position yourself as a A trusted authority in the field.
[00:03:37] Sharon Idahosa: Now, let's talk agriculturelimited is a public relations and communications film, but yes, we have thelet's talk agriculture podcast. And very soon you're pushing out the let's talkagriculture TV show. Now, podcasting has helped us to, you know, connect withthe various and many, many, many stakeholders across the globe.
[00:03:56] Sharon Idahosa: We've connected with so manystakeholders, so many [00:04:00] businesses,and we've given opportunities to a whole lot of them. So, you know. Compositionthemselves as an authority. Now we have succeeded in positioning ourselves asan authority in the agriculture sector. So this is thebest way for you to build credibility.
[00:04:14] Sharon Idahosa: And it's one of the ways foryou to enhance your brand. So do well to leverage podcasting for your business.Now, the third one is it helps you to drive engagement. Now, podcasting inagriculture is not just about. Spreading information. It's about fostering acommunity one episode at a time. Right? So in theworld of podcasting, you get to freely converse with your audience.
[00:04:40] Sharon Idahosa: You get feedbacks and youbuild a community. Community is very important and podcasting will help you todo that. So when you start a podcast, it definitelyhelp you to build a strong business, and I believe you want that. So what will tell key others about podcasting? Five years toget, you can get there in less than five years because you have [00:05:00] played your card differently and that'spodcast.
[00:05:03] Sharon Idahosa: So Ihope that you learn from this short episode and very profound message. Learnfrom this episode and take your business to the next step. Learn to communicateyour agricultural message through the podcast. So ifyou like to launch. Your podcast will elevate your podcasting skills, butyou're not sure on how to go about it.
[00:05:25] Sharon Idahosa: I can definitely help you. Itrain young professionals and executives looking to improve their communicationskills and become professionals when it comes to podcasting. Soif you like to learn or get started, visit coachli.co/sharonidahosa.I'll drop the link in the transcript, or you can also visit sharonidahosa.com.
[00:05:46] Sharon Idahosa: Now, stay tuned for anotherepisode from the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. My name is Sharon Idahosaand I am your host. Do well to subscribe to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast.We are available on Apple, on [00:06:00]Spotify, on so many platforms that you can think of. Do well to subscribe andfollow us on our social media channels.
[00:06:07] Sharon Idahosa: We're on LinkedIn, we're onFacebook, and we're on Instagram. If you're ready to build your brand, makeyour agriculture business look more attractive, do well to visitletstalkagriculture.com. We have so much in store for you and I'm sure youdon't want to miss it. Do well to subscribe and follow us. Once again, do enjoyyour day.
[00:06:25] Sharon Idahosa: Signing off, Sharon Idahosa.
[00:00:00] Sharon Idahosa: Hey, beautiful people. Indeed, that is one of my biggest pleasure, is always when I went to my own farm. So, I think it is important to first understand what a healthy relationship with food is, for us to know what it is not. Not trying. I can relate, I can relate. Selfish. So, you could be your own farmer for years.[00:00:21] Sharon Idahosa: Trust. Trust me when I tell you there will always be challenges. There will always be risks. Seems like we have a lot in common. Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. And of course, it's your favorite girl, Sharon Idar Russak.[00:00:42] Sharon Idahosa: Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to the final episode of our technology series. It's really been an amazing time discussing with agri technology brands with innovative solutions. for the advancement of the agriculture sector. But before we dive into today's topic, I would like you to [00:01:00] try out EOS data crop monitoring if you are a farmer, or you can contact EOS data sales team if you are interested in the custom agri tech product.[00:01:10] Sharon Idahosa: So today we want to take a deep dive into how AI power satellite imagery is playing a very crucial role in the agricultural industry today. So to get this episode started, join me. Welcome my guest for today, Lydia Lelychenko, Account Executive at EOS Data Analytics. Hello Lydia, how are you doing today?[00:01:31] Lidiia Lelechenko: Hi, Sharon. It is my pleasure to meet you. Hi, everyone, the audience. So yeah, I'm very excited to be the part of the podcast today to share some insight on the remote sensing and agriculture. Yeah. Thank you. [00:01:49] Sharon Idahosa: Great. Thank you so much for joining. I'm sure that this is going to be an insightful episode for our listeners out there.[00:01:56] Sharon Idahosa: I've seen this, um, topic to be a very interesting [00:02:00] one, and I, I really hope that our young people as well and all the businesses can also benefit from this episode. So thank you so much for joining again. So talking about how AI paths are like imagery and how it is transforming the agriculture industry.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
[00:00:00] INTRO[00:00:44] Sharon Idahosa: Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to another episode of our technology series, where we explore the innovative solutions, trends and advancement that are shaping the future of farming and agribusiness. This episode is brought to you by Let's Talk Agriculture; An industry specific public relations and communications firm specializing in agriculture.[00:01:06] Sharon Idahosa: So if you're an agriculture business looking to build your brand, establish total leadership, host industry events, or train your employees on leadership, communication, and more, then quickly visit letstalkagriculture. com to get started. So in today's episode, we want to look at some of the strategies to increase the productivity of farmers.[00:01:28] Sharon Idahosa: And we have the best person right here to share his insights with us. So friends join me. Welcome Ibrahim Maigari, the CEO of Rise Africa, a remarkable player, revolutionizing agriculture through technology. Thank you so much for joining the show today. How are you doing?[00:01:47] Ibrahim Maigari: I'm doing fine, Sharon. Thank you.[00:01:49] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you. It's a pleasure to have you. Hopefully I got your name correctly.[00:01:53] Ibrahim Maigari: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, perfect, perfect. I was looking out for that, but you got it right.[00:01:59] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you. So I would just really like to know a little bit more about you. I mean, I'm sure my audience would like to, you know, want to hear a little bit about you.[00:02:09] Sharon Idahosa: I mean, I didn't give a really thorough introduction. So please tell us a little bit about you. What's your journey like in the agriculture industry?[00:02:16] Ibrahim Maigari: So thank you once again Sharon for having me. I, I sincerely commend you for the beautiful work you're doing and spotlighting the activities of many players in the agricultural space.[00:02:29] Ibrahim Maigari: I think we need more. So yeah, um, my name is Ibrahim. Um, I've been a lawyer for, this is my decade as a lawyer, but, uh, my journey into technology, uh, started about, um, I've been involved in starting managing. Co-founding of technology startups in Nigeria. Um, our journey in technology started with, uh, with animal identification and management system.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
[00:00:00] Intro[00:00:42] Sharon Idahosa: Hey, beautiful people. Welcome to the technology series, where we explore the innovative solutions and trends[00:00:48] Sharon Idahosa: that are shaping the future of farming and agribusiness. I'm excited to bring the first episode of the technology series your way, because today we will be hearing from an [00:01:00] agritech startup making waves in the poultry farming industry. And believe me when I say you don't want to miss this one. So sit tight[00:01:07] Sharon Idahosa: and enjoy this podcast interview. Meanwhile, if you haven't checked out the brand management offering, let's talk agriculture has in store for you, then you should really go see it because there is something for you as an agri SME, as an agri MSME and as a business. So do well to visit letstalkagriculture.com[00:01:28] Sharon Idahosa: to get started. Now back to today's episode, we are going to be looking at the significance of decreasing feed costs and improving productivity in poultry farming. Now our poultry farmers in Nigeria are faced with high cost of feed that is leading to business closure and increase in the price of eggs.[00:01:51] Sharon Idahosa: I mean, we all eat eggs in Nigeria. I mean, So many people do, so this is a major challenge for us and this is a challenge [00:02:00] for many poultry farmers and even consumers. I believe that at the end of this episode we would have gotten a solution to the major challenges of our poultry, our poultry farmers are dealing with.[00:02:13] Sharon Idahosa: I mean this podcast is to help you get, you know, solutions and that is why we are here today. But before we get started. Before we get there, join me, welcome our guests for today's show. Mfon Uwa, the founder and CEO of Yiieldy. Hopefully I got your name correctly.[00:02:34] Mfon Uwa: Yes, you do.[00:02:36] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you so much for joining the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast.[00:02:39] Sharon Idahosa: How are you doing today?[00:02:41] Mfon Uwa: I'm fine Sharon. Thank you for having me.[00:02:44] Sharon Idahosa: It's a pleasure. I mean, it's really amazing to have, um, the founders of Startups. I mean, I like to see founders doing amazing things in the agriculture space. You know, so many technology coming to the picture, but yeah, we want to see how [00:03:00] that technology is really transforming the agricultural sector because the agricultural sector has so much to offer and we have to make sure that technologies play a crucial role in advancing the agricultural industry.[00:03:14] Sharon Idahosa: So thank you for your contribution. And I'm glad to get this episode started and hear your story and what you're doing in your company. So thank you once again for joining the show today.[00:03:24] Mfon Uwa: You're welcome, Sharon. Thank you for having me.[00:03:27] Sharon Idahosa: It's a pleasure. So tell us what is the inspiration behind Yiieldy and the development of Yiieldy Feeds app ? because I know that you're really working on launching your feeds app for poultry farmers.[00:03:41] Sharon Idahosa: So I'd like to know your inspiration behind the company Yiieldy and your product development.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
What are the benefits of Carbon Credits for farmers in Africa?Transcription[00:00:00] Intro[00:00:42] Sharon Idahosa: Do you know that it can actually get a whole lot easier keeping the food supply chain safe and transparent? Join over 30, 000 food, beverage, ingredient, dietary and supplement companies across global supply chain for integrated food safety, quality and sustainability services. For more information, do go to visit foodchainid.com.[00:01:03] Sharon Idahosa: And now, welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. This is our final episode of the Sustainability Series, and I'm excited to bring today's episode your way, where we're going to be looking at carbon credits, how farmers can, you know, gain financial benefits through carbon credits, and even put a premium for their product.[00:01:23] Sharon Idahosa: So join me welcome our guests for today, from two different organizations working hand in hand to ensure that farmers get the best, I mean, what they deserve across Africa and beyond. Welcome, Emily. Welcome, Vasco. Thank you so much for joining the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show.[00:01:41] Sharon Idahosa: How are you doing today?[00:01:42] Emily Urban Cordeiro: Good, good. Thank you so much for having us.[00:01:45] Vasco Van Roosmalen: Doing well, thank you. And again, yes, thank you so much for having us. It's a pleasure to be here.[00:01:49] Sharon Idahosa: It's always a pleasure speaking with industry experts. I mean, I've been doing this for over three years now and interacting with industry experts also helps me to widen my horizons as well.[00:02:00] Sharon Idahosa: So I really want to appreciate you coming on the show and sharing your knowledge with me and my audience as well. So once again, Thank you.[00:02:08] Emily Urban Cordeiro: Sure. You're very welcome. Looking forward to the conversation.[00:02:10] Sharon Idahosa: Sure. So, yes, let's start with you now.So, in simple and clear terms, what is carbon credit all about? You know, how is FoodchainId involved in the voluntary market as a private entity?[00:02:25] Sharon Idahosa: Let me just know, get more idea about what carbon credit is all about. That's what we've been hearing for so long now. So maybe this is a good avenue to learn more about it. It's simple terms that[00:02:35] Emily Urban Cordeiro: yes. And actually, you know, when we think about carbon credits and what this actually means in the context of smallholders for various market players.[00:02:46] Emily Urban Cordeiro: It is actually complex to think about, you know, Vasco at ReSeed, you know, he'll, he'll explain in great, great detail, of course, how it works from their perspective. And, and I want to, I want to just zoom out for a moment and share how, how carbon credit. It is a way to essentially meet climate goals and on this conversation, we're talking about nature forestry systems, but essentially leverage the, the natural ecosystems that we have to meet our climate goals, um, globally.[00:03:21] Emily Urban Cordeiro: And then really we'll go into great detail about how this trickles down into the farmers and how the farmers themselves are the core to this, the solution and nature based. They now have all the stakeholders and this is working across geographies, across cropping systems, across cropping system types, farm sizes, various farm sizes, and we are a certification verification body.[00:03:49] Emily Urban Cordeiro: I mean, I'm. What this means in current credit is that we, our third party, ensures that all credit yields and claims are in fact according to the [00:04:00] standards and protocol that they were, were, you know, generated from. So that's a little bit of a, a little bit of a background there.[00:04:07] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you for sharing. So maybe Vasco, you want to share your own perspectives.[00:04:11] Sharon Idahosa: I mean, I'm sure everybody has like a different explanation, so maybe you want to give a little bit of an introduction on carbon credits as well.[00:04:20] Vasco Van Roosmalen: Yes, thank you, and Emily, that was really good. Um, on our side, um, we always say that the objective here are not the carbon credits themselves. Carbon credits are a tool that were developed to help drive climate finance, to help Uh, parts of our economy decarbonize or reduce their emissions.[00:04:38] Vasco Van Roosmalen: Uh, and so the idea is that you're able to quantify, uh, current emissions within those economic sectors, let's say agriculture or transport, for example, and then you can quantify and you can direct. Actions that people are taking that are helping, uh, to reduce those emissions and direct finance to those who need that additional support to reduce their emissions.[00:05:00] Vasco Van Roosmalen: And so that's also why Reseed was founded because when we look at the carbon markets of the last 20 years Uh, the university of Berkeley found that fewer than or less than one percent of all carbon credits generated up until now Have actually come from the agricultural space. And that means that we haven't been able to use this mechanism to drive finance to help farmers both to maintain their carbon stocks and to maintain their actions that are driving the sequestration and removal of carbon, as well as helping them finance what they need to do[00:05:32] Vasco Van Roosmalen: to reduce their emissions. And so that is why we found that receipt to really focus on building that bridge and helping farmers access the financing that they need so that they can stay on their lands. They can maintain their regenerative and organic practices and maintain their their activities as well.[00:05:51] Vasco Van Roosmalen: Was drive additional finance that's necessary, uh, to help them decarbonize.[00:05:55] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you for sharing. Thank you for sharing. So I got an insight into a case study where both your organizations are collaborating to supplement, um, Brazilian across, um, cocoa farming. I mean, trying to help the Brazilian cocoa farmers[00:06:11] Sharon Idahosa: with your income through carbon credits. So do you mind elaborating more on this? What role did your organizations play to support this project? Let's hear from you Vasco, please.[00:06:21] Vasco Van Roosmalen: Thank you, Sharon. So yes, so both ReSeed and FoodchainID started a partnership with a Brazilian chocolate company that's called Dengo that has a really high level of involvement in supporting their cocoa producers.[00:06:36] Vasco Van Roosmalen: Uh, to help them measure and also drive again, climate finance, carbon finance to support these farmers, most of whom are smallholder farmers. So when we looked at, at what was going on in the supply chain, over 75 percent of, uh, the farmers in these cacao supply chains of this in the chocolate industry, they are smallholder farmers, and the vast majority of them live on less than a living income.[00:07:01] Vasco Van Roosmalen: And yet, when you're looking also, uh, as in many other countries, many of these farmers actually farm in a way that they're protecting forests. Uh, so in Bahia, you have, uh, In Brazil, uh, the farmers are the response. The cocoa farmers are responsible for maintaining the last remnants of the Atlantic forest in that region of Brazil as they plant the cacao trees under the shade of the larger tree.[00:07:23] Vasco Van Roosmalen: And this way of working this way of growing and making the forest productive while protecting the forest is something that is a really beneficial to all of us as we are looking to reduce deforestation. And so we want to be able to recognize that. And so, ReSeed and foodChainID have worked together and currently we we are working with the farmers in that region to be able to recognize the fact that they are protecting this forest as well as helping them increase the amount of Um, of additional carbon that they can draw down both by improving the soils and that's what's [00:08:00] one of the identified needs by the farmers themselves is how do we increase our yields?[00:08:05] Vasco Van Roosmalen: How do we increase the product? Our productivity of our soils and the health of our souls? And that is a key factor. And that's where, where Dr. Emily is actually, uh, the expert. And so that way we are able to drive finance to these farmers. And at this point, we are able to increase these farmers income between 30 and 50 percent from their current incomes based on bringing in this carbon.[00:08:29] Vasco Van Roosmalen: Finance, which recognizes their protection activities of their carbon stocks and their shoals and forests, as well as supporting them with those additional action. And that's been a key point. And as, as we know, in the cacao sector, uh, over this, uh, the last few months, there's been a tremendous upheaval, right?[00:08:47] Vasco Van Roosmalen: With less supply, uh, prices have gone, uh, to record highs. And there is this. Definitely this instability in the supply, and we need this additional investment to those people who actually are sustaining our entire chocolate industry, which are in the vast majority are smallholder farmers, both in West Africa and in Africa, as well as in countries like Brazil.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
Regenerative Agriculture: Empowering Farmers for a Sustainable Future with Tania RoaWelcome to another episode of our sustainability series where our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa had a seat with Tania Roa of Sustainable Harvest International to discuss how they are empowering farmers to transition into regenerative agriculture practices.Transcript[00:00:00] Sharon Idahosa: Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to another episode of the Sustainability Series brought to you by Let's Talk Agriculture. So we are an industry specific public relations and communications firm specializing in agriculture. So just in case you haven't explored our website to see what we have in store for you, quickly visit letstalkagriculture.com for more information.
[00:00:25] Sharon Idahosa: So our previous sustainability series featured a phenomenal woman who joined us to, you know, how she's leading the change in the Cassava Valley chain and the industry at large. Today we want to dive into another interesting episode, digging deep into regenerative agriculture.
[00:00:44] Sharon Idahosa: Now the question, how can we empower farmers for a sustainable future? So, join me, welcome Tania Roa, the climate justice and wildlife advocate at Sustainable Harvest International. Hello, Tanya. How are you doing today? Thank you so much for joining the show.
[00:01:01] Tania Roa: Great. Thank you so much. I'm so glad I get to talk today about Sustainable Harvest International's work.
[00:01:07] Tania Roa: Um, it's going to be really exciting. I'm just glad to be here.
[00:01:10] Sharon Idahosa: Great. Hopefully just relax. I mean, it's It's not just gonna be a stressful thing to just relax and let's just try to enjoy ourselves basically. So I'd like to know a little bit about you because I haven't really seen so much about you. So maybe you can tell us just a little bit about you, what you experience as a climate justice and wildlife advocate.
[00:01:32] Tania Roa: Sure. So right now, I'm the communications and outreach coordinator at Sustainable Harvest International. And with Sustainable Harvest International, we're working with family farmers in Central America, um, who are transitioning to regenerative agriculture. A lot of them grew up learning conventional agriculture.
[00:01:51] Tania Roa: It's just the default practice that they learned, which includes burning forests and then growing crops, um, in that burned land, but that just leads to a lot of health effects, uh, for them and for the planet. Of course, we don't want to burn forests. And so, What we do is just help them learn a new way of agriculture; regenerative agriculture that we'll be talking about.
[00:02:14] Tania Roa: And so my part in that role is just sharing their stories as a communications coordinator. And it's just really exciting to see how they can really transform their lives with just a new, what seems very simple, a new practice, um, but really a profound and transformational way to better their lives and better.
[00:02:38] Tania Roa: the environment that they live in.
[00:02:40] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you for sharing that. So, I think it's really important that we try to create awareness around, um, climate change because so many people are still focused on burning and I really don't know who gave them the idea. I mean, I see this often. I just can't help but wonder why are you burning?
[00:03:00] Sharon Idahosa: And the most annoying part of it is, yeah, it's annoying to me really because they do this during the dry season when everywhere is dry and then you start burning. What are you burning really? What? You see dust flying everywhere. And it's, it's just, it just makes the whole environment messy. And I mean, you can't really breathe in such air or something.
[00:03:25] Sharon Idahosa: So, I think it's really amazing. Um, what you're doing and also helping them to, you know, change the way they have been operating over time. Hopefully we can get more people to do this because people just have a particular mindset already that this is how it should be done. And I really don't know who said we should be gone and done.
[00:03:46] Sharon Idahosa: But, I mean, I think everybody just grew up with that mindset or something because it's still happening even when we continue preaching about climate change and the rest. So it's really important that we [00:04:00] come out and start at, um, advocating and pushing out for this so people know that there is really no need for us to be doing the whole burning thing.
[00:04:08] Sharon Idahosa: So good work that you're doing, communicating what you guys are doing at Sustainable Harvest. So well done.
[00:04:15] Tania Roa: Thank you so much. Yeah, I totally agree. It's tragic and it's ironic that That's the practice a lot of people learned because it really doesn't work for anyone. I mean, conventional agriculture, because you're burning the land, eventually, you're just going to strip the soil away from everything you need to grow crops.
[00:04:34] Tania Roa: So it's just ironic because they're learning a practice that isn't sustainable. It isn't going to last very long. They can't pass it down to their kids. And then that's why people have to go burn more forests eventually when the soil isn't producing food. So it's really horrible because it's a cycle that continues, right?
[00:04:51] Tania Roa: Unless we, um, intervene and use a new practice.
[00:04:55] Sharon Idahosa: Indeed. I definitely agree with that. But then again, what are some of the challenges you've faced so far? I mean, in terms of promoting regenerative agriculture. Having been able to, you know, address these challenges.
[00:05:09] Tania Roa: Yeah, so it's different with the different audiences that we have, with the farmers directly that we work with, uh, just teaching them a new practice.
[00:05:18] Tania Roa: It requires that they are willing to learn a new practice, right? So we have to come into the community and Really set ourselves up as someone who wants to help them. They, you know, at first may be wary, like, why are you coming into my community? And we have local field trainers, but sometimes even then they're not sure, Oh, is this actually going to work?
[00:05:37] Tania Roa: Of course. And they have every right to worry because they're farmers. And so their livelihoods are on the line and their families and their nutrition are on the line. So they really have to be skeptical at first. And we do have practices to help them meet other farmers who are already in the program, who have already learned regenerative agriculture, so that they can feel better of wanting to join the program.
[00:06:00] Tania Roa: So at first there is a bit of, Hmm, I don't know if I should try this. I don't know if this is for me. And so we really do have to talk with them and discuss what we do. And so in that aspect, it is, It's a mindset change. If you use a new practice, you really have to be willing to do that. And, um, when it comes to consumers, uh, worldwide, our supporters worldwide, there's a different aspect that we have to address when it comes to how we promote what we do, because we want people everywhere to learn about regenerative agriculture, even if they're not in the countries that we have programs in.
[00:06:34] Tania Roa: And for them, what we see is sometimes they may not Understand the connections between climate and food, and I think a lot of it is because we're just so used to going to the grocery store and in a lot of places and getting things that are prepackaged that are already cut for you. You really learn, um, or you really, yeah, lose the connection between the person buying the food and the farmer and agriculture and what did it take for that food to get to that grocery store to get to your house?
[00:07:05] Tania Roa: So I think with that disconnection, it's hard to, people realize, Oh, I should care about how this food is grown because all you go to the grocery store and see, Oh, there's food like everything's fine.
[00:07:15] Tania Roa: But we know that that's not true. Um, once we go out to the rural areas, So showing people actually what we do and sharing their stories, that's why I think sharing the farmer stories is so important. So, people can feel like, oh, even though I'm over here in a completely different place, maybe a different country, what these farmers are doing matters to me because I care about how food is grown everywhere.
[00:07:36] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you for sharing that. I mean, I totally understand. Um, it's very difficult to, you know, try to change. the mindsets of, of farmers, of people generally, actually. I mean, because I've been, um, taught this or I've learned this, I've been doing this for, for, I mean, over the years and all of a sudden you're telling me something different, which of course I'm supposed to use this [00:08:00] to feed myself, my family and the rest.
[00:08:02] Sharon Idahosa: And all of a sudden, you're telling me to change it. So, it's really, um, going to be a challenge. I mean, just take a look at some of the innovative solutions, Agri-tech solutions that are coming into, into the picture. It's very difficult for farmers to, you know, um, adopt these technologies. I mean, because this is not new to them.
[00:08:26] Sharon Idahosa: So, getting them involved, creating awareness, speaking to them more about it would definitely help them to, you know, change their mindsets. It should definitely help them. And of course, I do think that, um, it's really important that we try to also know where our food is coming from. I'm really excited about, I mean, I, I think I had a particular episode on agritourism.
[00:08:50] Sharon Idahosa: Uh, it helps us to, you know, learn more about where our food is coming from, help us to have that real connection with the, local farmers, the local producers. So, you doing that, I think it's really amazing. And that way we can still promote the work of local farmers in the rural communities as well. So well done with what you're doing and how you're connecting and helping farmers to spread their message.
[00:09:14] Sharon Idahosa: It's really important.
[00:09:16] Tania Roa: Thank you. Thank you so much. And I have to listen to that episode. Uh, I agree. That's so important that we all learn and I'm, I'm still learning. I'm, I'm guilty of it too, of sometimes forgetting all the work and care it takes to get food on my plate. It's, it is a lot of work. Um, so we have our farmers to think for.
[00:09:35] Sharon Idahosa: Yes. I mean,
[00:09:36] Tania Roa: our farmers worldwide, of course.
[0--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
[00:00:00] Sharon Idahosa: Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to another episode of the Sustainability Series brought to you by Let's Talk Agriculture. So we are an industry specific public relations and communications firm specializing in agriculture. So just in case you haven't explored our website to see what we have in store for you, quickly visit letstalkagriculture.com for more information.[00:00:25] Sharon Idahosa: So our previous sustainability series featured a phenomenal woman who joined us to, you know, how she's leading the change in the Cassava Valley chain. and the industry at large. Today we want to dive into another interesting episode, digging deep into regenerative agriculture.[00:00:44] Sharon Idahosa: Now the question, how can we empower farmers for a sustainable future? So, join me, welcome Tania Roa, the climate justice and wildlife advocate at Sustainable Harvest International. Hello, Tanya. How are you doing today? Thank you so much for joining the show. [00:01:01] Tania Roa: Great. Thank you so much. I'm so glad I get to talk today about Sustainable Harvest International's work.[00:01:07] Tania Roa: Um, it's going to be really exciting. I'm just glad to be here. [00:01:10] Sharon Idahosa: Great. Hopefully just relax. I mean, it's It's not just gonna be a stressful thing to just relax and let's just try to enjoy ourselves basically. So I'd like to know a little bit about you because I haven't really seen so much about you. So maybe you can tell us just a little bit about you, what you experience as a climate justice and wildlife advocate.[00:01:32] Tania Roa: Sure. So right now, I'm the communications and outreach coordinator at Sustainable Harvest International. And with Sustainable Harvest International, we're working with family farmers in Central America, um, who are transitioning to regenerative agriculture. A lot of them grew up learning conventional agriculture.[00:01:51] Tania Roa: It's just the default practice that they learned, which includes burning forests and then growing crops, um, in that burned land, but that just leads to a lot of health effects, uh, for them and for the planet. Of course, we don't want to burn forests. And so, What we do is just help them learn a new way of agriculture; regenerative agriculture that we'll be talking about.[00:02:14] Tania Roa: And so my part in that role is just sharing their stories as a communications coordinator. And it's just really exciting to see how they can really transform their lives with just a new, what seems very simple, a new practice, um, but really a profound and transformational way to better their lives and better.[00:02:38] Tania Roa: the environment that they live in. [00:02:40] Sharon Idahosa: Thank you for sharing that. So, I think it's really important that we try to create awareness around, um, climate change because so many people are still focused on burning and I really don't know who gave them the idea. I mean, I see this often. I just can't help but wonder why are you burning?[00:03:00] Sharon Idahosa: And the most annoying part of it is, yeah, it's annoying to me really because they do this during the dry season when everywhere is dry and then you start burning. What are you burning really? What? You see dust flying everywhere. And it's, it's just, it just makes the whole environment messy. And I mean, you can't really breathe in such air or something.[00:03:25] Sharon Idahosa: So, I think it's really amazing. Um, what you're doing and also helping them to, you know, change the way they have been operating over time. Hopefully we can get more people to do this because people just have a particular mindset already that this is how it should be done. And I really don't know who said we should be gone and done.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
Welcome to the first episode of our sustainability series where we explore innovative solutions and practices that contribute to a more sustainable future.In this episode, our podcast host Sharon Idahosa had a seat with Yemisi Iranloye to discuss the sustainable solutions in cassava processing which was an eye-opener because Yemisi shared insights about the cassava value chain.Transcript:[00:00 - 00:10] hello beautiful people indeed that is one of my biggest pleasure is always when i went to my own so i think it is important to first understand what a healthy relationship with[00:10 - 00:23] food is for us to know what it is not don't try i can't believe i can't believe selfish so you could be your own farmer pretty soon who knows trust trust me when i tell you there will[00:23 - 00:34] always be challenges there will always be risks seems like we have a lot in common on welcome to the let's talk agriculture podcast show and of course it's your favorite girl[00:34 - 00:47] hello beautiful people welcome to the let's talk agriculture podcast show the podcast that connects[00:47 - 01:00] you with the happenings trends and opportunities in the agriculture sector my name is sharon idahoza and i am your host if this is your first time learning about let's talk agriculture[01:01 - 01:08] we are an industry-specific public relations and communications firm helping agriculture businesses[01:08 - 01:21] build their brands increase awareness and establish leadership in their areas of specialization now if this interests you then do well to visit let's talk agriculture.com[01:21 - 01:29] or send an email to hello at let's talk agriculture.com for more information and now[01:31 - 01:37] our sustainability series where we explore innovative solutions and practices that[01:37 - 01:45] contribute to the most sustainable future this episode is sponsored by sotry international[01:45 - 01:52] the leading agro-aligned cassava processing company in africa so in today's episode[01:53 - 02:00] we are super thrilled to have yemisi the founder of cassava processing company[02:01 - 02:07] joining us now i mean this woman is an amazing woman i mean i've seen so many things that she[02:07 - 02:14] has been doing so far and i can tell you that she is worth celebrating thank god we are still[02:15 - 02:22] in the month to celebrate women so this is my chance to say i mean you're doing amazing so[02:22 - 02:29] thank you so much for joining this show um yamisi's company produces cassava based sorbitol[02:29 - 02:35] it all a versatile raw material used in food and beverage production toothpaste production[02:35 - 02:43] confectionery just name it so we will delve into how our company is driving sustainability through[02:43 - 02:51] cassava processing thank you so much for joining the show today how are you doing um i'm very well[02:51 - 02:58] thank you sharon how are you too well i'm doing okay i'm doing okay getting ready to take a leave[03:00 - 03:06] very soon i'm gonna share what i'm taking the leave hopefully hopefully i wouldn't okay[03:06 - 03:14] is that sorry i said well deserved ah yes well deserved i mean what does that mean[03:16 - 03:28] yeah i'm waiting for it i hope everything is going well with your business we're doing well we thank god though the um the economy is a bit harsh but[03:29 - 03:35] we're doing our best i can imagine i can imagine our last episode we're talking about the currency[03:35 - 03:43] fluctuations and how it's in affecting farmers and then the commodity market so i understand how[03:43 - 03:52] all of this is playing a major role for for jesus for farmers ah well i only wish that things would[03:52 - 03:59] get better to be honest i wish that this would just um take shape and help us get back on our feet for a[03:59 - 04:06] second yeah okay so to get this episode rolling can you share with our listeners how your company--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
Still on the Currency Fluctuation Saga in Nigeria.In our previous episode, our founder and podcast host discussed navigating currency fluctuations in Nigeria from a farmer’s POV which highlighted some challenges faced and strategies farmers can implement to navigate challenges in times like this.This week's sequel episode is all about the commodity market/traders. What impact do the currency fluctuations have on the commodity traders in Nigeria?Is it a Negative or a Positive impact? Find out as Sharon Idahosa discusses with one of the largest commodity trading companies in Africa. Check out the Trade Stylist YouTube Channel to stay updated with the commodity trade news.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
As the value of the dollar fluctuates, it presents a significant challenge for those in the agriculture industry. Prices of food, inputs, commodities, and more are soaring higher like never before leaving consumers, farmers, and businesses in a chaotic state.Join us as we explore the effects of currency fluctuations on farmers, and discuss potential strategies for navigating this complex economic landscape.For sponsored segments, full advertising options, and mentions, send an email to us.podcast@letstalkagriculture.com--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
Today, we are exploring the gender gaps in agriculture and how we can empower female farmers in Nigeria. And I have just the perfect speaker for that.So with a clapping ovation, join me as I welcome our guest for today, Grace Fosin, the country director at MEDA. Now, she's one of my favorite womenat the forefront of gender equality and women empowerment in Nigeria. Hi, Grace. Thank you so much for joining the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show.I'm really excited to have you here today. Thank you. I can't wait for us to do this. Thank you, Sharon. Thank you, Sharon. The pleasure is mine. I'm happy to be here. Thank you.Thank you so much once again for joining. So I really want to make sure that you've received your blessings for the year because, I mean, we can't go and start the year without our blessings, can we?Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. So I'd like to start with your personal experiences as a woman in the agriculture sector.I mean, I'm sure you must have had some difficulties at some point in your life. I mean, you've been through some sort of challenge through this phase of your life.I mean, considering we are in a male-dominated industry. So maybe you can share how you dealt with it. I mean, how it was like, because I know, I know, I know you know what I'm talking about, but.Of course, Sharon, you should ask me. I respect that. And as a woman in agriculture from the northern part of Nigeria, in fact, not Eastern Nigeria to be precise,it's interesting that my journey in this field, in the sector, began when I went to school. I took on that course.And just about four of us women taking the course amidst about 30-something men.You know, so it was a challenging time for us because we went to learn how to drive tractors, how to do all of these things.And for women, they're thinking, this is not something that, you know, it's a field that women should or it's not very popular, you know.But we were committed and we weathered the storm, the challenges. And we were able to come through. It's very interesting. I love the soil.For me, I'm somebody that I'm very, very passionate about farming. I'm passionate about agriculture. And so I grew from a family, a heritage of agriculture people.So that resonates with me even while I was in school. The challenges are there because basically, for everything, they prioritize men.So when it comes to agriculture, it's about giving land or imputes, whatever. Even in the course of my work that I am currently on,you see that the women actually don't get the first, you know, they are not prioritized. They don't get the first place in terms of maybe giving outland when you go to the agri-development program to secure a piece of land for the season. So you see this.These are all bottlenecks that women in agriculture face right from when they, as farmers in the field or as people who areworking in the marketplace, everywhere, men are prioritized. Even though we want to talk about gender balance and all,but we still find it playing out in several places where we work. So that has been lingering.And I believe it's getting better, but we haven't conquered it all. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that.I am very, very certain that that whole gender balance thing is something that we are still going to continue working on because whether we like it or not,they are still going to show, give that preference to men. But then it's just about having more women coming out and still playing their roles. And that'swhy I really admire you and appreciate you for coming out and taking up leadership roles, you know, to inspire and educate more women. And if you'd like to advertise your business oryour brand on the podcast, do be able to reach out to us as well. Podcast at letstalkagriculture.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
It's the first episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show for the year 2024 and our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa decided to kick off with the awesome topic. In this episode, you'll hear first-hand what the farm-to-table movement is all about and the importance of connecting consumers with local food producers. Tune in! 🎙🎙🎙🔥 For podcast sponsorship segments, mentions, and adverts, contact us.💌podcast@letstalkagriculture.com🔥 For brand management and to explore our services, visit our website.🔗www.letstalkagriculture.com--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
Over the years, agriculture has evolved significantly, and farmers around the world are constantly seeking new ways to optimize their operations and make them more sustainable. Renewable Energy and Agroforestry have been gaining traction within the agricultural sector. In this episode, we will be learning more about Agroforestry. Our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa discusses this with Renato Canuto. https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/Publications/PDFS/B17460.pdf--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/letstalkagriculture/message
The importance of agricultural education can not be overlooked at this stage if we want to see a better and working agricultural system in the next few years.
The key thing to do is to build the next generation of farmers and agribusiness professionals who will take up the mandate of transforming the agricultural sector in the next few years.
In this podcast episode, our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa decided to address this issue. This is a wake-up call for players in this space to start taking action.
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Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. The podcast that connects you with the happenings and opportunities in the agricultural sector. My name is Sharon Hidahosa and I am your host.
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And today we have an exciting topic to delve into and that is the importance of agricultural education and how it can help to shape the next generation of farmers and agribusiness professionals.
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So guys, sit tight and let's get the ball rolling. So we already know that agriculture plays a very crucial role in our society. And when we decide to educate the next generation, or better still, the young people, it is very
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vital for our economic growth and food production, sustainable food production, let's put it that way. But first, let's try to understand what agriculture education is all about. Now first of all, let's try to at least still know what agriculture is as well for those
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of us that do not really have a good or a simple basic knowledge of what agriculture is. Now to me, agriculture is an art and it is also a science. It is the art and science of cultivating crops and rearing of animals for our use and also
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for industrial purposes. So in my earlier podcast, I talked about agriculture being an art and agriculture being a science. So if you'd like to learn more about that, you can definitely check our podcast from earlier on.
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So now when you combine education with agriculture, it simply means that you are getting a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach by that I mean you're learning from several areas of or in agriculture.
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Now that encompasses knowledge, your skills and attitudes that are related to agriculture. So I hope this really helps. But then again, let's move over to something very interesting. What is the benefits of agriculture education?
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Why should you really learn more about agriculture? So one of the beautiful things about agriculture is that it offers diverse opportunities for everyone who decides to delve into the sector.
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Now when you learn more about agriculture, it helps you in different ways. One of them being that it helps you to develop practical skills. Now when you have such practical skills, I mean it equips you with hands on experience
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in different areas in the agriculture sector. I mean we have farm machinery operations, we have soil management, we have animal husbandry and so much more. So you get hands on experience on these areas and much more when you decide to put your
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effort into learning more about the agricultural sector, which can of course open more opportunities for you and whatever it is you decide to do at the end of the day. Another thing is that it also fosters innovation and technology adoption as well.
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Yes, this will help you to embrace new techniques, advanced technologies and how to use them such as drones, robotics, precision agriculture and a lot more. I mean you can still check my previous podcast episode when we talked about the benefits
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of drone technology for young people in agriculture. That is the best way you can also learn and seek the best ways to get involved in agriculture. There are different ways you can get involved but we can discuss that as we move forward.
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So also when you have a good knowledge of the agricultural sector, it helps you to promote environmental stewardship where you can responsibly use natural resources to ensure that future
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farmers prioritise environmental protection. Now let's move forward to more interesting and more interesting things that I believe that you should know. Now how can we build the next generation of farmers?
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This is very important because if we want to transform the agricultural sector, we need to build the next generation that would take the sector forward. It is not something that happens at the twink of an eye.
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It is something that you nurture. It is something that you put in so much effort in to ensure that the young generations, they are able to get involved wholeheartedly and seek different ways to advance and build the
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agricultural sector. But right here, let's delve right into it. So one of the ways we can build the next generation of farmers is to address the ageing farmer population. What does that even mean? So we have so many people right now in the agricultural sector, correct?
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Yes. But the truth is that they are going to continue ageing. I mean, they do not remain young forever, right? So we have to train young people to take on agricultural careers. They should learn skills that can benefit the agricultural sector.
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Because just like I said, those that are involved in agriculture presently won't be fit enough to carry on with the agricultural activities in the next five or few years. So training is very key to building the next generation of farmers.
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We have to train the young people now so they can really stand in the next few years to build and transform the agricultural sector the way that we want it to be. And as a youth who is also speaking to you and doing this podcast right now, it is very
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important that wherever you are, whatever you do, make sure that you have young people around you that you're instilling this knowledge in. You're training them, you're teaching them what you know so that they can be able to
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get involved in the agricultural sector when you are no longer there. So yeah, another one is to encourage entrepreneurship. Now when there is an opportunity to encourage young people, young agripreneurs, please do.
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Please do, to be honest. I mean, as a young person myself, I still try to bring my fellow young people close to me to say, hey, let's do this together. So long as I know that you have it in mind to want to get involved in the agricultural
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sector, then yes, I'm going to try as much as possible to bring you closer and let's work together. That is the way to move forward. When you create an enabling environment for young people to thrive, it is very important.
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I mean, it helps them to put in all of the efforts that they can. When there is that environment, you definitely see so many changes, so many amazing changes.
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Yes, you definitely see something beautiful. And that is why whatever it is that you're doing, please do try as much as possible to support young people that are very keen interest in the agricultural sector, because this is how we train. This is how we watch them grow and this is how we watch them contribute to the agricultural
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sector. So I hope this really sends out a message that you should know as a player in the agricultural sector. So another one is to connect agriculture with other disciplines. Now, agriculture definitely cuts across different areas, including science, technology,
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engineering and media. I mean, so many, so many technological advancement is coming into the picture now. We have so many young people getting involved in agriculture. And if you look closely, you'll see that many of them are really moving towards the
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direction of technology. And it's really amazing to see that because as they are moving, they're putting in their creativity, the skill, the science. Like I told you, agriculture is an art and it is also a science. So if you are that creative, you can bring your creativity into the agricultural sector.
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And maybe you don't have you don't know so much of the science part of it, but definitely there's someone there as well that can match your creativity and bring that thing into life. I mean, somebody sat down ready to think about how to make a drone work.
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Someone actually thought about the design, how the drone should look like. And someone with a scientific mindset was able to create something out of that. So all of these areas actually just don't just actually connect.
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So there is no independent sector, basically. Everything just blends. Agricultural sector connects with different areas. I mean, before now, no one was talking about agritech or agri-media or something.
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Now we have public relations agency, just like Let's Talk Agriculture, that caters to agricultural sector. Now, nobody was actually doing that. It is just so recent now that we're seeing so many coming out and trying to create a
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media division for the agricultural sector. But nobody actually was doing so much in this area. So it is very important that we build the next generation of farmers in this direction.
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It is very important. So if they know that these things do exist, then things will change. And that is what I am doing at this point, because I feel that, of course, the agricultural sector deserves to be portrayed in the right manner.
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Right? Agricultural businesses that are striving so hard in the competitive markets need to get their businesses seen, get their messages heard. And that is the reason why Let's Talk Agriculture came into the picture, to help
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agricultural businesses to grow. So we do not have to limit ourselves. We do not have to keep everything to ourselves or keep all of the knowledge to ourselves. So when you have a young person around you, do whatever it is that you can
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to help them create that environment for them to learn and show them the ropes. And trust me, in the next few years, we will be seeing so many young people getting involved in the agricultural sector, which is going to be really, really amazing,
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because I feel it is just going to be amazing to watch young people come into the picture. I know you remember when we were growing up, agriculture was more like the hose and cutlasses and nobody was interested in studying agriculture.
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Everyone thought, yeah, I'm just going to study medicine. I'm just going to become a lawyer. I'm just going to do this and that. But no one was actually talking about the agricultural sector because nobody wanted to have blisters on their palms. Nobody wanted to get injured or something.
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But times are changing now and we have to follow the trend. And since we know that this is where the younger generation are moving to, then we have to go in that direction as well. Yes, young people want agriculture to be attractive.
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So we have to do whatever it is that we can to make them know that agriculture is indeed attractive. You do not need to go with hose and cutlasses and so much more for you to get involved in agriculture. Now you can sit down in your homes just like me and make a podcast and share what
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is happening in the agricultural sector. That is you contributing to the sector. So you don't necessarily have to be on the farm to get involved in agriculture. Not everyone is going to be on the farm. But it is a collective effort. So you're on the farm.
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I am making a podcast. I am building a brand and we are doing everything together to enhance and grow the agricultural sector. And that is what we are talking about. Collective efforts, come with your different skills and let's merge it together and
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transform the sector. That is what we are doing. So I really hope that you are learning a lot from this podcast episode and you get to share it with your friends, with your colleagues as well. So we know the agricultural sector plays a very crucial role or better still,
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agricultural education plays a crucial role in developing the next generation of farmers and agribusiness professionals. So if we do not educate them right now, then we wouldn't see what we are looking for in the next few years. So when we equip students, I mean, it has to start from the school as well.
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So when we equip students and agripreneurs with practical skills and foster innovation, promote sustainability and encourage entrepreneurship, we can build a resilient and prosperous agricultural industry.
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I hope this really helps. I hope this really sinks in deeply, to be honest, because I feel this is a time for us to start building the agricultural sector that we want to see. And it starts with building the young people, get them involved.
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And we can all start seeing the changes that we want to see. The future of agriculture is basically in the hands of the next generation. And we have to start grooming the next generation at this point.
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So, guys, we have come to the end of today's podcast episode. I hope you learn from this episode and always remember that the future of agriculture lies in your hands. My name is Sharon Idahosa once again, and I am your host.
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If you like anything around brand management, public relations, interviews, podcasts, speaking engagement, events management and so much more, we are basically your preferred
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public relations firm because we cater to just your sector and we are very much interested in your business growth. So if you like to learn more about Let's Talk Agriculture, please do well to visit our website at letstalkagriculture.com or feel free to send us an email to inquire more
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about what we do and how we can help your business by sending an email to hello at letstalkagriculture.com. So, guys, see you in the next episode and do well to subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's Let's Talk Agriculture as well.
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So because we're going to be putting out our webinars and you'll see more videos and definitely see my face more often. So I look forward to meeting you and to have a lovely time. I love you and above all, God loves you more.
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Bye bye.
Hey beautiful people, welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show, where we connect you with the happenings and opportunities
directly from experts across the globe. Now, if this is your first time learning about Let's Talk Agriculture, we are a public relations and communications firm from the Communications Counsel to the agriculture sector.
Do you want to learn more? Explore our services by visiting letstalkagriculture.com. So, today's episode is quite simple. Let's talk about climate change. What are the challenges farmers are facing?
What are the implications of climate change? And how can farmers really mitigate the risk involved? Now, the seasonal climate prediction for 2023 was released by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. And I thought it would be amazing
to share this piece of information to help our farmers prepare better as it relates to the rainfall, to dryness, to diseases and so many more. Lots of things that are, of course, affecting plant season, crops and the rest.
So, join me as I welcome our guest for today's show, who will discuss in detail the implications of this report and how best farmers can or should mitigate the risk. Hello, Ilyasu! Thank you so much for joining the show today. How are you doing? Thank you, Sharon.
I'm doing great. Hope you are too. Yeah, thank you so much. It's really a pleasure to always have you on the show because every time you come on the show, you always have something very, very amazing for the farmers.
I mean, I see all of the stuff that you do and your dedication to the agricultural sector in Nigeria. So, it's always amazing to have you on the Let's Talk podcast show where you can share your insights.
So, once again, thank you for joining the show. Okay, thank you very much. And like you said, I'm always happy to share my, you know, thoughts with farmers, you know, of making sure their productivity is enhanced.
That's me once again. You're welcome. It's my pleasure. So, I believe that you also came across the report, very vital to the farmers. I mean, considering your work and everything that you do,
it is not strange if you actually came across the report, of course, because I trust that you are always on the lookout for farmers and how best to help them, just like you said, to, you know,
enhance their productivity and the rest. So, but before we get right into that, let's get started with the challenges associated with climate change. I mean, what are the challenges that farmers are facing? From your experience being on the field
and working with farmers across different value chains, what can you tell us on the climate change challenges, climate challenges facing the farmers right here in Nigeria? I just want to hear from you, from your own experience working with farmers in Nigeria,
what can you really point out some of the challenges that they have faced? And yeah, let's take it up from there. So, thank you once again. I think challenges of climate change are quite glaring and obvious,
especially as they affect smallholder farmers in Nigeria, as well as food production in general. One of the obvious impact or challenges of climate change to farmers and agriculture is actually flood incidents,
whereby climate change promote the occurrence of flood, which as well affect our farmers and our farmlands.
We have seen last year how flood displaced hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in Nigeria, destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares, destroyed billions worth of food and food product,
and how it made farmers to actually lost all their investment. So, flooding is one of the challenges. Issue of drought also is one of the challenges. We have experienced uneven distribution of rainfall
for the past five years in this country. Rainfall schedule have significantly been altered due to the drought in the Sahel region of the country. Another challenges of climate change is actually insecurity,
because climate change brought about insecurity as well. Because when farmers are being displaced by through the adverse or through the impact of climate change,
they will be required to move. Moving or their movement from one location to another will equally cause some social instability, which at times lead to social insecurity.
So, this is also one of the challenges or one of the impact of climate change on farmers and on agriculture. Another issue is issue of deforestation, issue of erosion, issue of low productivity of our farmlands.
Due to excessive leaching by the soil. What I mean by leaching is when nutrient element in the soil have been depleted due to or rather through a process we call leaching,
meaning movement of water from the top surface of the soil to the underground water. So, because of flooding, the soil is being oversaturated with too much water.
When the water is being absorbed by the soil and the water is being transported from the topmost surface of the soil to the groundwater beneath the soil,
it moves with a lot of nutrient elements. So, that is also causing poor fertility of our farmland, which in turn cause low productivity. So, these are some of the issues or rather challenges of climate change on farmers and on food production.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this issue. Yes, I can definitely agree with you. During the flood, we did experience a whole lot of stuff. I mean, personally, I even had to interview a particular farmer
right here in Bayelsa State, you know, who had over 3,000 beds wiped out because of the flood. I mean, that was something really, really terrible. You can imagine that he had workers' rights.
I mean, for such a large farm, he had workers that he needed to pay, you know, people that were depending on him. Now, that alone caused something around the livelihood of people as well.
So, of course, those 3,000 beds might be all of his life savings. And in a blink of an eye, he has lost it all due to climate change. So, of course, this is just one among thousands of incidents.
You know, some are even worse than this. You know, farmers are losing, you know, this is even just beyond smallholder farmers. We have multinational companies who have lost billions in a blink of an eye.
We, I mean, Olam Agri-Nigeria Limited, which is a multinational company that is, you know, operating here in Nigeria, lost out more than 2,000 hectares of land due to flooding, which means, which, you know,
which equals billions of Naira's. So, of course, the loss was quite huge last year. And generally, loss due to climate change is quite huge. And that is why we must put all hands on deck to ensure we address it.
Indeed, indeed. We must definitely see how to address it, because no one is really exempted if we want to look at it thoroughly. So, it is more like we have to come together to really see how to take it forward.
And I'm really impressed by the measures taken by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency by providing relevant information that would help, because I know some of this, we can't really, you know, deal with it.
I mean, for instance, I don't know how fast we can start dealing with the whole issue of flooding. But if there are some measures that can be taken, I believe that we can still try to mitigate some of these challenges,
some of these risks that are involved. So, I believe that if we are able to put something like that in place, then some of these things can be avoided. We can't totally avoid flooding, can we? Well, certainly there are certain measures we can take as individuals,
as well as community and even as government to address some of these issues. The issue of flooding is quite something natural, but we can mitigate it.
There are mitigation procedures we can adhere to, which can aid us in, you know, reducing the impact of the flood to our food system.
For instance, we should, you know, government should be able to provide adequate and efficient drainage system along our river line communities
in order to drain the excessive water that might come from the river or from the ocean, which can, you know, can go a long way in mitigating the prevalence of flooding into our farms.
Another issue is, you know, government providing good embankment along the rivers, you know, especially in the river line communities to block the water from spilling over onto our farms, you know, and homes.
Also, on the other hand, farmers can, you know, try to avoid, you know, areas that are, that are, you know, that there are more chances of flooding.
You know, farmers must make sure to check histories of these locations. There are flood prone areas due to history, due to what we have seen happen
previously. So, farmers can use that data to be able to, you know, acquaint themselves with the ways of those areas being flooded,
and try to avoid those areas. Someone might bring the issue of saying, okay, you know, in Nigeria, the, you know, land holding by smallholder farmers is actually very small. If you ask farmer to abandon his farmland, will he get another available land
to plant? Yeah, there is that issue, and that is why government need to come in, in order to open up and expand our farmlands. You know, I commend, you know, the initiative of reviving the National Agricultural Land Development Agency by the federal government,
by the previous administration, even though not much has been achieved, I mean, with respect to the agency, but at least we have come to understand
the importance or the relevance of such agencies in supporting our agricultural sector and food production. And therefore, I want to use this opportunity to call on this administration to, you know, I mean, support farmers, assist farmers by opening up
new farmlands, you know, and I want to call on the leadership of National Agricultural Land Development Agency to please heed to our calling in helping the country expand its farmlands
so that farmers can easily move away from flood front areas to, you know, farmlands that are in a better place and that there are no chances of getting flood.
Other mitigation is for farmers to learn how to plan their activities, even if you cannot move away from such farmlands. But of course, we know by, you know, previous data, the time of the year
that such places used to get flooded. So, farmers should learn how to schedule their activity, you know, in such a way that they can be able to avoid such particular period of the year,
which is normally the flood, I mean, period. And it's normally toward the end of the rainy season when the water bodies are already saturated and you will have the spill over of the water from
such water bodies. So, farmers should learn to, like I said, schedule their activity, starting their operation on time and avoiding late, you know, late operation in order to avoid
their farmland getting flooded. So, I think these are some of the mitigation strategies that we can adopt, either individually by farmers or as community or even as government. Of course,
much of it is being required from the government and we know, I mean, how slow things are with government. That is why we want to call on the farmers to, you know, improvise in such a way that
they can be able to protect themselves against this menace of flooding. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I mean, if the government are really going to start getting involved to see how to help farmers to, you know, easily move their farmlands to, I mean, move to a different
farmland when they are faced with such challenges, I mean, that's going to be a whole lot of intentional effort. The government has to be intentional about it because, no matter, even if they are so slow in doing things, but if they decide to be intentional
about it, I mean, some of these things would go as fast and as smooth as possible. So, to me, I still feel like, I mean, it's all about priority, right? So, if we prioritize these things, then I think it will be a lot more easier to get it done because these are challenges
and these are challenges that affect farmers. And if we really want to see how best we can fix it, then we have to be intentional about it. We have to give it that utmost priority. But where I look forward to seeing how well the government will prioritize farmers and the agricultural sector
really. Yeah, that is very correct. And of course, that is why the relevant stakeholders must come together in order to advocate for these solutions and make their concerns be heard by
the government. And in this regard, that is the reason why I would most profoundly appreciate what you are doing by educating farmers and, you know, shining light on the issues that matters,
you know, which will in turn support agriculture by either providing solutions or making the price of the farmers being heard by either government or any relevant organization. So, we thank you
for what you are doing. And I think this is what we need. This is what we really need for all the stakeholders to come together and make our cries heard by the government. Indeed. Thank you so much for what you said. I mean, we'll keep on doing this. And of course,
we still call out to more people to, you know, help us pass the message. So, I just wanted to quickly just highlight some of these places. I mean, how best farmers can, you know, work in that region for better. For example, I'm talking about some of these places
where rainfall happens. You know, some places in Nigeria are predicted to have average amount of rainfall, of which may cause, I believe, may cause some sort of setback for farmers in those regions. So, you know, some places have higher rainfall, some places have
low rainfall. For example, right here in Bayasa, rain is falling like every day. So, how can these farmers really deal with it? I mean, for some of them that do not experience that much of rainfall. And, you know, even in our farming at this point, we are still
making use of rainfall, I mean, to help with our crops, which I believe, you know, that in some other places they are now advanced. I mean, not so many are depending on rainfall, but I mean,
at this point, many, many, many places still do right here in Nigeria. And most of these places do not have so much of the rainfall, while some of them they do. So, how can we just, how can you really say farmers should be able to deal with this? Can you highlight some of
the places that experiences this low and high rainfall and how best farmers can, you know, just easily deal with such situation? Okay. So, thank you. I think we need to go back to
the issue of leveraging our comparative advantage. Of course, the country is made of different region with different, you know, futures and characteristics. We have Sahel region,
which cut across the extreme end of the northern part, starting from the northeast down to some part of the northwest, you know, which will experience the, I will say, which will experience the shortest rainfall, I mean, in this year. Likewise, we have,
you know, the rain forest region, which cut across the, you know, south, south, down to some part of the southwest, which will experience the highest amount of rainfall. So,
farmers must learn to leverage their comparative advantage. We should consider this diversity as a blessing to enable us cultivate and produce different types of crops and different types of
food item. What my advice to farmers is to first try to understand, you know, the water requirement and nutrient, you know, we are talking about particularly for rainfall. So, the water
requirement of the crop farmers intend to cultivate or to plant, you know, and understand whether if the rainfall, you know, the expected rainfall in that area is suitable for that
crop. If not, I would advise farmers to, you know, learn to introduce some new crops that can be very much adaptable to the vegetation and, you know, which will suit
the amount of rainfall that particular area will experience. At the same time, farmers must begin to learn to work with various research institutes we have in order to adopt
resistance varieties for the crops they intend to cultivate. Let me give you an example, you know, with a poplar crop in... So, guys, we've come to the end of today's episode. I hope you
learn from this and I also hope that you get to share it with your colleagues and farmers around you because this is something very vital for them to listen and seek ways to implement. Trust me, there's so, so many, so many information, so many insights right here in this episode that
you do not want to miss. So, guys, check it out, listen and share. If you need more episodes, explore our website. We have over 70 podcast episodes that will be beneficial to you, so
do not fail to check it out. And if you need anything around public relations and communications, please feel free to reach out to us. And if you need something around social media management or you want somebody to help cover your event, feel free to reach out to us.
We are happy to collaborate, partner with you and help you increase your brand visibility and establish leadership. So, send us an email to hello at letstalkagriculture.com. And don't forget to share this podcast episode.
My name is Sharon Idahosa and I remain your host.
Raising VC Funds has always been a challenge for many agriculture women founders and even women outside of this space.
Often, they have used their personal savings to fund and sustain their businesses.
In this week’s episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa discusses with Pretty Kubyane, the COO of efama and Coronet Africa on the various ways to access VC Funds, the strategies and a lot more.
Tune in right away!
TRANSCRIPTION
[00:00 - 00:17] Hello, beautiful people. Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show. Now, if you're just listening to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast and you do not know who we are, yes, I'm going to tell you. So we are a public relations and communications firm.
[00:17 - 00:34] helping you as an agriculture business owner to build brand visibility and establish leadership in your domain. So if you're looking for an industry specific public relations firm to help you with your PR and media relations,
[00:34 - 00:53] social media and a lot more, then I would definitely tell you that we are the right company to do that for you. So please quickly explore Let's Talk Agriculture dot com. And if you like to have a conversation with anyone, just send an email to hello at Let's Talk Agriculture dot com.
[00:54 - 01:12] See you soon. So I'm picking up this podcast episode from my opportunity decks where you will be learning how to gain access to VC funds as women founders in agriculture. And of course, women from other domains can equally benefit from this episode.
[01:12 - 01:32] You see, getting access to finance has always been a major challenge for women founders in agriculture and beyond. And that is why I decided to make this episode, because I believe that this will help women to plan better and also to get access to funds for their businesses.
[01:33 - 01:48] Now, let's welcome our guest for today's show, Preeti Koubiani, the co-founder of Coronet Africa and e-Pharma. Hello, Preeti. Thank you so much for joining the show today. Just like your name, Preeti. Thank you so much for joining today. How are you doing today?
[01:49 - 02:13] I'm good. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on the show today, Sharon. I must say I love what you did with your brand. I love what you did with your website. I think by just looking at your personal brand and your company brand itself, one can already know exactly that you really are kind of a woman who put your money where your mouth is.
[02:13 - 02:35] Like, it's so brilliant. I can already see the outcomes of those that work with you on the PR aspect. Thank you so much for the kind words. I mean, we have to, you know, put out the best. We don't want anybody to see agriculture as unattractive. So we have to, you know, position ourselves in that light as well to make sure people find it very attractive.
[02:35 - 02:54] I know that agriculture doesn't really have to be the farm. I mean, you can always do something outside of being on the farm or doing the no production and the rest. So I'm sure that our own way of pushing it out as well. So thank you so much. Absolutely. I totally agree with that.
[02:55 - 03:16] Sure. Thank you. So I know I didn't get to give the good description of who you are. So I would definitely love for you to just share a little bit about you and what you've been doing so far in the agriculture space, how you got to this point, really, because I've been seeing how amazing you are and what you've been doing so far.
[03:16 - 03:32] So I would like you to share with us just a little bit. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Sharon. I was born on the east side of the country in the Eastern Cape into a farming community in a family business.
[03:33 - 04:02] So my father ran a car fixing workshop. So from a very young age of six, it was like house chores. When you come back from school, it's either you're washing dishes or you are going to the office with dad. So I worked a lot with within the car fixing and we also ran a wood cutting business where we sourced wood and then we sold it to commercial businesses like butcheries, funeral homes, etc.
[04:02 - 04:29] And obviously we own about four acres of farming land where we were farming for sustenance. Maybe only 20% was for commercial reasons, but we're farming for sustenance. So that upbringing planted a seed in my mind that business was always have to have the profit side and always have to have the side of impact.
[04:30 - 05:18] So I finished studying there and then I headed to a city where I studied public relations. And then I went to do something that has absolutely nothing to do with what I studied because I started working with corporates who are within mining communities and manufacturing communities.
So what they do, they will source nonprofit organizations to do their social responsibilities. So I was overseeing the office that would source nonprofit organization, train them and allocate resources and make sure that they use the finances for what it has been financed for and they produce their results that were needed with the mining and manufacturing companies.
[05:18 - 05:53] And then from there I worked within management consulting where we worked with medium companies that are looking to start opening shops across the country and across the continent. And it was during that time where it led us, one of the accounts that I was working on grew so much that the questions that we were asking around quality issues as we are moving big volume and starting to do business with bigger businesses, questions around the quality of the product started arising.
[05:53 - 06:31] When we looked for a solution to solve these kind of problems, we only found one that was bold, ones that were bold for enterprise. And at that point we realized, you know what, let's just build our own quality assurance. So we began our journey in technology, specifically in making quality assurance accessible for small and medium companies.
And it was from there that we started building eFarmer app that connects farmers to commercial buyers and directly to consumers and helping smallholder farmers to achieve quality assurance.
[06:31 - 07:14] So from that quality assurance background, we started focusing more on the agriculture sector through funding from the Switzerland-based organization that approached us and gave us some funding to say, can we improve our technology to focus at least 80% of our work within the agricultural space? And here we are today, we have about 4,000 buyers in just a period of one month of launching our app on iOS and on Google.
We've got close to 8,000 farmers that have registered via our application to sell their produce to our buyers.
[07:16 - 07:48] That's interesting. That's interesting. I mean, you've really put in a lot of work already. I mean, it's very important that when we are doing something, we're also looking at the quality part of it, because I mean, you have to give quality, you have to be excellent in whatever it is that you do. And not just because we're trying to make profit and then you're not able to give people the quality that they should have.
I mean, that is a very crucial thing when it comes to the ag sector as well. So kudos to what you've been doing so far. I really admire what you do. Thank you so much for sharing that with us as well.
[07:48 - 08:11] Thank you. So I think you would agree with me that women are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing VC funds, or maybe funds in general, really. So according to a stat I saw, I think roughly 80% of female tech startup leaders reported using their personal savings as their primary source of funding for their new businesses.
[08:11 - 08:52] Now, this is a survey conducted by Kauffman Foundation. So what would you say about this? I mean, what can you really say is the roadblock that women are facing in the VC industry? That is, I mean, if you really agree with me that women face challenges. Absolutely. Totally. I totally agree with you, Sharon. One of the studies that was done, only 2% of the VC female led startups or female co-founders. And then there's a micro aspect of the things that we cannot control.
[08:52 - 09:29] If I was to just touch more on the macro side, we have one, the issue that raising funding is not easy for everybody. Take the US, for example, who is among the most developed countries and have got one of the most vibrant startup environment. Every year, at least 500,000 startups will be created. Only 6% of those will actually receive funding and exist for the next three years, meaning that even if you are within the good environment, which is the US, you still have only 6% chances of getting funding.
[09:29 - 10:04] It gets worse when you become an African woman and having to deal with that fact that it is not easy to raise funding. The second issue there is the issue of representation. The VC industry is really a boys clubs. There's very few women that are within the industry. I really strongly believe that some doors open from the inside, not because you need to know somebody who knows somebody, but the fact that when the female voice is not represented within the VC space, there's not going to be much change that is going to happen.
[10:04 - 10:44] We need female led VCs and we need more females in the board of this fund. The last one I will mention on this point is inherited assumptions that exist. I remember a few years ago, I think two years ago, actually, I sat on a panel when I was being interviewed and when we were considered for funding. After a conversation was happening, just after that, I asked one of the VCs, why is it that your fund is only funded 2% of specifically African women in your fund?
[10:45 - 11:16] His answer was that, based on our experience dealing with African women of all races that are based in Africa, is that sometimes African based women are quick to attend to social needs before they focus on the economic needs. Meaning that he continued to say, if I gave you a truckload of bricks, you want to use half of those bricks, giving them to communities, and then you are left with half and then everybody is homeless.
[11:16 - 11:45] So we are quick to want to attend to social needs because there's so much social need that exists too early. And then the last one he said, it just didn't perform well, their investment, when they gave to female. And most of his problems really are not the reason why funding shouldn't go to women because they can improve their screening process for the incoming candidates to see, like we have received funding before.
[11:45 - 12:10] If you do a due diligence, you will find that we receive audits all the time and you'll find out that we didn't do what the people that we're dealing with came. So it one of those inherited assumptions that create this trust gap that funders sometimes have with female led startups, especially from regions where there's a lot of social need. This is really eye opening.
[12:10 - 12:28] This is really eye opening. This is really eye opening. So I know you mentioned something around funds in the US. So is this also tied to just women or is it both women and men were also looking to get these funds? Or are we just talking about women only?
[12:28 - 13:08] The 6% of those that were funded, it was the majority of startup. It was both men and women, both men and women. They do face problems in terms of staying open and receiving funds. But when it comes to women, it's actually worse. Yes, I agree with that. And also, I totally agree with having a woman backing up a VC industry or something. I really, really, really am pressing on that because I feel that if we have more women in that sector, it would be a lot easier for women to get access.
[13:08 - 13:37] There should be a voice representing women out there. And if we do not have that, then I believe that's an issue because somehow I've really taken out time to go through it as well. And what I was able to conclude was we need to have more women in the VC industry as well. Because if we don't, women are going to be, should I use the word suffering? Absolutely. Yes, absolutely.
[13:39 - 14:22] So I guess you've just really given something here for us to think about, for us to really see how to start getting involved. It's not easy, but women have to get involved. Absolutely.
[14:22 - 14:48] And show yourself and let people know that you can actually do this. Which I believe is very key as well. Absolutely. I totally agree. But then, I mean, now that we've actually talked about some of the roadblocks, so how can we just really address some of these roadblocks that you've talked about? Is there some sort of strategy that can be put in place for this?
[14:49 - 15:09] No, absolutely. So I think when it comes to doing this, first and foremost, we need to focus on what we can do and what we can control. Because we know it's already hard to raise funds for all the genders, especially for us as women, we have to be overly prepared.
[15:10 - 15:29] Not that we have to have answers to everything, but we need to know our industry. If it's going to take me only time to figure it out and not money, there is no reason why I actually don't know. Because what that comes across as to investors is that if you won't spend time, why would I spend money?
[15:29 - 15:45] So you're going to have to spend a lot of time learning about your industry, learning about your target market, so that you can understand things that other people cannot understand. Secondly, we have to speak to the right VC or to the right funder as well.
[15:46 - 16:07] We shouldn't be speaking to the right people based on two things. One, at the stage where your startup is and based on what market you are addressing. So, for example, if you are building an application or you have started a business and you haven't started having revenue as yet,
[16:07 - 16:27] avoid speaking to VC or any funding that won't post revenue because hearing a no can be very discouraging. It's time consuming. There's absolutely countless funding platforms that back startups from ideation to when you just have your minimum viable products.
[16:27 - 16:54] But you haven't really show any profit at the moment. So make sure that you focus on that. If you are too early and you don't have revenue, you don't have good numbers, you may want to focus on grants, development funding, impact funding and early stage startup VCs that actually focus on startups that have not made any revenue so that you only speak to that.
[16:54 - 17:12] And I think the last thing I would mention in this one as well, find your people, get into incubators, get into accelerator programs, not just for money, but to learn. Never think that, you know, a lot, you know too much, or maybe you can write a killer pitch deck.
[17:12 - 17:30] If your killer pitch deck has not given you the results that you need, which is securing you the funding that you need, maybe there's certain aspects that you still need to learn. So get into incubators, accelerator programs, even those that just helped you with training and mentorship that don't have any money in it.
[17:31 - 17:48] Get into it. One, to learn. Two, to build relationships with your fellow founders and also with people that lead that. Because remember, if your startup doesn't have good numbers, only your character actually speak for you.
[17:49 - 18:10] And people are not going to back your startup. They're going to back you as the founder. And most of the time, founders and other people, they believe something that other people are saying about you. I've demonstrated that you can learn, you can stick to something, you can start a program and you can you can finish it.
[18:10 - 18:30] And you can prove that this is a return on investment out of the time and the mentorship that I have been given. Then it kind of give people an idea as to once you are trusted with funding, how will you perform? Thank you so much for sharing that. So this simply means that it is not just about your company, but also your character.
[18:30 - 18:47] So it also matters when it comes to getting funds, right? There's so much coming into the into the picture right now. So just to highlight what you just mentioned and just to still put it out still to the listeners out there.
[18:47 - 19:04] So you have to spend time on your research and your target audience. If you really want to get money for your business, you have to spend time doing the work. Don't just try to wrap up everything and think that, oh, I'm just going to get the funding that I need because I have some sort of killer pitch.
[19:04 - 19:20] But have you really done your homework? That is what we are talking about. Now, spend the time doing your research, knowing your target audience and also speak to the right VC, speak to the right VC and also find your people,
[19:20 - 19:39] you know, find the people that are in the same space as you. Also trying to work around this, get involved with incubator programs, accelerator programs just to learn and build relationships. I really hope that this can resonate with a lot of us that are trying to get access to VC funds.
[19:39 - 19:55] So you should know some of the things that you have to put in place before trying to to get access to all of this fun. So you don't get disappointed at the end of the day. So there's a lot of work for you to do at the back before you come out to say you want to get access to funds.
[19:55 - 20:03] Thank you so much for sharing this, Pretty. So I really think this is really amazing. And this is really insightful for those that are trying to get access to VC funds.
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Hello beautiful people. Indeed, that is one of my biggest pleasure, is always when I went to my own farm. So I think it is important to first understand what a healthy relationship with food is, for us to know what it is not. Not trying to be selfish. So, you could be your own farmer pretty soon, who knows? Trust, trust me when I tell you, there will always be challenges, there will always be risks. Seems like we have a lot in common. Welcome to the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show.
And of course, it's your favourite girl, Sharon Idahosa. Hey beautiful people, welcome to another episode of the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show.
Now, if you're looking for the best place to get access to quality information, then I can assure you that you are at the right place, as we invite experts to share the happenings, opportunities and a lot more, so you can benefit in any area of agriculture you're in.
Now, I believe that we understand how crucial it is for us to achieve food security in Africa. And for us to say that we are really food secure, then we must really boast and say that at all times, the populace has the physical, economic and social access to enough food.
Now, not just food, but it has to have that quality we are looking for, that nutritional value that we need to have in food for us to get good health and well-being. Now, it gets very tricky, you know. We want to be food secure in Africa, and even though we have the capacity to be food secure,
there is still a drawback. And we cannot help but ask the question, how can we really boost our food system? Now, that is the reason why we are here today. Is technology the way forward? Let's find out. On this note, join me as I may welcome our guest for today's show,
Shadrack Kubyane. Hey, a prominent, yes, of course, a prominent figure in the agricultural sector. Hello, Shadrack. Thank you so much for joining my favourite podcast show. Yes, it is my favourite, whether anybody likes it or not. Thank you for joining the show today.
Shadrack: How are you doing? That is brilliant, brilliant. That makes the two of us on our family dinner table. The podcast has been a part and parcel of our dinner conversations, and no doubt across the African region,
Shadrack: it is, the podcast is beginning to be part and parcel of the food or dinner conversation. Let's talk agriculture. Great to be here. And greetings to the audiences and listeners. Your extended part of the family becomes our extended part of the family. Great to be here. Thank you, Sharon.
Sharon: Thank you so much for joining. I really appreciate you coming on the show. And of course, we are a family in this space. I mean, we have to work together to transform the agricultural sector. So what better way to do it, if not to team up and be families, neighbours,
you know, just to ensure that we are able to transform the agricultural sector. I like that mindset. I like it. Shadrack: Definitely, you know, there's that African proverb that it says, it takes a village to raise an African child.
I think it takes many villages to feed that African child. Of course, yes, yes, I think so too. I mean, we all have a role to play. So let's come together and start doing something. And I can see so many people coming together.
And that is the reason why we have here a very prominent figure when it comes to the agricultural sector. So, of course, I'm very pleased to have you here today to share your experience with us. I mean, that is what the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast is all about. So thank you so much once again for joining the show.
Thank you kindly. The pleasure is all mine. Much appreciated for creating this dinner table where Africa can have a conversation within itself and beyond. Of course, just wait for what is coming. We have so much coming for this space and I can't wait to push it out.
But hey, that's not what we're talking about today. Just to get the ball rolling, please tell us a little bit about you. I mean, what got you into the agricultural sector? How has it been so far in the ag space? Just tell us something. I'm very sure my audience are very curious as well.
Most certainly, despite being among the pace setting leaders in the tech space, in blockchain, in agri-tech, what might be lesser known to most audiences until now is that I'm actually a third generation farmer,
meaning I was actually raised by two generations of highly industrious farming women. That would be my late grandmum, who was actually farming coffee, coffee beans right here in South Africa, which is really a path less travelled.
Coffee is mainly associated with the East Africa basin and elsewhere in the world. But right here, she was a pioneer of note. She was farming coffee beans in the heart of South Africa. My mum was lesser adventurous, but as equally industrious.
So her crop of choice was a variety of, what do you call it, daily staple foods, such as your maize, your cabbages, tomatoes, and those items that are really the obvious culprits
at most dinner tables across the region. And of course, myself, for most of my childhood, I actually lived off the ground. I was among the last generation in my village that lived 95% off the ground.
So we didn't go to the shops much. If I was eating a chicken that night, it's because this chicken really had me chasing it like Hussein Bolt. That's how it ended up on my dinner table. There was very little mystery there.
There was very little mystery. I had to actually source my food within a minute to five minutes from my dinner table. So talking about where food comes from, fast forward to later in life, where I spent a bit of time in corporate, in industry.
Then I did a few fun stuff in terms of management consulting, scaling businesses. And one of those scaling opportunities is what led us into Agritech, where we are now utilising blockchain to bring the transparencies that are necessary
within the agri landscape, so that the big boys club can make some room for small holder farmers. So that's how I actually ended up in Agritech. A son of a farmer is now having a homecoming experience
helping to rethink Africa's agri landscape. Wonderful. I mean, that's really amazing. The thing that we are still hearing more people saying, they started from, they have an agricultural background really. And many of us, we just,
we drag our legs into agriculture. Oh yes, it is deemed to be unattractive. If you're to look at the president of the Africa Development Bank, he laments, that is his excellency, Akinwumi Adesina.
I believe he was once the agriculture minister in Nigeria and he brought some strategic reforms. He and his colleagues in that space, they often lament how agriculture itself appears to be the unattractive
or the unwanted child of industry, where particularly millennials and Generation Z's or the, what do you call it, the Bonfris, they seem to really find it very unattractive and they label it as hard labour and very unattractive labour,
which is quite unfortunate. So platforms like this one, where we can engage around, let's talk agriculture, hopefully we are doing the joint heavy lifting to really do away with some myths and some ill-conceived assumptions
because a food secure Africa is the Africa we want. Of course, of course. I mean, we have to really start putting it out to let people know that agriculture is really attractive. Yes. I mean, this is something that we've been pushing out.
I think we've had about two episodes to really push out the word saying, hey, we don't want you thinking that agriculture is not attractive or it is not profitable. I mean, we've gone past that. This is the point where you come together, where you come into the agricultural sector
and do something very creative. I mean, use your science. I mean, use your creativity and do something. Now we need farm management tools. We need drones. We need very beautiful technology that could help us to transform the agricultural sector.
Now that is where you need to go to, right? You don't necessarily have to go to the farm anymore. And that's what we're trying to let them. I mean, they are not they, I'm also a youth, right? So we are the future. That makes no sense. We are the future.
We are the hope. We are the future and we are the hope for the continent. I think most people, they make that assumption. If you were to look at agriculture as an extreme sport, think about the Olympics. One athlete can take the entire four years
just to be able to have an opportunity to compete in that 10 second race, in that 20 second race or whatever activity. So most eyes are on the athlete. However, there is an entire ecosystem of a team dynamic from coaching to sports science to, what do you call it?
To dietitian. There's just a whole lot. One sports person could actually have a team of 20 or 30. So even with agriculture, a similar assumption applies. The athlete in this case is mainly the farmer, but the farmer doesn't travel alone.
I mean, a commercial farmer by South African standards is anyone with anywhere between 20 to 30 workers during silent seasons and during peak seasons. It will be anyone with 70 to 100, what do you call it? A farming human capital.
So we all look at the farmer, but there's an entire team dynamic. So yes, there is room for drones. There's room for agri-tech. There's room for farm management. There's room for biosecurity. That will be the protection of the livestock. There's an entire room, agronomy,
and just a whole lot of other adjacent and supporting functions that are as equally, if not more important than just the caption of farming itself, which by the way, in its truest sense is not a one man game, but it's an extreme sport. It's a team sport.
I agree. I agree. It is actually a team sport. We all have a role to play. So I keep telling young people when I hear them saying, oh, agriculture is unprofitable. Listen, it's not unprofitable. You just haven't gone in with the right mindset.
Many young people go in to say, I want to make money out of this. They see agriculture as a get rich quick scheme. And that is not the mindset going. I mean, imagine somebody, you have no idea about poultry farming. You have no idea about fish farming
and then you just go right in and you want to start. I mean, do you bother to learn anything about it? So, and then it fails. And then you're saying, oh, agriculture is unprofitable. I can't do this and that. So we're trying to change all of that narrative. Agriculture is profitable, but what should you do?
You want to get a good foundational knowledge of agribusiness. You need to understand before you get into it. I mean, that applies to business, right? Definitely. You don't necessarily have to start something without not knowing it. One has to do their homework.
Irrespective of the task at hand, whether, excuse me, whether someone is heading into software engineering, coding, or someone is heading into producing the stable diet that will keep Africa alive. One has to do their homework.
And also one has to look beyond temporary trends. And one has to look beyond whatever. Whatever is trending on timelines at the moment, one has to think of it as a long-term game. Who knows? Maybe some of the audiences may be contemplating medical sciences. They could actually be an agri-vet of sorts.
So there's just so much that is concentrated on a farm. Maybe there might even be a climatologist who could be utilizing data science in order to project or to chart out the seasons ahead.
And there could be a go-to for an entire farming community in order to help shape the Africa we want, which is a food secure Africa. Of course, of course. I mean, agriculture present diverse opportunities for everyone. You just have to look for it.
And I mean, you just have to find it. There are opportunities out there. There are opportunities out there. There are opportunities. Absolutely. But then again, back to food security now. What can you say? I know I mentioned that there are some drawbacks to achieving food security,
but I can't really point that, okay, I'm entirely sure what the drawbacks are. So I mean, that's the reason why we have you here anyway. My job is to- I'm also- I'm also- to follow up what you said. The pleasure is all mine. Let's go create a picture that's going to bring clarity to the audiences
and clarity to the continent at large. And of course, our neighbors far off elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world. There are three key pillars that one has to bear in mind when it comes to food security,
particularly from an African standpoint. And those three pillars, just from a top level, we must consider one, productivity, number two, accessibility, and of course, accessibility goes hand in hand with availability. And third, but not least,
we have to keep in mind sustainability. And if I circle back to productivity, we have a very unfortunate situation here on the continent of Africa. We are home to 65 to 70% of the global arable land.
Now, that right there should be counting in our favor. And just hold on a moment, our dear audiences, so that I mention the next item that should also be counting in our favor. Africa is home to 40 million farmers.
And indeed, agricultural sector on the continent, it is responsible for more than 60% of jobs or more than 60% of gainful employment. So with all these factors counting in our favor within the productivity scope,
you would think that we need to be smiling all the way to the bank, but unfortunately we are not. I mean, here is a baseline negatives that are not really going in our favor. Our food import bill here in Africa, and once again, I'm referencing His Excellency,
President Adesina of the Africa Development Bank, who lamented recently to say, listen, we can have a scenario where despite being home to 65% arable land in the globe, our food import bill is increasing annually
at an alarming rate. Some are benchmarking it, that it's sitting at 100 billion a year. Others are saying it's going to pass the 100 billion a year by 2025. But either way, we are racing in the wrong direction in terms of over-reliance on our neighbors.
I'm sure when the good book said, love your neighbor, it didn't mean that you must lean entirely on your neighbor in terms of food dependency, where you are food insecure. So we are very food insecure when one considers that despite the arable land positive, the negative is that our food grocery import bill
is swelling. And of course, we also have a scenario of very low yield from these African farmers, where from those 40 million, about 36 million to 37 million of them are actually smallholder farmers.
If there's one thing Africa needs to do away with is we need to do away with smallness. We need to ensure that we scale our smallholder farmers into at least semi-commercial, if not full-scale commercial, because while our smallholder farmers are remaining small,
our population is anything but small. I'll be touching on that later, but we are actually heading towards a scenario where by 2035, Africa's population is going to be passing the two billion, what do you call it, citizen mark.
But more on that later. Let me touch on the second pillar, accessibility. If you were to consider how I grew up living off the ground and where food towards my dinner table came from within a five minute radius, and I was among the last of the sustenance farmers
in my village, it becomes a weird picture today where not only are we not farming our food in the urban centers or the cities, but some of the city children don't actually, they are ill-advised or they ill-assume that milk comes from the grocery stores.
They do not know that milk actually comes from a kettle. There's a kettle upstream in the value chain, whereas they're just consuming milk that always come out of the cotton. So our levels of ignorance needs to really be done away with accessibility, not just to the food,
but accessibility to knowledge. An example that I can make, I've got a number of applications outside of the eFarmer app. I've got a number of applications as a consumer this time, not an industry leader, where I can really source some groceries and ingredients. It will take me 15 minutes.
Even during this call, I could grab my other phone and source perhaps ingredients to make myself an Italian dish, maybe one of those creamy pastas. Those ingredients will be here at my office within 15 minutes. But if I try to look for ingredients
to make myself a goosey or a jollof rice, being here in South Africa, I might need a treasure map and lots of prayers to try and source those within an app or within Reach. I'll have to really, really travel hard.
But yet I'm in Africa. Why are these things not accessible? Of course, that might be considered more on the luxury end, but even staple diet is proving to not be accessible to the people that need it most. And the last but not least pillar, sustainability.
We need to increase our production capacity in order to ensure that our farmers are not just farming, but they're farming efficiently and they are seeing the high yields that the future Africa would need
for us to become a self-sustaining continent that has not only trade within itself, but also farm amongst itself. Thank you for sharing that. I agree that we should support the smallholder farmers,
I mean, to ensure that they can actually move away from small farming down to commercial farming. I mean, smallholder farmers are major contributors and of course, they help us to really grow the agricultural sector. But then again, have you thought about the fact
that many of these farmers that are practicing small-scale farming, probably have a lot of experience and probably are content with where they are, because sometimes I feel like most people are content with where they are. They're just comfortable with just producing at a small scale.
So I don't know what your thoughts are because I've experienced it actually. Yeah, that is actually quite a good, what do you call it? That's quite a good aspect to touch on. However, in our contentment,
one of the skills that I was taught farming back home was how to, I mean, I used to actually rear chickens. It's one of the things I would do poultry and I'll do crops as well on behalf of my mom. So think of me as the little farm manager
who was like from the age of five until the age of 15, I was busy around my mom's smallholder farm. But one of the things that she taught me that is relevant to your question is that I often had to train my senses to be on the lookout for two things
that could be a threat to crops or even to a poultry environment. The first one is a hawk. If there is a hawk in the sky, if I don't see it and therefore get the chickens to safety, therefore I run the risk of that hawk pouncing,
aiming and pouncing and lifting off a chick or even God forbid, the mother hen itself. So I had to look out for the hawk and I'm gonna tell you my motivation for the smallholder farmer who might've tuned in, which I expect them to have at this time.
The second threat that I had to train my senses to be conscious of at all times is to always be able to observe the gathering clouds above my head, you see? Are those good clouds that come bearing gifts
such as good rain that the crops need? Or is that some wicked clouds that have got a wicked agenda meaning they could bring a storm or they could bring hail damage and things like that in which case I need to really, really mobilize into action.
Whenever we search the internet, we find questions about the opportunities in the agricultural sector.
Opportunities present themselves in different ways to us but sometimes we fail to see them and our growth process in life, and business move at a slow pace, making us doubt our capabilities.
The agricultural sector is broad and it provides diverse opportunities for those who are willing and see it as a business.
In this podcast episode, we delve into the opportunities available for you in drone technology.
Our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa sat with Femi Adekoya, an exceptional youth who is making waves in the use of drone technology for the benefit of the agricultural sector.
You don't have to be on the farm to contribute to the agricultural sector.
Tune in and learn from the flying farmer! 🎙🎙
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In this week's episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture Podcast show, we took a deep dive into mushroom farming with the Mushroom Queen from Ghana.
Our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa who is very keen on sharing the opportunities in agriculture decided to host the Mushroom Queen, a beautiful & phenomenal woman leading the change in the agricultural sector.
This episode gives detailed information on the benefits of mushroom farming and how you can tap into it.
If you're looking to start a business and you don't know where to start, this podcast will help you.
Mushroom farming is considered a lucrative business that is also cost-effective for anyone looking to venture into it.
Don't snooze on this episode! Listen in, subscribe, and share with your friends.
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In today's episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, our podcast host Sharon Idahosa decided to be a guest to connect and share with her listeners.In this episode, she discussed the ways we can improve our food system as this is a major concern globally.When it comes to achieving a sustainable food system, it is only those who understand what the food system is all about before they can contribute to building a better food system.Tune in and listen to the preacher of the agriculture gospel.
Post-harvest loss happens to be one of the biggest problems affecting economic growth globally.About 40% of our food goes to waste each year which is a major barrier to achieving food security.Often, we hear, and read the problems, challenges, and factors leading up to the loss we encounter each year.In this episode of the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show, our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa got in touch with William Dare, the founder of Willow Foundation to discuss the solution for post-harvest loss.The UC Davis Researchers developed an inexpensive tool to determine if dried food is dry enough to prevent mold growth during storage.Tune in to learn more about this innovative solution. 🎙🎙🎙Follow us on social media.LinkedIn - @Let’s Talk Agriculture Facebook - @Let’s Talk Agriculture Instagram - @WetalkagricultureTwitter - @agricPR
Data is the bedrock of many businesses.
The data you keep can determine the growth or failure of your business.
In the agricultural sector, keeping accurate data is very key especially for those in production, manufacturing and more.
In this episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, we decided to highlight the importance of data in the agricultural sector.
Our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa discusses with Kelvin Odoobo, the founder of Shambapro. Shambapro is an ag-tech startup helping small business owners in Africa build and run profitable and sustainable farm businesses.
Kelvin shared his journey in agriculture and what led him into building Shambapro.
He highlights the measures put in place to help farmers, and SMEs see the need for a data-driven agribusiness.
He also shared the benefits of using farm management tools to collect accurate data.
Tune in!🎙🎙🎙🎙 Share this episode!
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In this week's episode, the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast host decided to share with her audience.
This podcast episode is all about helping women in agriculture to position their businesses, gain visibility and build thought leadership.
Sharon Idahosa is passionate about helping women in agriculture, hence this podcast episode.
In this episode, you will learn the following;
✅ How to build your personal brand.
✅ How to build your business as a woman.
✅ Why you should work with a PR firm and the ways you can utilize working with one.
Tune in! 🎙🎙 Share this episode! 👍
Smallholder farmers are indeed major contributors to the agricultural sector but they still cannot boast of a secure livelihood.
Our smallholder farmers comprise women who produce about 60-80% of the food we consume but are still struggling with a secure livelihood.
Our podcast host Sharon Idahosa had a seat with Hadiza Yaro, the country manager of East-West Seed Nigeria.
She is a phenomenal woman with hands-on experience in agriculture and dealing with women in rural communities.
We wanted someone who will do justice to this topic and she's one person we know can handle this topic.
She addressed this topic by shedding light on the questions below which we believe should interest you as a farmer.
✅ Can you say that giving a grant is a great way of helping farmers increase their income?
✅ How can we drive & support the livelihood of our farmers?
✅ What can you highlight as the major constraints smallholder farmers face when it comes to earning?
Tune in! Share this episode.
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In this episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, we took a deep dive to learn more about climate finance, environment & sustainable agriculture practices.
When discussing climate change, we require experts to do justice to these topics and it was exciting to have MEDA’s Technical Specialist with in-depth knowledge & experience bring insights to us.
Dennis Tessier, our guest spoke more about climate finance which is put in place to solve issues around climate change & environment.
We talked about Green Finance & how MEDA is promoting environmentally sustainable business practices.
More on how we can adopt environmentally sustainable agriculture practices.
He did great in mentioning the areas covered by MEDA and how they have succeeded in the business transformation of farmers & SMEs.
To learn more about MEDA, explore meda.org
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Building a strong and sustainable agri-market system, we have to work with smallholder farmers in developing countries, ensuring that they have both agricultural and business skills which is key to solving the issues of hunger and poverty.
In this episode of the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show, our podcast host Sharon Idahosa spoke with Zakaria Issahaku, the Technical Specialist (Market Systems) at MEDA.
You'll learn:
What an ideal agri-market system is.
MEDA's approach to building an inclusive agri-market system and how you can tap from the various opportunities they offer.
Gain insights into MEDA's resource material
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This episode summarizes that you shouldn't settle for what you've heard about Africa but rather, you should explore it yourself because you may just be missing out on great opportunities.
Africa is a giant. Africa can be self-sufficient and investing/doing business in Africa is a great deal to you.
Now, when we move down to the Agriculture sector, the opportunities are endless.
Nigeria alone has a huge land mass & the agricultural potentials are lucrative.
So if you thinking of doing business in Africa, then you shouldn't miss out on the Africa Agri Expo, which is a major event organized by TAB Group to showcase the potential of Africa. This is an opportunity for you to go and see for yourself.
Listen to this episode to get more juicy information about doing business in Africa with the CEO of TAB Group, Tahir Abdul Bari
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This episode features Chidinma Ezinne, a food scientist and quality assurance professional.
We invited Chidinma on the show to guide us gradually into Food Allergens as this is a major topic of discussion when it comes to Food Safety.
We were able to understand that food allergies can occur when the immune system mistakenly treats protein food as a threat. Some of the common food identified to cause food allergies were milk, eggs, sesame, fish, etc.
Listen to this episode to learn more about how we can deal with food allergens in developing countries.
Learn more about our sponsor for this episode by visiting https://agromarketsquare.com
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Nutrition is like the food at work in our body. It is everything that happens to food from the time we eat it until it is used for various functions in our body.
In this final episode of the food and nutrition series, our podcast host, Sharon Idahosa discusses with Ravinder Grover, the program lead at HarvestPlus.
In this episode, you'll get answers to these questions asked by our podcast host.
- How can we make nutritious food more available and affordable?
- How can we create an environment where there will be affordable and nutritious food in the market?
- What role do you think the government plays in creating an enabling environment for affordable and nutritious food?
You will also learn more about Ravinder Grover and his motivation for working in this sector.
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Still on the food and nutrition series...
In this episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, Sharon Idahosa discusses with Ayooluwa Okunjolu of EdenLife the different ways we can deal with Unhealthy relationships with food.
As much as we agree that food is life, and food is health, there are a lot of people who have an unhealthy relationship with food and this episode will serve as a guide to building a good food relationship.
In this episode;
You'll learn about unhealthy food relationships, and how to know if one is dealing with this.
You'll learn key strategies for maintaining healthy food relationships.
Don't be left out!
Share this episode with your friends, network & family.
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We started a series this month with the theme of food and nutrition which is a major concern for all. Food and nutrition are the way that we get fuel providing energy for our bodies.
In this week’s episode, we discussed how we can provide good nutrition in rural communities as many low-income countries rely more on staple foods and less on fruits, vegetables, and animal-source foods than high-income countries.
We were privileged to have Oumar N’diaye Director of Africa, Business Development of Nutrition International to share his knowledge and of course the best ways we can have good and nutritious food.
Some of the questions tackled in this episode;
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What role agriculture plays to increase the availability and access to nutritious food in rural areas?
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How to utilize nutrition education to improve household nutrition.
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A lot of people know the kind of food to eat but still avoid eating them. What could be the cause?
Listen to our host, Sharon Idahosa as she discusses with Oumar N’diaye in the food and nutrition series.
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In this episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, we had a chat with Daramola Ayokunle a youth in agriculture.
He revealed to us the sales and marketing strategies that you can apply to position your agribusiness for rapid growth.
If you haven't been investing in your marketing or you do not know how to draw up a strategy for your agriculture business, then you should listen to this podcast.
For sponsorship, advertising & collaboration, please send an email to hello@letstalkagriculture.com
We remain your preferred agriculture public relations & communications company.
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Today on the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, we bring another educating episode to you.
In our previous episodes, we’ve discussed robotics in agriculture, and satellite imagery, and now we are looking into IoT- Smart Farming.
We had the opportunity to discuss with a senior executive in Agri-Tech from Kisan Sanchar, Rishya Pankaj
The agricultural sector contributes greatly to Nigeria's GDP with major commodities like sesame seeds, cocoa beans, cashew nuts ginger, palm kernel oil, frozen shrimps, and prawns but still experiences some constraints when it comes to the exportation of agro-commodities.
In this episode of the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show, we discussed the business of exportation to give us a better understanding of the exportation business.
We were privileged to have AFEX's VP of Commercials, Debajyoti Bhattacharyya on the show where he shared deep facts as regards the Nigerian agriculture sector, and better ways we can maximize our opportunities in the areas of export of agro-commodities.
Take a deep dive into the resources he shared with us.
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The risk to the human food chain has increased drastically, partly due to the movement of people, plants, and animals between countries and this can cause a detrimental effect on our food security and that's a major concern for all of since considering we are still working towards achieving food security on all levels.
In this week's episode, we had the opportunity to seat with Arable's Chief Revenue Officer who shared his thoughts with us and the ways we can manage the threats in the food chain.
Vilas Rao discussed;
- What the food chain is all about in the simplest way possible.
- He discussed the major threats in the food chain.
- And the roles we play in averting the threats in the food chain.
He was kind enough to share some resource materials to help us learn and understand this topic greatly.
Please check this out....https://www.arable.com/blog/
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The war in Ukraine, as well as sanctions against Russia, has resulted in a massive decline in the supply of major staple foods which is contributing to the rise of food prices globally.
This episode of the Let's Talk Agriculture podcast show was requested by one of our listeners who is feeling the heat the war between the Russia-Ukraine crisis is causing in Nigeria.
As of 2022 agriculture was employing about 70% of the labor workforce of the Nigerian population and 2022 has contributed about 22.36% to the GDP. This alone shows that agriculture remains the foundation of the Nigerian economy and many others.
To discuss this topic on a global scale, had a seat with the Chief Executive Officer of the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) to share and guide us on the way forward
Tune in to listen to Sharon Idahosa, the host, and Michael Sudarkasa, our guest for today's show.
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This episode features Ilyasu Ishak, an agribusiness development consultant sharing his knowledge on how we can deal with post-harvest losses in the fruits and vegetable value chain.
Episodes are available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, SoundCloud, Amazon music, Boom and more.
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Hadiza Yaro is not a new face on our podcast show.
Today she joins on our podcast show to discuss how to deal with post-harvest losses.
In this week's episode, we took a different route to discuss Robotics. As new technologies emerge, we believe that it solves major problems & benefit stakeholders in the agriculture space.
To make this happen, we brought on the show an expert in Robotics and a key player in the agricultural sector. Ana-Maria shares her insights on the major pain point of farmers that robotics has come to solve.
She also highlighted that robotics has not come to take away the jobs of people.
Learn more about our sponsor by visiting Agro Market Square
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Still, on the supply chain podcast series, we got the opportunity to bring on the show a start-up founder to give us the PART TWO of how we can simplify supply chain processes using blockchain technology.
In this episode with the co-founder of Snapper Future Tech, Naresh Jain.
You'll learn the importance of technology in simplifying supply chain processes.
You'll learn from his experience in the technology industry, the challenges he faced, and more.
This is very important for those that are in tech, the challenges you're going through, don't change anything about you.
Yes!! We made it to release another episode of the supply chain podcast series.
In our previous episode, we were able to identify the cracks in the supply chain system, and now we have taken a step forward to understanding how we can simplify the supply chain processes using technology.
The use of technology has played a key role in advancing the agricultural sector. To understand how technology can help simplify the supply chain processes, we were able to get in touch with Brinton Baker, the VP of Global Marketing at dFarm.
dFarm integrates your entire ag supply chain heuristically from farmer to retailer to deliver unprecedented transparency and efficiency.
Their distributed (blockchain) ERP reduces waste while making possible precision tracking and tracing and a dynamic trading platform.
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Hey, beautiful people! Welcome to our series on supply chain.
In this first episode of the supply chain, we are identifying the cracks in the supply chain system and how we can move past them.
We had the opportunity to bring on the show, the award-winning and most influential leader in supply chain, and podcast host of Let’s Talk Supply Chain - Sarah Barnes Humphrey who shared from her experience the challenges in the supply chain system, the future of the supply chain industry.
Guys! This episode takes a deep dive into technology and how it's benefitting the agricultural sector.
One of the technologies breaking grounds in this sector is the satellite imagery/remote sensing which helps players in the agricultural sector to detect pests, prevent diseases and keep crops healthy.
In this episode, we had the opportunity to bring in a partner & sales manager at EOS DATA ANALYTICS, Mohammed Altaqatqa to share more insight on how they are helping transform the agricultural sector in over 30 countries.
This podcast episode was made with love from my heart to let agribusiness owners know that they need to invest in branding, and marketing to ensure the growth of their businesses. In this podcast episode, I gave the difference between branding, brand identity, & brand marketing.
The bandit threats in Nigeria continue and at a very high rate which is causing the deaths, and kidnappings of many citizens of Nigeria. Considering the happenings in the Northern part of Nigeria, many food-producing states are facing the heat. Kaduna State is a major producer of Maize and is currently being invaded by bandits, and if drastic measures aren't followed, Nigeria may see food scarcity, price inflation, and Food Insecurity at large.
The role of media cannot be overlooked. The world is moving at a fast pace, and we need to catch up. As an agribusiness owner, there is a role you need to play to ensure the agricultural sector grows, and what better way can you get involved if not by spreading information?
We need to let the world know the happenings in the agricultural sector, and that is what this podcast is all about.
This episode of blockchain and employment features Linda Goetze, an early adopter of blockchain technology. Together with her team, the Blockchain Chamber of Commerce, bring experts from different industries who are exploring Blockchain.
Now, we are privileged to have her on the "Let's talk agriculture' podcast show to share her valuable insights. This episode highlights the role of blockchain technology for individuals and businesses all around the globe. It highlights blockchain's contribution to employment. Listen and leave your comments.
Our series on blockchain technology continues. The need to identify whether or not the rising technology is causing more harm than good is paramount and we will be getting different opinions from agriculture, blockchain technology experts.
One of the fast-growing technology in the world is the ‘blockchain’ and it is indeed playing crucial to every industry, from agriculture, logistics & supply, digital marketing and so many more. Now, there is a controversy about blockchain leading to an increase in unemployment. How true is that?
Still exploring blockchain technology, I got Adam Eunson the founder of Croply to share his insights on blockchain technology. I believe it will be great to know the industry that will benefit the most from blockchain technology, but Adam has a different idea about it. Listen to what he has to say.
In this episode of blockchain agriculture, we emphasized another area blockchain technology is impacting. Erik Valiquette who has over 30 years of experience in logistics and supply chain explains his experience working in the supply chain industry and how stressful it was to carry out different operations involved in the logistics & supply chain industry. The blockchain industry has played a huge role in ensuring safe, secure, and easy operations in the logistics and supply chain.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and the youth play an important role to ensure the agricultural sector remains. The popular commodities for traders are oil & gold but the agricultural commodity trading market is the oldest financial market in the world and now many traders are putting in a lot of work to research and leverage the market.
This episode features Farmer Samson Ogbole the team lead of the soilless farm lab, he highlighted how smallholder farmers can trade their produce, the major commodities to trade, and the best way agriprenuers can tap into the agro-commodity market.
When it comes to agro-commodity trading, the ability to understand the basics of what it entails and being able to back it up with technology is what we are discussing in this podcast episode with Akin Alabi- The Co-founder of Corporate Farmers International.
In this episode, you'll learn the origin of agricultural commodity trading as the oldest financial market in the world and what it takes for this sector to remain the same.
Blockchain in agriculture has proven to be a good way to simplify transaction processes and level the playing ground for smallholder farmers. In this episode, we have the vice president of DeHaat- Dr. Dinesh Chauhan. He talked about his experience working in the technology industry, the various opportunities available for entrepreneurs with a keen interest in blockchain agriculture, and how blockchain technology will help in food quality and better products to reach consumers.
Blockchain in agriculture has proven to be a good way to simplify transaction processes and level the playing ground for smallholder farmers. In this episode, we have the CEO of Whrrl, Ashish Anand highlighting how best agriprenuers can leverage blockchain technology and of course how well smallholder farmers can benefit from this technology.
This podcast episode features Chidi Nwaogu, a tech entrepreneur sharing his insights on the importance of technology which is becoming a major part of lives. In this episode, you'll find out the key things to know when starting a tech business.
Our series on entrepreneurship continues and this time, it features the managing director of Select Fresh Produce, Eunice Mutua an amazing entrepreneur with 6 years of experience in her field. Eunice describes entrepreneurship in a simple form and also shares her experience as an entrepreneur and the challenges she went through. Learn more about what Eunice is all about at www.selectfreshproduce.co.ke
Being an entrepreneur is a struggle for many and it requires mental capacity and also the strength to push forward. The battle and struggle as entrepreneurs are real and this episode helps to position your mind in the right direction as it involves interactions between two entrepreneurs sharing their challenges, success stories to guide you through your entrepreneurial journey. Visit Alicia’s company page to know more about operational excellence. https://eqbsystems.com/
Being an entrepreneur is a struggle for many and it requires mental capacity and also the strength to push forward. The battle and struggle as entrepreneurs are real and this episode helps to position your mind in the right direction as it involves interactions between two entrepreneurs sharing their challenges, success stories to guide you through your entrepreneurial journey.
Just for a change, we brought in Angela Nuhn who happens to be a vegan chef and the founder of Kindred Kitchens. Angela gave in much thought to bring about the name ‘Kindred Kitchen’, she also has her philosophy about being healthy. KindredKitchens.ca TheRestaurantEvolution.com
I got the opportunity to bring you the Secretary of the International Treaty FAO, Kent Nnadozie on the ‘Let’s talk agriculture’ podcast show . In this episode, we got an insight into the International Treaty and its impact on smallholder farmers and plant breeders. They work with farmers, plant breeders, scientists, and policymakers around the world to take care of the seeds that feed us all. http://www.fao.org/plant-treaty/en/
Today we brought in Olivier Muvandimwe from Rwanda, he happens to be a part of the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network(CSAYN) Global as the Country Coordinator. He decides to share with us their growth when it comes to the agricultural sector and the opportunities they have put in place for youth in Rwanda.
This episode features Lily, a Gender Specialist who is a country coordinator for Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network. She shares about her work, as a gender specialist, how they want to create a balance between women and men, and of course her experience as the Country Coordinator of CSAYN Global.
This episode features Dominic Amon Anyasulu who is the Country Coordinator for the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (Global) Malawi Chapter. He shares both his challenging and exciting experience serving as the Country Coordinator for 5years and counting.
This episode features the Regional Coordinator of the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) Global Morocco who is Dr. Samuel Opoku talking about his experience so far as the coordinator in Morocco, and of course his impact in Morocco.
This episode features Juliet Ejezie the CEO of Dozliet Anim Farms Nigeria, a volunteer of the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) Global, sharing her experience as an animal scientist and her contribution to the CSAYN Global.
This episode features the Founder and Managing Director of the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network; Ntiokam Divine giving us insights on his role towards creating a form of inclusiveness amongst youths from all over the country. He shares his approach towards the UN Food System Summit, where he involved key stakeholders in the value chain, hosting independent dialogues in about 40 different regions.
This episode features Hadiza Yaro from East-West Seed, Nigeria. She throws more light on the “role of women in agriculture and how they have been invincible for a long period of time in the agricultural space.
This episode features Edobong Akpabio, the founder of Visionage Agrotech Farms teaching us about ‘backyard farming.
This episode features George Rapsomanikis, a senior economist from the Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome to share with us the issues surrounding food prices and how to tackle them globally.
This episode features Dada Bacudo, a climate change expert giving us a sneak peek at the upcoming webinar on climate-smart innovations in food systems.
This episode gives an insight into the law and policies governing businesses and how it applies to agriprenuers.
This episode features Akin Alabi of corporate farmers international and gives more insight into digital agriculture from a different perspective with real-life examples.
This episode gives a broad understanding of agribusiness finance, the challenges, and how to fix it and make it easy for entrepreneurs.
This podcast welcomes a guest ‘Bernardo Arnaud’ to share with us detailed information on the topic of Digital Agriculture.
This is the second episode of the series Agriculture Refresh. This series is all about refreshing our minds on what agriculture is and of course its importance.
This is the first episode of the Agriculture Refresh series on the ‘Let’s talk agriculture’ podcast. I will be refreshing your mind on what agriculture is and the importance of agriculture.
We started a series this month with the theme of food and nutrition which is a major concern for all. Food and nutrition are the way that we get fuel providing energy for our bodies. In this week’s episode, we discussed how we can provide good nutrition in rural communities as many low-income countries rely […]
The post Providing Good Nutrition in Rural Communities with Oumar N’diaye first appeared on pr & comms.
Today on the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, we bring another educating episode to you. In our previous episodes, we’ve discussed robotics in agriculture, and satellite imagery, and now we are looking into IoT- Smart Farming. We had the opportunity to discuss with a senior executive in Agri-Tech from Kisan Sanchar, Rishya Pankaj who shared
The post IoT in Agriculture – Smart Farming with Rishya Pankaj first appeared on pr & comms.
In this episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show, we had a chat with Daramola Ayokunle a youth in agriculture. He revealed to us the sales and marketing strategies that you can apply to position your agribusiness for rapid growth. If you haven’t been investing in your marketing or you do not know how to […]
The post Position your agribusiness for growth with Daramola Ayokunle first appeared on pr & comms.
We were privileged to have AFEX’s VP of Commercials, Debajyoti Bhattacharyya on the show where he shared deep facts as regards the Nigerian agriculture sector, and better ways we can maximize our opportunities in the areas of export of agro-commodities. The agricultural sector contributes greatly to Nigeria’s GDP with major commodities like sesame seeds, cocoa beans, cashew nuts ginger, […]
The post The Business of Exportation with Debajyoti Bhattacharyya first appeared on pr & comms.
The risk to the human food chain has increased drastically, partly due to the movement of people, plants, and animals between countries and this can cause a detrimental effect on our food security and that’s a major concern for all of since considering we are still working towards achieving food security on all levels. In […]
The post Managing Threats in the Food Chain with Vilas Rao first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
The war in Ukraine, as well as sanctions against Russia, has resulted in a massive decline in the supply of major staple foods which is contributing to the rise of food prices globally. This episode of the Let’s Talk Agriculture podcast show was a request by one of our listeners who is feeling the heat […]
The post Ukraine Crisis and Its Effect On Food Production and Cost with Michael Sudarkasa first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
This episode features Ilyasu Ishak, an agribusiness development consultant sharing his knowledge on how we can deal with post-harvest losses in the fruits and vegetable value chain. Episodes are available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, SoundCloud, Amazon music, Boom and more. To learn more about our sponsor for the month, visit their webiste.
The post Dealing with post-harvest losses with Ilyasu Ishak first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
Hadiza Yaro is not a new face on our podcast show. Today she joins on our podcast show to discuss how to deal with post-harvest losses.
The post Dealing with post-harvest losses with Hadiza Yaro first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
In this week’s episode, we took a different route to discuss Robotics. As new technologies emerge, we believe that it solves major problems & benefit stakeholders in the agriculture space. To make this happen, we brought on the show an expert in Robotics and a key player in the agricultural sector. Ana-Maria Stancu shares her insights on […]
The post Relevance of Robotics in Agriculture with Ana-Maria Stancu first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
This episode features Chidinma Ezinne, a food scientist and quality assurance professional. We invited Chidinma on the show to guide us gradually into Food Allergens as this is a major topic of discussion when it comes to Food Safety. We...
The post Dealing with Food Allergens in developing countries with Chidinma Ezinne Ochulor first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
Still, on the supply chain podcast series, we got the opportunity to bring on the show a start-up founder to give us PART TWO of how we can simplify supply chain processes using blockchain technology. In this episode with the co-founder of Snapper Future Tech, Naresh Jain You’ll learn from his experience in the technology […]
The post Simplifying supply chain processes with Naresh Jain first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
Yes!! We made it to release another episode of the supply chain podcast series. In our previous episode, we were able to identify the cracks in the supply chain system, and now we have taken a step forward to understanding how we can simplify...
The post Brinton Baker on simplifying supply chain processes using technology first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
Hey, beautiful people! Welcome to our series on supply chain. In this first episode of the supply chain, we are identifying the cracks in the supply chain system and how we can move past them. We had the opportunity to bring on the show, the...
The post Sarah Barnes Humphrey Identifies Cracks In The Agriculture Supply Chain System. first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
Guys! This episode takes a deep dive into technology and how it's benefitting the agricultural sector. One of the technologies breaking grounds in this sector is the satellite imagery/remote sensing which helps players in the agricultural sector to...
The post Mohammed Altaqatqa On How Satellite Imagery Is Helping Transform the Agricultural sector first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
This podcast episode was made with love from my heart to let agribusiness owners know that they need to invest in branding, and marketing to ensure the growth of their businesses. In this podcast episode, I gave the difference between branding, brand...
The post Sharon Idahosa: Why Agribusiness Shouldn’t Ignore Branding first appeared on letstalkagriculture.
The bandit threats in Nigeria continue and at a very high rate which is causing the deaths, and kidnappings of many citizens of Nigeria. Considering the happenings in the Northern part of Nigeria, many food-producing states are facing the heat. Kaduna...
The post Ilyasu Ishak Talks About Increasing Food Security Even in Conflict with first appeared on letstalkagriculture.