Kenya-based software development firm Virtual City has received a KSh135 million ($1.5 million) convertible loan to develop a mobile-based agricultural application to help farmers market their produce.
This will see small-scale farmers access information on markets and prices of their produce.
The loan was extended to Virtual City by Acumen Fund, an American based private equity fund, that invests in social projects.
“We are using this technology to improve the livelihoods of the rural smallholder farmers, change the ecosystem for the agricultural processing sector and support local economies,” said Virtual City chief executive John Waibochi.
Maurice Nduranu, portfolio manager for Acumen Fund in East Africa, said: “This investment represents another way in which we’re expanding our investment experience across the agricultural sector to learn about what is needed to professionalize smallholder farming.”
Virtual City has already developed Agrimanagr, a mobile data management service sold to agricultural co-operative societies and processors that tracks pricing. The system also co-ordinates mobile payment to farmers, and facilitates extension services such as veterinary visits and agricultural input management.
The system already supports over 300,000 users.
A lower version of Agrimanagr will benefit more than three million users in the next five years, and as Waibochi said, the system will help farmers bypass brokers by getting real time information on markets, and possibly increase their earning by between 40 per cent and 100 per cent through improved access to credit and markets.
