Agriterra is an agri-agency founded by the Dutch agricultural sector that professionalises farmer organisations and cooperatives worldwide in order to better serve the needs and interests of their member farmers. They published an interesting article with findings from their joint project for AgroCares soil sensor services for farmer cooperatives in Kenya.
Some of the first findings were:
- Farmers interviewed indicated positive experiences with the scan, but it takes at least six months of investing to get these results.
- The evaluation further showed that the main implementation challenges were ‘nontechnical’. Farmers may have limited or no availability to recommended inputs for instance.
- A critical success factor for the implementation of soil scanner services, are the management and board of a cooperative. They need to be aware of the business potential and value for cooperatives.
Want to read more about the results of the pilot?
Check the full article here