Go Mechanization! Piloting a Digital Platform to Increase Access to Agricultural Mechanization Services in West Africa

Project Summary:

The objective of the grant is to work through the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) to pilot an integrated digital technology platform called “AfricaMechanize” in Ghana in order to expand access of smallholder farmers to sustainable agricultural mechanization (SAM) technologies, services and information across Africa. This will support the Objective of the Food Systems Resilience Program (FSRP) through supporting the development of digital technologies to support climate-smart agriculture technologies to improve resilience among farmers. This work will take place at the global scale, with a focus in Ghana.

List of Activities:

Activity 1: Support to the AfricaMechanize digital platform, including a detailed needs assessment with partners for digital platform promoting SAMs, support to the development of the digital platform, identification of partners and development of the protocols for partner engagement Activity 2: Building Capacity for SAMs, including profiling and identification of trainings needs, developing training materials, training on conservation agriculture & SAM, business management in Ghana, MSP quality assurance tests on service provision and certification. Activity 3: Develop Partnership strategy for SAM, with pilot in Ghana, including strategy development for Ghana, with targeted scale across Africa; support formation of the Ghana Community of Practice of Agricultural Mechanization Service Providers (CoPAMSP); organization of meetings Activity 4: Pilot of digital / capacity building "bundling" for businesses in Ghana, including the combination of the provision of digital linkages, technical training and engagement in a community of practice to examine a shift towards SAMs; support for a group of 15 businesses with a bundle of services; development of a strategy for how SAMs can be targeted through Component 2.2 of the FSRP Activity 5: Examine the efficacy of a digital pilot to promote the use of SAM in Ghana, including the design of a measurement methodology; examination of the use of SAM services in pilot group; development of an evaluation looking at the impact of bundling a digital platform, trainings and a community of practice to promote adoption of SAM in Ghana.

Outcomes:

Output 1: Guidance note for the establishment of a digital platform under the AfricaMechanize platform including a Sustainable agricultural mechanization (SAM) knowledge management platform Output 2: Capacity-building workshops for 250 Mechanization service providers (MSPs) in Ghana on how to access and utilize the platform to provide SAM services in a profitable and efficient manner Output 3: Training for SAM service providers, farmers, and other stakeholders on partnership strategy on SAM, with pilot in Ghana; Technical report on the assessment of SAM services and scaling up potential under component 2.2 of the FSRP (to be externally published), knowledge exchange visits for farmers, SAM service providers, and other stakeholders Output 4: Technical report on the evaluation between linkages between trainings and digital platform and adoption of SAM services (to be externally published) Outcomes: Expand access to agricultural mechanization machinery services to smallholder farmers particularly: - Increased access by the Directors of Agricultural Mechanization and Engineering Services (DAMES) across Africa to empirical data to inform policy decision on SAM - Increased use at scale of smallholders’ access to SAM technologies and practices - Increased access via the AfricaMechanize platform of SAM services for smallholders - Increased adoption of agricultural productivity-enhancing technologies - Reduced post-harvest losses - Improved operational efficiency of smallholders along focus value chains - Increased investments by private and public sectors on SAM

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

- Africa Region - African Conservation Tillage Network (Signed MOU) b. Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana (under discussion) - Korean University (to be proposed) - Korean industry (to be proposed) - Ghana - TroTro Tractor (Signed MOU) - Centre for No-Till Agriculture - Ghana (Signed MOU) - Rural Development Agency (to be proposed) - FAO (Signed MOU)