myAgro
Helping Small-scale Farmers Move Out of Poverty
Location: Mali and Senegal
myAgro: Grantee in 2016 and 2017
myAgro is committed to helping farmers across West Africa improve productivity, enabling them to raise their standard of living. myAgro agents work with independent, small-scale farmers in West Africa to provide training and better quality materials to enable them to use their lands more efficiently. Training programs seek to teach modern farming methods and help participants learn how to select the best crops for their lands. myAgro also supports the ability of farmers to purchase the seed and fertilizer they need at planning time. They have successfully worked with 21,000 farmers in Mali and Senegal through this agent network and are now looking to expand the reach and capacity of agents to support more farmers. Their goal is to help one million small-scale farmers increase their income by 2025; an increase of $1.50/day can help move them out of poverty.
Farmers in the myAgro network buy ‘scratch’ cards in local stores to save in a special ‘myAgro’ account; these accounts are then used to purchase the seed and fertilizer needed at planting time. myAgro agents then sync up these accounts to the myAgro platform and coordinate the purchase of the planting supplies. This program model relies heavily on agent use of mobile phones along with a dedicated myAgro app to coordinate farmer accounts and ensure the supplies are successfully purchased and delivered.
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GRANT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE
2016: $25,000 to provide 136 agents with mobile phones, a customized mobile application synced to myAgro’s payment platform, and training.
2017: $25,000 to expand into Senegal, training field agents and establishing cell phone technology to support 2,100 farmers’ access to supplies and training.
IMPACT
Supported the expansion of a unique and successful program enabling small-scale farmers to increase their income by $1.50/day and move out of poverty.