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The Problem
In West Africa, smallholder farmers often do not optimize their land and cash. Currently, the typical farmer plants < 20% of their land using modern farming inputs and techniques. Many farmers still plant their fields by hand, and lack sufficient labor to plant effectively during the very short rainy season.
The Solution
myAgro is a nonprofit social enterprise that sells agricultural inputs and tools to smallholder farmers in Mali and Senegal. With their mechanized precision planter, farmers can plant seeds and micro-dose fertilizer at the correct distance and depth in 66% less time than planting by hand, yielding 100% more food per hectare. Farmers pay for this planter little by little in advance using myAgro’s mobile layaway system. After planting their own fields, farmers can rent out the machine and recover their costs in 1 season through rental fees. Learn more about myAgro in this video.
The Impact
Since introducing the product in 2015, myAgro has sold over 700 precision planters, and with the help of this loan will be able to make 1,500 more precision planters available and expand sales into Senegal.
