AFRICA’S HOMEGROWN HEROES Okuafo Foundation With a focus on sustainable agriculture technologies for farmers, Okuafo Foundation has been bridging the gap between rural farmers and access to reliable information and real-time support. At scale, their solutions will help prevent a disaster like the fall armyworm outbreak that occurred in Ghana in 2017, impacting the agriculture industry with a loss of approximately $64million . Okuafo Foundation’s community intervention projects are also aimed at helping rural farmers process their harvests using renewable energy powered machines, reducing their reliance on more traditional energy sources such as diesel and kerosene. They also enable smallholder farmers in disadvantaged communities to increase efficiency and productivity, to ensure families have access to nutritious food all year round.
A recipient of the 2020 Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAE’s pioneering global award in sustainability, the Okuafo Foundation was awarded $600,000 in prize funds to enhance their existing solution and develop other sustainability projects that serve thousands of farmers across Africa, starting in Ghana. The funds are being invested towards building a near real-timemap of GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions fromagricultural activities to gather useful data that will help governments and policymakers in designing climate change policies to ensure that the major players in GHG emissions are targeted for support. Now more than ever, the threats presented by COVID-19 on vulnerable communities call for improved digital measures with greater accuracy and access, which includes translating content into multiple languages to be accessed by different countries in Africa. In addressing this need, Okuafo Foundation is focusing on research and development of low-cost technologies for sustainable agriculture as well as training field agents who can train small scale farmers to use their technology to improve farming yieldwhile staying safe during these uncertain times.
Okuafo Foundation’s solutions enable rural farmers, without the need for internet connectivity, gain insights into what is happening on their farms and detect pest infestations early on. Its mission is to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2, which seeks to End Hunger, Achieve Food Security and Improved Nutrition and Promote Sustainable Agriculture.
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