The 2020 Carter Conference on “Shifting Momentum in African Agriculture through Research and Technologies: Smart Agriculture, Smart Growth, Smart Kids” took place December 10th to 11th. This year’s conference featured two keynote speakers, the second of which was Isaac Sesi. He is the co-founder and team lead of Sesi Technologies.
Mr. Sesi began his lecture by discussing the large amounts of food waste found across the globe. In Ghana, his native country, food waste by grain farmers has been a particularly difficult problem to solve. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, it is estimated that over 20% of sub-Saharan Africa’s grain is lost, wasted, or thrown away. One reason can be traced back to farmers storing grain before it is sufficiently dried. The moist grain then develops aflatoxins, these contaminants are produced by fungi that have negative effects on both humans and animals. Mr. Sesi has solved this issue by creating the GrainMate. This useful tool allows farmers to measure the moisture levels of their grain (which includes sorghum, millet, rice, maize, wheat, among others). This affordable gadget is helping farmers across Ghana to cut down on their losses and therefore increase revenue. Mr. Sesi has also created a phone application that allows farmers to sell their grain online. This has been particularly useful during the COVID-19 pandemic, when farmers cannot physically reach customers.
Mr. Sesi ended his lecture by discussing the vital role youth play in developing resilient food systems. In his company alone, the average age of an employee is approximately 24.7 years. He went to end his presentation by highlighting three young entrepreneurs who are contributing to the development of holistic solutions in Africa. Jeffrey Boakye-Appiagyei is developing threshers to increases the efficiency of threshing grains for smallholder farmers. Aisha Raheem is providing tailored agricultural expertise and access to market with Farmz2u which uses “technology to empower farmers with data analytics that can support key decisions.” Lastly, Alloysius Attah is creating lasting profits for farmers through farmer education, input finance and distribution with his company Farmerline.