{"id":208271,"date":"2016-04-21T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T06:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=208271"},"modified":"2016-04-21T06:00:38","modified_gmt":"2016-04-21T06:00:38","slug":"kic-hosts-agritech-exchange-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=208271","title":{"rendered":"KIC hosts Agritech exchange programme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following its March 2016 launch, the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC), in partnership with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), hosted Ghana\u2019s inaugural AgriTech Exchange on April 13th and 14th 2016.<\/p>\n<p>The Exchange consisted of a series of highly interactive and informative brainstorming sessions; helping young MEST entrepreneurs build the foundation of commercially-viable AgriTech startups.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-208277 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kosmos-energy-event-3.jpg\" alt=\"kosmos energy event (3)\" width=\"598\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The event brought together a mix of Ghanaian agribusiness representatives, local technology specialists, young entrepreneurs from MEST, and a group of senior mentors to spur technology innovations designed to address the needs of Ghana\u2019s agricultural sector.<\/p>\n<p>The AgriTech Exchange began by introducing participants to some of the latest technology innovations \u2013 created by companies like Esoko, Vodafone Ghana, Airtel Ghana, Farmerline, and HNI &#8212; that have been applied to the needs of agriculturalists in Ghana.<\/p>\n<p>Participants then went on to gain an in-depth view of the challenges faced by Ghana\u2019s agricultural sector. On the second day, participants brought together both problems and solutions, brainstorming various ideas for technologies that can address the problems outlined, as well as form the basis of a viable business. These business concepts will be further developed with the guidance of KIC and MEST mentors.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-208279 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kosmos-energy-event-5-1.jpg\" alt=\"kosmos energy event (5)\" width=\"752\" height=\"503\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Key stakeholders identified and prioritized a number of areas as the most pressing needs across Ghana\u2019s agricultural value chain, including\u00a0 improving access to certified agricultural inputs, improving access to technical and\u00a0 market information for farmers, creating effective channels to market agricultural products, and connecting farmers with appropriate sources of financing.<\/p>\n<p>In response, participants brainstormed a number of innovative technology solutions that included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A smartphone app to monitor fertilizer and seed distribution<\/li>\n<li>A mobile phone-based tracking system for expired and fake agro-chemicals<\/li>\n<li>A software platform for inventory management at packing houses<\/li>\n<li>An SMS and web-enabled system that provides financial analysis and investor matching for smallholder farmers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-208276 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/kosmos-energy-event-2.jpg\" alt=\"kosmos energy event (2)\" width=\"598\" height=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Credit: Kosmos Energy<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following its March 2016 launch, the Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC), in partnership with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), hosted Ghana\u2019s inaugural AgriTech Exchange on April 13th and 14th 2016. The Exchange consisted of a series of highly interactive and informative brainstorming sessions; helping young MEST entrepreneurs build the foundation of commercially-viable AgriTech startups. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":208278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/208278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}