SWFF Program & Innovator News
 Mar 21, 2019

The Soil Whisperer of India. Innovation Mixed with Care.

You can call SWFF innovator K.S. Gopal the soil whisperer, and you wouldn't be exaggerating the influence of this career agricultural specialist, educator, and innovator in India.
 
Gopal talks of the soil in near poetic terms. Over nearly three decades dedicated to efficient water resources, his work at the Centre for Environment Concerns has enveloped his life.
 
The result is in the product: Lush plants and trees of fruits and vegetables developed using an innovative procedure of, what Gopal calls, "Listening to the needs of the soil."
 
"It tells us when the plants need moisture, and so we save at least a third to half in water usage," said Gopal. "This way, we feed the plants when they need it and preserve water."
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  • Dexis Hosts Webinar Discussing SWFF Performance Evaluation. On January 31st, Dexis Consulting Group hosted a webinar communicating findings from Phase I of their Performance Evaluation of SWFF. The evaluation focuses on SWFF's relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability, and seeks to determine whether SWFF has meaningfully contributed to outcomes and results achieved by innovators across the portfolio. The evaluation's findings illuminate both successes and areas of improvement, providing key recommendations which will help SWFF pivot, transform, and expand its reach moving forward. Listen to the webinar here. Download the Final Performance Evaluation here and the evaluation infographic here.
     
  • SkyFox Pays Dividend of Gh ยข70,000 to Farmer Group Investors. SkyFox provides financial support to over 20 farmer groups who invested in their integrated three-year aquaculture and crop production program introduced in Donkorkrom and some communities in the Afram Plains. Read story.
     
  • Naireeta Services Becomes a Member of CTCN (Climate Technology Centre and Network). As a member of CTCN, Naireeta Services has the power to share its technology in African countries and receive support for its capacity development program.
     
  • The Forecast at Ignitia is Growth! Ignitia, the Sweden-based company providing highly targeted weather forecasts for farmers in West African countries, is growing and looking to expand its executive team. They are hoping to add a Chief Operations Officer, Content and Inbound Marketing Executive, and Senior Sales Executive-NGO. Ignitia was also on the move recently attending the Sankalp Africa Summit in Nairobi, the GSMA Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, and the Sweden Sustaintech Venture Day.
     
  • Green Heat Uganda Wins $1M Contract to Upgrade Health Centers. Green Heat is pleased to announce that it will be working with the Uganda Ministry of Health, as part of the Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer (UgIFT) Program for Results, to upgrade eight Health Centers in the Kuuka District, Jinja Municipal Council, Kamuli Municipal Council, Kamuli District, Mayuge District, and Kaliro District. Meet Green Heat Uganda.
Opportunities
  • Agribusiness Academy has launched the Digital Learning and Coaching Program in Food and Agribusiness Management. It takes Harvard's style of teaching into an online format, making it accessible for businesses around the world. By the end of this highly interactive program, learners will be able to identify business dilemmas and develop innovative strategies to solve them. You'll get access to over 200 courses plus one-to-one coaching to help your business grow. Agribusiness Academy will help SWFF Innovators to collaborate as a group and is offering a 25% discount for the SWFF network. Find out more about the program and register here.
  • Apply Now: $300,000 USAID Contracts for Digital Agriculture Solutions. The USAID Bureau for Food Security wants to integrate digital tools and technologies into its Feed the Future activities. As such, it has founded the Digital Frontiers five-year project to offer support and services to USAID Missions, including providing technical assistance to USAID programs, capacity building for Feed the Future teams, and strengthening best practices in digital agriculture and food security. Digital Frontiers will be issuing contracts from $30,000 to $300,000, to support the Bureau for Food Security and USAID Missions. If interested, you can obtain the Request for Proposals (RFP) here. Deadline is March 26, 2019.
1001 Words

Empowered by innovation, a Peruvian farmer admires the fruits of his labor. In the fertile fields of the Andean agricultural crescent, SWFF innovator ICU helps smallholder farmers access information on climate and irrigation at an accessible cost. With the help of ICU's innovative irrigation scheduling system, farmers can better determine when and how much to irrigate, enabling their crops to flourish.