Women in Africa continue to hold a key role in rural food production and are daily engaged in moving the wheels of economy. However, the conditions under which they undertake these are highly prohibitive and prone to low productivity and massive losses. The e-mama initiative implemented by Farm Concern International (FCI) is geared towards dealing with these challenges that have overshadowed women farmers for many years in Africa.
E-Women, AFMAX (Africa Markets and Farms Exchange) platform is a mobile phone based innovation developed by FCI that is aimed at reducing labor and time spent by women smallholder farmers in accessing quality farm inputs, services and market information with minimal mobility. With the increased access to mobile phones in Kenya, e-mama is leveraging on mobile technology to reduce time and labor spent by women smallholder farmers while sourcing for farm inputs, markets for their produce and agronomic information thus enhancing productivity thereby increasing the value retained by the women smallholder farmers.
FCI has been implementing the pilot phase of this innovation in 10 Commercial Villages (CVs) in Central and Eastern Kenya where over 5,300 small holder farmers are actively using the platform.
FCI VISION :Commercialized smallholder communities with increased incomes for improved, stabilized & sustainable livelihoods in Africa and beyond.