As droughts and extreme weather events increase in frequency and intensity in the East African country, Maryanne Gichanga believes innovation is key to helping Kenya’s farming community build resilience.
Farmers in Kenya are using new data tools to improve their productivity.
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Before the conference he spoke to the UN International Clean Energy Dayheld annually on January 26, she explains how in a ‘male-dominated field’ she has managed to help farmers understand soil and crop health and weather patterns by using solar-powered sensors and AI-powered satellite data.
From farmers to helping farmers
“I grew up in an agricultural environment. My parents are farmers. I witnessed many harvests, but when climate change started, we couldn’t understand what was happening. Because our source of income was agriculture, when the harvest was bad, the harvest had a direct impact on our quality of life, and it meant we couldn’t go to school.”
I have always wanted to provide solutions to my parents and other people from farming families. That’s what inspired me to start my company and get like-minded people to build this solution to support small farmers.
Greenovations Africa, a UN-backed initiative that supports women entrepreneurs like me, was a very important part of the process because they believed in small businesses and offered them training and seed capital to help them grow.
Giving up is not an option
In Africa, communities are quite patriarchal. So it’s one thing to try to get into this male-dominated field. It’s hard. It has its own challenges as people prefer to work with a man. They feel that men understand what you do better than you do. In many places they do not believe in female leadership; Even women who offer solutions would not accept them.
What really helped me on this journey was perseverance and getting training and demonstrations to show what we are doing and that we know what we are doing. You can’t give up. Work with the people you meet and everything will work out in the end.
It’s also important to keep track of why you started; knowing that my parents are no longer struggling and thinking of the millions of children whose parents are farmers, and the future of those children who would be at risk if their parents do not have a stable income.
Sometimes you look at how far you’ve come and think: giving up is not an option. So many people depend on you. That’s what keeps me focused.
The reward
My highest point is when I see lives change immediately.
When you empower farmers, their lives change.
When you see an immediate increase in crop yields or when people are no longer struggling, you want to work even harder.
When you see that the farmer, who didn’t even have the money to buy seeds, has control over the prices he sells his crop for, that’s very encouraging to me.
The call to others
To other women and girls who want to innovate in agriculture or climate action, I would say: go for it.
You learn as you go, and there are many people who will support you financially or offer technical support, advice and training. There is no right time to start, and you will never be prepared enough – you just have to do it… don’t be afraid!”
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