Google Kenya, One Acre Fund Partner to Train 100,000 smallholder Farmers in Digital Skills

Google has announced a Ksh 100m agriculture grant to help train over 100,000 farmers in Digital Skills in partnership with non-profit organisation One Acre Fund.

Google says their aim is to is to help farmers make the most of the web for their agribusinesses so that they can increase yields and productivity.

“In Kenya, the agriculture sector employs over 40 percent of the total population, contributing to 30 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We want to see the power of technology elevate small-scale farming. We hope that through this initiative, we will see a positive impact on food security, job creation and GDP growth in Kenya” said Charles Murito, Google Kenya country manager.

We have donated through @Googleorg a USD1M grant to train more than 100,000 Kenyan smallholder farmers in digital skills. We will be teaming with @OneAcreFund to help farmers take advantage of web tools to increase their yields and productivity #Google4Kenya #twatembeapamoja

— Google in Africa (@googleafrica) October 15, 2018

This is in line with the “Grow with Google” initiatives that build products, platforms, and services that help people and businesses grow through grants and funding.

“With greater access to technology and training, farmers can make their land more productive,” said Matthew Forti, managing director of One Acre Fund. The program begins in 2019.