GENEVA — UpLink’s Smarter Climate Farmers Challenge has identified 12 Top Innovators who are revolutionizing the intersection of food, agriculture, and climate change. These entrepreneurs are poised to transform the global food system and address the urgent challenges of sustainable agriculture.
According to a new release by World Economic Forum, a total of 246 solutions were submitted worldwide for the challenge, which was launched during the Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC23). After a comprehensive evaluation process, 12 winning solutions were selected. These innovators will now join UpLink’s community and receive resources, expertise, and connections to scale their ventures.
The challenge comes at a time when agriculture accounts for over 30% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, 80% of tropical deforestation and biodiversity loss, and 70% of freshwater withdrawals. It aims to address three key issues: improving livelihoods for farmers, enhancing efficient agriculture, and promoting carbon sequestration.
The 12 selected innovators and their solutions include:
Alkama: Develops a biological crop treatment that captures carbon in soil.
AMAATI: Trains rural women to cultivate and market drought-resistant grain fonio.
AMINI: Offers last-mile environmental and vegetative data infrastructure for smallholder farmers in Africa.
BillionCarbon: Converts food waste into liquid bio-fertilizer and nutrient mining technology.
Dvara E-Registry: Provides e-registry to connect smallholder farmers with institutional credit facilities.
Instacrops: Maximizes crop yield and minimizes environmental impact through a virtual advisor model.
Kheyti: Offers a modular greenhouse-in-a-box, increasing smallholder farmers’ income.
moa Technology: Researches new generations of safe and effective herbicides.
Spowdi: Drives solar-powered mobile drip irrigation systems and a Smart Farming app.
Unibaio: Specializes in using natural molecules for sustainable agrochemical formulations.
UpTrade: Enables exchange of healthy, vetted animals for access to clean water and farming inputs (Pakistan, Female-led).
VIA – Virtual Irrigation Academy: Develops tools for effective water and fertilizer management.
The Smarter Climate Farmers Challenge was organized in partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Economy and Planning, along with other collaborators and supporters.