Advancing Digital Innovation for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America
About the Innovation Call
Digital agriculture holds great potential for smallholder farmers. It can improve agricultural productivity and help farmers cope with extreme climatic events. However, Latin America’s digital agriculture tools have not reached sufficient scale yet.
This Innovation Call is a key activity of the project, “Advancing Digital Innovation for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America”, which is funded by IDB Lab, the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, executed by Incofin Foundation and hosted by the GSMA.
The Call will select up to 14 entities offering solutions that use agricultural technologies and digital tools (agritech) to enhance the profitability of smallholder farmers in six Latin American markets, improving their resilience to climate change. Additionally, this Innovation Call encourages solutions that aim to promote gender inclusivity.
Selected entities will fall into one of two groups and receive grants to fund technical assistance (TA) projects aimed at developing and/or scaling agritech solutions tailored to the conditions, needs and potential of smallholder farmers. The eligible countries for this Innovation Call are Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay and Peru.
Applicant categories
Recently established entities aiming to test new business and operational models, proof-of-concept ideas or existing agritech solutions that focus on smallholder farmers and show potential for scale. Grant funds of up to USD 50,000 in cash to fund the corresponding TA project and costed activities outlined in the application form. These resources are provided by IDB Lab. No matching contribution is expected from Group 1 entities.
More mature entities that will receive support to scale their existing business models/services within the agriculture sector, enhancing their capacity to better serve smallholder farmers through agritech. Grant funds of up to USD 85,000 in cash to fund the corresponding TA project and costed activities outlined in the application form. These resources are provided by TA facilities managed by Incofin IM and IDB Lab. In line with this support, Group 2 entities will need to provide a matching contribution of more than 25% of the requested grant amount.
Additional grant funding from the Government of Israel of up to USD 28,500 in cash per TA project will be allocated to expand the budget of each TA project if the components of the project can be deployed by eligible Israeli agritech entities. To qualify for this additional grant funding, applicants should provide evidence of a potential partnership with an Israeli agritech.
Applications are now closed
Applications for the Innovation Call “Advancing Digital Innovation for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America” closed on Friday, 12 April 2024. Thank you to everyone who applied. See below the Term Sheet and other information related to the Innovation Call:
If you have any questions, please email Incofin Foundation who is responsible for the execution of the Innovation Call at [email protected].
Watch the webinar that was held on Wednesday, 20 March 2024 to present information about the Innovation Call and answer questions related to the Call.
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