In this week’s issue of The Farm CEO, I feature 3 reports about latest discoveries in Farm Business across Africa.

1. The seeds of success: 4 start ups leading the field in agriculture

Last year, Mavis Mduchwa received funding from the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme to set up her business Chabana Farms. “I was born on a farm, and all my family are farmers, so I decided to go back to my village and set something up,” she said.

Mduchwa is in the process of building the area's first agri-feed manufacturing plant.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/04/africa/women-africa-farming-agriculture-startups/

2. 12 top ways Israel feeds the world

From drip irrigation to natural pesticides, Israeli innovations are helping to fill hungry bellies everywhere, but particularly in the developing world.

Food security is a major concern for our rapidly growing planet. As resources dwindle and the population rises, smart solutions for better agriculture and safer food storage are essential.

No other single country – certainly not one as young and as tiny as Israel – has contributed more breakthroughs in this area than Israel.

Since the 1950s, Israelis have not only been finding miraculous ways to green their own desert but have shared their discoveries far and wide through channels including MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ISRAEL21c has highlighted dozens of food-related advances pioneered by Israelis. Here are 12 major ways Israel helps feed the world.

http://www.israel21c.org/the-top-12-ways-israel-feeds-the-world/

3. Growing a business that helps small farmers in Africa

by Claire O’Connell

M-Farm CEO Jamila Abass has built an online platform and marketplace to boost smallholder farming in Kenya. She spoke to Claire O’Connell.

As a farmer, you need to make a profit on selling your crops to survive in business – but what if those profits are eroded through a long supply chain to the trader, or if the market conditions change?

Software engineer and social entrepreneur Jamila Abass has come up with an ingenious solution for smallholder or subsistence farmers in Kenya to help overcome these problems and build their businesses: she co-founded M-Farm, an online platform where farmers can connect with buyers and get information about how to plan, manage and sell their crops.

“It is a commodity exchange platform that connects farmers to each other and connects them to buyers directly,” explained Abass, who will speak at Inspirefest 2016 in Dublin next week. “I would say it is the Amazon for agricultural produce in Africa.”

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/jamila-abass-farming-mfarm-inspirefest