Agritech Company EzyAgric has entered a partnership with telecommunications company Airtel Uganda to support communities, through digitizing Agriculture, Health and Education.
The partnership which is dubbed Agrivolution which is also part of Airtel Cares was launched on Monday January 24th at Sylvia Agropark in Zirobwe Town Council, Kikyusa Subcounty, Kayonza village.
The partnership, according to officials form EzyAgric will support farmers in embracing the use of technology through mobile phones to have access to useful information on agricultural inputs, market access, insurance options, marketing and weather information among other elements that will enable well informed decision making.
“EzyAgric is very excited to join hands with one of the industry leaders to revolutionize agriculture, the backbone of Uganda, by bringing all season round, timely and relevant advisory information to farmers with just a push of a button,” said George William Luyinda, the CEO and co-founder EzyAgric.
On his part, Henry Njoroge, the Marketing Director at Airtel Uganda said, “Airtel Cares, is an integral part of our business under our sustainability strategy in which we are committed to supporting the reduction of barriers to social and economic empowerment of communities in which we operate.”
“Today we are proud to be launching this service that allows farmers with feature phones to also access agricultural information to improve their decision making and productivity. In partnership with EzyAgric, we have designed customized agronomy messages that will be accessed by farmers who opt to use the versatile EzyAgric App,” he added.
Feature phone users will be able to access agronomy information/advice by dialing *163# and select how to access SMS messages. These messages shall be sent outvia SMS three times a week.
For farmers with Smartphones, the USSD code *163# will enable them activate FREE 500MBs valid for a month. The MBs are intended to enable them download the app from google play store and have access to well curated agronomy content on the App. These MBS cannot be used outside the EzyAgric app.
The said advisory content, according to EzyAgric officialswill include Tips for a better harvest, Weather information, weed management, pest and disease control, and post-harvest, among others.
This curated content will be accessible in 6 major languages in Uganda, i.e., English, Runyakitara, Luganda, Luo, Lumasaba, and Lugisu as selected by the user.
How to subscribe
1. Dial *163#
2. Select Airtel Cares
3. Select Agriculture
4. Select Preferred Channel to receive the Agricultural Content, i.e. (1: Receiving Via SMS. 2: receive Agricultural content via the EzyAgric App)
5. Select Preferred language(s)
6. Select Preferred Crop
7. Select 1 to subscribe and 2 to cancel.
