Menu

A digital platform that connects smallholder farmers, agents, buyers and banks has been launched today in East Africa by MasterCard. The platform, called, 2KUZE – which in Swahili means "Let's grow together" – will enable farmers in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to buy, sell and receive payments for agricultural goods via their feature phones, according to the leading global payments and technology company.

MasterCard said 2KUZE will make transacting much safer and simpler for all stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain – farmers, buyers and agents. Farmers using 2KUZE can have direct access to buyers and conduct entire transactions via mobile phones, without having to walk for hours to the markets.

"We believe that by using mobile, a technology that is so ubiquitous among farmers in Africa, we can improve financial access, bring in operational efficiency and facilitate faster payments," said Daniel Monehin, Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa and head of financial inclusion for international markets at MasterCard.

2KUZE was developed at the MasterCard Lab for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi. The Lab was set up in 2015 to develop practical and cost-effective financial tools that expand access and help build stable futures for more than 100 million people globally. Through an $11 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Lab is working with East African entrepreneurs, governments and other stakeholders to develop local products rooted in the company's global knowhow.

"The collaboration between the Lab team and farmers in the market helped to deliver a solution that can be implemented and make an impact without any major changes to the day-to-day," Monehin added.  

2KUZE is one of several broad-based collaborations on which the MasterCard Lab for Financial Inclusion is working. The Lab is also exploring the potential for 2KUZE to help farming communities receive the right level of investment and to encourage more efficient ways of doing business with smallholder farmers.

MasterCard said eighty per cent of farmers in Africa are classified as smallholder farmers having less than 1-2 acres of farming land.

This solution in particular supports women farmers, who often have household duties that prevent them from leaving the farm gate and are more often subject to having to take whatever deal is given to them on the day. MasterCard said digitizing these transactions in a trusted, auditable environment provides a legitimate financial footprint, opening up access to loans and other financial services, and also introducing a more efficient process that benefits the entire value chain, as well as the overall economy.

The initial pilot of 2KUZE is being launched in partnership with Cafédirect Producers Foundation, a non-profit organization working with 300,000 smallholder farmers globally. Currently, 2,000 small-scale farmers in Nandi Hills, Kenya are using the solution to sell their produce and also working with farmer-friendly agents to ensure they reach the right buyers for the best price.