The World Bank’s Agriculture Observatory, with the support of Draper University, is launching three Agriculture Innovation Challenges. The Challenges call for innovative agriculture risk financing tools to help inform public sector policy in Southern Africa and inform decision making regarding allocation of public resources to reduce economic losses, poverty, and food insecurity.

The severity and frequency of extreme weather events and threats from plant and livestock pests and diseases threaten to undermine efforts to reduce economic losses and improve food security in Southern Africa.

The three Innovation Challenges are designed to invite solutions for alternative ways to collect or monitor datasets and indices that can be used to assess the various dimensions of impact from agricultural stressors in a granular, scalable and dynamic way.

Organized under three thematic areas, the Innovation Challenges are open to proposals under the following set of technical specifications:

Challenge 1: Alternative Methods for Measuring Weather Variables

Weather data is essential for the development of risk finance mechanisms and other key tools to strengthen the financial resilience of farmers to climatic shocks. This includes measurements of excess rainfall and rainfall deficit, among other variables.

Challenge 2: Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases

Predicting or Monitoring Animal and/or Plant Pests or Disease Outbreaks
Pathogens are expanding in new areas never affected before, exacting significant economic cost on the livestock and crop sector. Prevention and early warning for rapid response are essential. To better understand how cases affect global economies and food prices around the world, read this insight from Gro Intelligence.

Challenge 3: Agriculture Data

Bring your Own Agriculture Data
Objective, transparent, accessible, and accurate data is essential to develop high quality, affordable risk financing instruments (such as insurance) or agriculture information systems. With the expansion of novel data collection techniques, non-traditional methods of data collection can leap-frog traditional methods such as yield collection and expand the scope and availability of risk financing instruments for farmers.

The winners of each challenge will win the opportunity to:
● Present their solutions to a panel of experts from top international institutions in a Shark Tank format;
● Exhibit their proposal work in a report on agriculture innovations by the World Bank and partners;
● Be featured in key media outlets as an innovator in the area;
● Attend an award ceremony in Washington, D.C., (all expenses paid) and have the opportunity to interact with potential partners.
● Receive additional prizes from the selected sponsors & partners.
Participants must submit their applications by April 2nd, 2020. Learn more and submit an application at: https://bit.ly/2WaOkzi

If you would like more information about the Innovation Challenge, email Kristina Louise Zittel at kzittel@worldbank.org
For more information, visit the Innovation Challenge website.

Chaineum : Neo Investment Banking Firm
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