2020 will be remembered in history as the Covid-19 year and the final accelerating event that turned virtual communications into the new normal.

The application of drones in African Agriculture is seen as the holy grail of modernizing agriculture. It is a high tech application with endless opportunities, although it is not being used to its full potential.

To explore the potential of drones in agriculture in an African context, two 2020 newborn digital initiatives join forces. The African Farmers Stories, together with AgriFoodNetworks.org, would like to invite you – as part of the IFAMA2020 goes Digital series – to our drones webinar on Thursday December, 17 2020, from 16:00 – 18:00 (CET).


PATS - Bat-like Drones for Insect Control


During the webinar, several key experts – amongst others Samson Ogbole (founder Soilless Farm Lab), Dr Ikechi Agugba (Rivers State University) and Bram Tijmons (PATS Indoor Drone Solutions), Herman Krebbers (Delphy) – will provide their view on how drones can benefit agriculture in Africa. Victoria Madedor (The African Farmers Stories) and Coen Hubers (LDE, Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Greenport Hub) will be the moderators. They will announce the final programme next week.


Meet Samson Ogbole, the innovator of soiless farming in Nigeria


About Support4AfricaSMEs and The African Farmers' Stories
Support4AfricaSMEs is a campaign that was launched to address the needs of African SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises) during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic through storytelling and the provision of useful information or resources.

Our goal is to provide visibility for SMEs and small holder farmers that can help attract investments or partnerships, while educating them through trainings and webinars, all under the overarching vision of propagating hope.

Through our interview series on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, articles on LinkedIn developed from the transcripts of these interviews, and mini-documentaries, we have raised awareness about the plight of local farmers and business owners continent-wide.

The campaign has launched two main initiatives: The African Farmers' Stories and The African SME Stories which have the same goal of sharing African stories of hope, innovation and resilience; crowd-sourcing and promoting in-kind resources, schemes, and initiatives. They focus on agribusiness and entrepreneurship respectively.

In addition to hosting live interviews and tweet chats, The African Farmers' Stories has organized webinars that brought together speakers and hundreds of attendees from countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Singapore and the UK. It has also spotlighted issues such as the Oke-Aro Swine Flu pandemic and the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease that reportedly claimed over 250,000 pigs and over 100,000 rabbits respectively. This initiative, launched in May 2020, has amassed a growing membership of over 2000 farmers and enthusiasts who engage and interact on our WhatsApp and Telegram communities.

Founded by the duo of prolific filmmaker and former CEO of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Parminder Vir OBE, and renowned Nigerian agribusiness expert, Victoria Madedor, Support4AfricaSMEs is run by diverse team of pan-African volunteers and has partnerships with companies such as Big Dutchman, Clarke Energy, Ajike People's Support Centre, Full range Microfinance Bank, Business Day, JMSF Agribusiness and more.