Disruptive Agricultural Technologies (DATs)- Innovation Challenge


The DATs innovation challenge was organized by the World Bank- Uganda and the Agriculture Cluster development project to discover and link Disruptive Agricultural Technology (DAT) solutions to challenges faced by the e-Voucher system. The event was held on the 19th of November 2019 at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, Uganda.

The Permanent Secretary MAAIF and World Bank Uganda Officials  pictured
 with Innovation Challenge finalists- Speke Resort Muyonyo.

The e-Voucher system is the instrument for providing a time-bound, partial, and diminishing matching grant for the purchase of key farm inputs. Farmers contribute towards the purchase of key inputs needed to intensify the production of one of the prioritized commodities, on one acre of their farms and improve post-harvest handling through investing in farm-level storage.

Eligible farm households receive an e-Voucher that covers part of the expense involved in the purchase of a group of inputs (fertilizer, seed, on-farm storage, access to technical and market information) Each farm household chooses the specific combination of inputs purchased through the e-Voucher system from the menu of eligible inputs through ICT tools including mobile phones).


The  main objective of the e-Voucher system is to manage and track project beneficiaries and subsidy use. Specifically, the e-Voucher system ensures  that a farmer receives input subsidy support, receives vital and relevant agro information, as a result, a farmer becomes visible to:
E Farm inputs supply chain
E Financial system and the
E Agricultural extension system

The Innovation Challenge catered to ACDP four challenge areas – (i) agricultural productivity, (ii) market linkages, (iii) financial inclusion and (iv) data analytics.  The process began with an advert for expression of interest, to which 80 applicants responded. This was followed by a boot camp organized in partnership with the Innovation Village where 15 shortlisted applicants pitched their solutions with guidance from technical experts from MAAIF and ACDP. From the boot camp, 12 applicants made it for the Innovation Conference.

Four winners selected after a rigorous process of evaluation from each category were

  1.        Financial Inclusion- M-Cash Uganda Limited
  2.        Advisory and Information for Agricultural Productivity- M-Omulimisa
  3.             Market Linkages- AkelloBanker
  4.              Datacare (U) Limited

These four finalists will be expected to work with MAAIF to resolve a number of e-related challenges and innovations.

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