The Government of United States yesterday honoured two Nepali firms for implementing innovative Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions to boost agriculture productivity.

Nepali firms stood in the list of top four international firms selected for the Global Data-Driven Farming Prize under the US Government’s Feed the Future Initiative.

Kathmandu-based ICT firm Db2Map received a cash prize of USD 100,000 for its GEO Krishi programme, under which, it uses satellite data and relevant information from other official sources to assess soil condition and help farmers in maximizing their crop productivity.

Another firm, ICT for Agriculture, was awarded USD 50,000 for their mobile and web-based platform that provides agriculture-related information to the farmers in rural areas.

Addressing the event, Acting Mission Director at USAID Amy Tohill-Stull said, “Data should no longer reside on computer servers at research institutes. We must make it open and accessible to Nepal’s farmers, agribusiness owners, and all stakeholders across the agriculture value chain. This is what we mean by data-driven farming.”

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Data-Driven Farming Prize in February 2017. This USD 300,000 prize recognizes innovation-driven approaches that can help small-scale farmers in improving their crop productivity.

While a total of 143 participants from 21 countries applied (including 83 from Nepal), only 13 were finalized for the award and six of the finalists were from Nepal.

The post US Honors Nepali Firms for Innovative Agriculture Solutions appeared first on Nepali Sansar.