Microorganism-based agriculture

Food insecurity has crippled the lives of many people worldwide and majority of them are concentrated in resources-constrained households. The high prevalence of food insecurity has called for increasing food production due to the growing demand. Additionally, growing urbanization and affluence in developing countries have intensified utilization of chemical fertilizers which are known to degrade agricultural lands. Organic manure releases huge amount of CO2 in the environment. The continuous use of these chemical fertilizers and organic manure has degraded agricultural lands and extensively escalated chances for climate change. These scenarios confirm therefore the need to shift from chemical fertilizers and organic manure from a more sustainable approach. Our solution is to use novel microorganisms such as Pseudomona Putida coupled with conservational agricultural practices. Our solution has proven to increase aerial biomass by 40%, hence increased ability to retain more CO2, increased agricultural productivity by 70% and underground biomass by 50%. 

Overutilization of chemical fertilizers and organic manure has led to the decline in soil fertility and change in climate patters in developing countries. This has drastically reduced the ability of the current generation to meet the growing food demand and impeded sustainable agricultural production. In Benin, most agricultural lands have been exposed to this problem. In Africa, 60 % of agricultural lands have been deteriorated and communities have embarked on degrading the handful of agricultural lands in good state. Given the fact that agriculture is the major livelihood in most developing countries, 70 % of the Beninese population are affected by this problem and 49 % are affected in Africa.

Our solution will solve a number of factors contributing to the problem. The use of microorganisms such as Pseudomona Putida as fertilizers provides an undeniable option to avoid utilization of chemical fertilizers. Pseudomona Putida has also shown to increase aerial biomass by 50% hence retaining a huge amount of CO2, a greenhouse gaz.  Our solution therefore will contribute towards counteracting these factors. The adoption of good conservational agriculture practices will also preserve soil integrity, hence boosting agricultural production even in the long run.    

Our solution is centered towards bio-technology. It is concerned with the use of highly efficient microorganisms such as Pseudomanas Putida and adoption of innovative and conservative agricultural practices. Our solution has been proven experimentally to boost agricultural productivity by 70 % and increase the levels of key nutrients in the crops and reduce CO2 in the environment. Inoculation of Pseudomona Putida significantly increased the levels of cellular metabolites like proline, chlorophyll, sugars, starch and proteins. It increased the root and shoot length, dry biomass, tiller, spike let and grain formation of crops over uninoculated plants. Inoculation reduced membrane injury and the activity of several antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, APX and CAT under heat stress. It increases agricultural productivity by stimulating the production of hormones such as auxin. This is of utmost importance since the outputs are very rich in nutrients, key molecules needed to combat malnutrition. It is the most sustainable approach that could be used to meet the growing food demand. The technology combines efficiency with effectiveness and renders crops less prone to weather stresses. It helps to mitigate adverse effects of climate changes on crop growth. It is a technology of the future worth scaling up. 

We are working to directly and meaningfully improve the lives of rural communities, the most vulnerable household members, and farmers producing at both at small and large scale. They are the primary stakeholders concerned with the problem we are solving. In 2019, we had conducted a survey on the challenges faced by key actors in their attempt to boost agricultural productivity. The results revealed that the aforementioned stakeholders need alternative and sustainable ways/options to boost their production. Based on the research outcomes, these stakeholders were engaged using a participatory approach. The solution was tested among 100 rural farmers under a community-based project sponsored by the MasterCard Foundation. The innovation was tested using the farmer school approach where the innovation was compared to peasant practice. This approach enabled the farmers to own the innovation and to understand the details pertaining to it.  

Our solution will address our primary stakeholder’s needs through the adoption of the Pseudomonas Putida as fertilizer and conservational agricultural practices such as mulching. 

Our solution is sustainably solving the problem of land degradation, climate change, low agricultural yields and . We are new emerging microorganisms such Pseudomas Putida to boost agricultural productivity in a sustainable way and to reduce carbon emission. 

Our target groups are medium and large scale farmers who are faced with the challenge of poor agricultural yields and low nutrient levels in their crops.   

Our solution is innovative in the sense that our core technology ( use of Pseudomanas Putida) is novel and has not been used by any other organisations to date.  It combines efficiency with efficacy to solve challenges that are being faced by farmers. We have no competitors in our region and people who aim to combat land degradation are using organic manure which releases carbon dioxide n the environment. The uniqueness of our solution resides in the fact that it increases crop yield while . The substantial reduction in carbon by 40 % level is also peculiar to our solution

Our solution is centered towards bio-technology. It is concerned with the use of highly efficient microorganisms such as Pseudomanas Putida and adoption of innovative and conservative agricultural practices. Our solution has been proven experimentally to boost agricultural productivity by 70 % and increase the levels of key nutrients in the crops and reduce CO2 in the environment. Inoculation of Pseudomona Putida significantly increased the levels of cellular metabolites like proline, chlorophyll, sugars, starch and proteins. It increased the root and shoot length, dry biomass, tiller, spike let and grain formation of crops over uninoculated plants. Inoculation reduced membrane injury and the activity of several antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, APX and CAT under heat stress. It increases agricultural productivity by stimulating the production of hormones such as auxin. This is of utmost importance since the outputs are very rich in nutrients, key molecules needed to combat malnutrition. 

The technology that powers our solution has been tested experimentally in reputable laboratories in Benin and in the United States of America. Its effectiveness as well as efficiency have been well research. Permission for its use has been granted by the Beninese Food quality Authority. Numerous research papers have been published in high impact factor journal based in Europe and USA 

Data collected from stakeholders reveal that, the adoption of Pseudomona Putida as fertlizer boosted agricultural productivity by  70 %, increased nutrient levels in crops by 50% and reduced carbon emission by 60%

Our solution is currently serving 500 medium and large scale farmers in Beninese rural communities. We expect to expand the solution to other regions of Benin and reach over 1500 farmers in the next one year. In five years, we will have introduced our solution to Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana. We are in the process of partnering with community based organisations in these African Countries so as to reach farmers groups. 

Our goals within the next one year is to sustainably boost agricultural productivity and increase nutrient levels in crops for 1000 farmers in all regions of Benin.  We intend to reduce carbon emission by 50 %.  

Within the next five years, We intend to scale our technology up and reach farmers in other African countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Ghana. 

The major barrier that hinders the achievement of our goal is lack of funds. The grant awarded by MasterCard Foundation and African Union enabled us to train over 500 farmers on our solution. At the moment, we do lack funds to reach more farmers so as to help as many farmers as possible. Whereas most farmers have high interest in the use of emerging microorganisms, some of them have exhibited substantial fear towards the solution given its novelty. The deployment of our solution to other African countries within the next 5 years will require more financial resources

We plan to overcome the financial barrier by winning the MIT grant. We have submitted proposals to different funding agencies and are hopeful for a positive feedback. We are continuously raising awareness to counteract this issue of fear farmers. We are also using the farmer school approach to increase adoption level. We have been conducting farmer demonstration sessions where we invite the most successful farmers who are using our technology to give testimonials to their peers. We plan to continue sensitizing farmers through radio talk shows in local languages.   

2 full-time staff work on the solution 

1. Melas Cayrol Adoko

My name is Adoko Melas Cayrol and I am a Beninese by nationality. I am a food security specialist with 7 years’ experience in food technology, food processing and preservation, food science, food security, agricultural development, project planning and management. I hold a first class Masters of Science in food technology and community nutrition, a first class Postgraduate diploma in Project Planning and Management and a first class bachelor’s degree in Food Technology. Currently, I am working as a food technologist for the African Union under the AUYVC program. I am also a Nutrition officer in an FAO funded project focused on reducing food insecurity and acute malnutrition in refugee settlements in Uganda and a Food processing consultant t in the Rice CARP project sponsored by MasterCard Foundation. I am a lecturer of various undergraduate course units such as: Food technology, Food quality management, Postharvest Technology, Principles of Food processing and preservation among others at Gulu University. Additionally, I am the Director of the Uganda Food Bank (UBA), a non-profit organization which collects foods from donors, controls their quality and redistribute to poor and vulnerable households.  

2. Jemima Alla Houessou 

Jemima Alla Houessou is an agriculture expert with 8 years relevant work experience. She is a female Beninese with expertise in agricultural economics (sustainable agricultural production, agricultural value chain and marketing analysis, promotion of underutilized crop and acceleration of agrientrepreneurship). 

We have partnered with FAO, MastercARED AND The African Union 

These organisations provide us with research grants 

We have also partnerred with CBO for easy implementation 

We provide medium scale and large scale farmers with Pseudomonas Putida and train them on its use. At pilot phase, we did not charge our stakeholders any fee. In a bid to ensure sustainability, we intend to charge a modest fee in the long run. Our technology has increased our farmer's agricultural yields and increased nutrient levels in crops. farmers are excited about the use of our technology since it preserves land integrity and reduces carbon emission. The increase in agricultural productivity has increased farmers income levels and substantially improved their lives. 

We are applying to solve because our solution will sustainably improve livelihoods for farmers. Specifically, our solution will boost agricultural productivity, increase nutrient levels in crops and reduce carbon emission. Our solution is novel