KATHMANDU, August 30, 2016 – Entrepreneurs, Government of Nepal officials and farmers came together at a U.S. Government Feed the Future initiative event to showcase new farming practices that will increase production and improve the incomes of farmers. Many new farming technologies come from young entrepreneurs, under 35, including low-cost sensors to monitor soil, smart phone apps to answer tricky farming questions, and solar-powered irrigation. These young entrepreneurs show farmers how to use the latest technologies and business models to improve farm productivity and incomes.

Anil Regmi, a 23-year old, and founder of Smart Krishi has connected over 20,000 farmers with a new mobile-application that provides real-time data and answers to tech questions from farmers. Sunfarmer, another startup, applies an innovative business model to encourage smallholder farmers in rural Nepal to rent solar-powered irrigation. "With access to the energy services the operational efficiency has increased, allowing farmers to expand business” said Avishek Malla, the President of SunFarmer. “One of the many advantages of technology is that it can help collect the data that will help the government improve its planning and extension services to farmers,” said Uttam Kumar Bhattarai, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture Development.

The Tech4Farmers Challenge encourages tech producers throughout Asia to expand proven, agriculture technologies into commercial markets in Nepal, Cambodia, and Bangladesh.  Visit the Tech4Farmers Challenge website at: http://tech4farmerschallenge.ku.ac.th/ for more information on how the project can help accelerate new technologies in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Nepal. The USAID Feed the Future Asia Innovative Farmers Project, which is based in Bangkok, Thailand and implemented by Winrock International, organized today's event to help build a strong and resourceful 'Regional Agriculture Innovation Community' that links entrepreneurs, researchers, government officials, and technologists to advance a shared goal of improving incomes for smallholder farmers.

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