Hack4Farming is calling on Nairobi-based programmers, developers, analysts and data scientists to apply to take part in a two-day Hack4Farming event in July

The Hack4Farming event will take place in Nairobi, Kenya in July, with agriculture stakeholders, programmers, developers and data scientists invited from all over the globe to participate.

Organised by aWhere, an agricultural solutions company in partnership with Microsoft, the event is looking to develop data solutions that can be utilised by East African seed companies to offer farmers actionable information or products to help them cope with challenges such as adverse weather conditions, poor soils, and market access problems.

“We are working to help smallholder farmers adapt to changing conditions and to take advantage of new technologies, but it remains challenging to provide insights that are current, relevant, and specific to the farmer’s location and circumstances,” said event organisers.

“Fortunately, more data and technologies are available to East African agribusiness than ever before, ready to be packaged into innovative tools and market insights,” organisers continued.

“At Hack4Farming Nairobi 2016, seed company representatives will present their most pressing information challenges to teams of Nairobi-based software developers, and the hackers will have 48 hours to design, prototype, and pitch solutions.”

Hack4Farming aims to demonstrate the potential of advanced agriculture intelligence in the East African market, and will connect agribusiness actors with developers.

The winning hackathon team, as determined by a panel of judges, will receive a shared cash prize of US$2,000, as well as the opportunity to work with aWhere and participating seed companies to develop and deploy their project.