Across Africa, smallholder farmers are already grappling with climate shocks and low yields, which pose deepening threats to their livelihoods. In Tanzania, poor farming practices have increased emissions by over 17% while slashing productivity in half. Annually, the country loses $1.5 billion to agricultural inefficiencies.
As climate impacts intensify, innovative solutions enabling farmers to make smarter, sustainable decisions are urgently needed. Mazao Hub meets this need by providing Tanzanian farmers with affordable, real-time soil analytics and tailored recommendations to boost yields and incomes.
Here’s why we invested in Mazao Hub:
Mazao Hub empowers farmers with three interconnected services:
Together, these tools enable farmers to make data-driven decisions that improve productivity and climate resilience. Mazao Hub's solution has already helped over 14,000 farmers increase yields by an average of 150% while cutting mineral fertilizer usage and costs by 30% and boosting organic manure usage by 500%.
By giving overlooked smallholders the precision insights they need to thrive, Mazao Hub is driving a sustainable agricultural transformation across Tanzania. We couldn't be more excited to back their impactful approach, blending cutting-edge tech with grassroots farmer engagement.
Mazao Hub's innovation lies in making precision agriculture accessible and actionable for smallholders. Their proprietary soil sensors automate the collection of real-time data on key metrics like nutrients, pH, moisture and temperature. Results are available within just 5 minutes of testing.
Integrated with the sensors is Mazao Hub's analytics software platform. It translates the granular soil data into farm management recommendations tailored to boosting yields and profitability. Farmers gain customized advice for their specific crops, fields and objectives.
Lastly, through partnerships with local agribusinesses, Mazao Hub establishes Farmer Excellence Centers in rural communities. Here, farmers can access in-person support from MazaoHub, such as soil testing, and can act on data insights - from buying prescribed inputs to implementing precision irrigation. This "tech and touch" model ensures the barrier to adoption remains low.
By democratizing access to timely, comprehensive, and actionable farm data, Mazao Hub's inventive solution empowers Africa's smallholders to make informed decisions that drive productivity and sustainability. We believe this is key to the continent's agricultural transformation.
Mazao Hub's innovative offering targets a massive market. Across East Africa, 50 million smallholder farmers stand to benefit from their solution. Having demonstrated early traction and impact in Tanzania, Mazao Hub is poised for growth.
In 2023, the startup generated revenues from three core offerings: soil testing, software subscriptions, and sales commissions. To expand, they aim to manufacture more low-cost soil sensors, grow their subscriber base, and deepen partnerships with input providers and produce off-takers.
Our collaboration will support Mazao Hub's ambitious growth goals. We'll work together to forge strategic alliances that accelerate the startup's expansion across Tanzania's $25B agricultural market and beyond to East Africa's $1.2B precision farming opportunity.
We are thrilled to combine our regional networks and sector expertise with Mazao Hub's innovative model. Together, we'll empower millions of smallholders with the data-driven insights needed to build sustainable, productive, and climate-resilient livelihoods.
We are thrilled to combine their dynamism with our networks and expertise towards empowering millions of overlooked groups to build productive resilience in the face of climate change.
Read more from our team at Catalyst Fund
