Cost-effective aquaponic solutions for developing farmers in Rwanda.

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In Rwanda, 1million+ smallholder farmers who wish to provide a nutritious protein and plant-based diet while increasing yields to support economic growth are limited by: high capital costs for high yield solutions, basic farming techniques, lack of food security and consistent rainfall, few routes to market, and a dependency trap reliant on other solutions. NjordFrey (NF), offers these farmers access to sustainably designed aquaponic starter kits via an outgrower model, seasonal input product lines (e.g. seeds & fingerlings), operational training to become independent, and facilitate routes to market. In collaboration with University of West of Scotland (UWS) this project develops a digital farm health monitoring system with a high-tech back end (distributed sensing and data analytics framework) with low-tech front end approach (sms/voice call) to feedback actions to farmers in an inclusive manner. This provides NF with a data driven product to capture market share in Rwanda,removes high up-front costs and technical barriers, provides increased yields of organic produce, increases calorie intake by 28% and income by 4-fold for up to 80,000 farmers and their families, via 2,000+ farms within 10 years. Tackling malnutrition to improve livelihoods through this model is an innovative first within Rwanda.