Africa IPM Alliance wins SoilCares competition for best marketing strategy

Earlier this year we asked our Kenyan partners to submit their best marketing strategy ideas and get a chance to win 100 free soil analyses. The winner was announce during the SoilCares Clinic held on February 1st 2018 in Nairobi. The idea of Africa IPM Alliance for a Treedom Program where farmers are given free fruit tree seedlings if they have their soil analyzed first was selected as the best approach to popularize soil testing.

The Competition

SoilCares asked all partners in Kenya who offer soil testing and recommendation services to farmers with SoilCares Scanner to submit their best marketing strategy ideas. The 250-word description of their marketing strategy had to include a clear explanation of the value proposition for their clients and focus on 3 challenges:

• Adoption of the technology by farmers;
• Awareness and understanding of the importance of soil fertility for sustainable production;
• Logistics and operations.

The winner

The best marketing strategy was submitted by Africa IPM Alliance. Christy van Beek, director of SoilCares Foundation: “We received four excellent ideas proposed by our partners. We selected Africa IPM Alliance as a winner, particularly because we appreciate their idea for a Treedom program. It gives a very direct incentive to do soil analysis.”

The Treedom Program

The Treedom program aims at capacity building and farmers’ livelihood improvement through providing fruit trees seedlings for free. The first requirement from the beneficiary before planting the seedlings is to understand the importance of testing and the procedure involved. Therefore, Africa IPM Alliance has made it mandatory that farmers who have been nominated to receive trees must first have their soil tested and understand its status. This approach has been able to avail samples for testing as well as increase farmer reach in those specific areas.

More about Africa IPM Alliance (AIA)

Africa IPM Alliance is an organization that promotes sustainable development through its different programmes that are geared towards reducing the problems that farmers face. One of the key elements in our development strategies is improving production through well managed and fertile soils. AIA is convinced of the importance of soil testing as an integral part of their package to the farmers. AIA therefore has incorporated soil scanning in all their programmes.

For more information: www.africaipmalliance.org

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