Amber Hickman |
Cacao Conecta – a project led by Microsoft, the US Agency for International Development, the Ideas for Peace Foundation and the National Chocolates Company – has helped Colombian cocoa producers increase productivity by an average of 15 per cent since its conception in 2021.
The project was launched to help Colombian farmers that work in remote areas stay connected to the world for business, social and education purposes.
“One opportunity that was identified was how to promote the importance and use of technology and then, obviously, how to solve the connectivity issues that we know are very complicated,” said Natalia López, director of Cacao Conecta. “For example, we have an indigenous community that is about a three-hour walk from a cell phone signal.”
Microsoft worked with Anditel, one of its partners, to install 26 connectivity points across rural Colombian regions. These were connected through satellites and TV white spaces technology.
Cocoa producers can access the free network from any of the 26 connectivity points in the region
The project has also improved education opportunities in the region by providing children with access to virtual classrooms and online programmes, and farmers with training that helps them to improve their crops.
“Connectivity has been a window to the world for producers and they are working for a purpose, which is to improve the wellbeing of their own and their families,” said Luis Daniel Correa Rendón, technical coordinator at Cacao Conecta. “By being able to access information and by having those doors to the open world they can, in real time, solve difficulties that they have in their crops, or even make a call to the field technician and he can tell them what to do.”