Across Africa, digital agriculture is reshaping how young people see farming. Drones, climate apps, mobile advisory platforms are making agriculture look cool, profitable and modern.
It’s working: the majority of digital agriculture users in Africa are aged 15–35, showing how technology is pulling a new generation back to farming. From Hello Tractor in Nigeria to DigiFarm in Kenya, young people are driving adoption. Projects like Hinga Weze in Rwanda and startups like M-Omulimisa in Uganda are proving the same thing: give youth the right tools, and they transform agriculture into a business worth staying in.
And no one shows this better than 36 year old Amos Langat in Kericho County, Kenya.
A Coffee Farmer Who Refused to Settle
When Amos started farming coffee six years ago, his yields were painfully low.
“In years when I did not use Virtual Agronomist, I was picking around 1,200 kilos on my farm of one and a quarter acres” he remembers. Then he met iSDA’s team at a seminar and decided to try Virtual Agronomist. “I loved what they were saying… I just came and started tracking them.”
He followed the advice step by step: digging trenches to manage water, applying fertiliser in new ways, adjusting how he worked his canopy. The difference was extraordinary.
“When I adopted Virtual Agronomist, my production increased up to 6,000 kilos.”
From His Plot to 15,000 Others
But Amos’s story isn’t only about his own success. It’s about what he chose to do next.
“I enjoy meeting people in their farms, teaching them how they can adopt Virtual Agronomist,” he says. “The farmers I am visiting nowadays are very, very happy because they have seen amazing results.”
Amos has now convinced 15,000 farmers in Kericho County to use Virtual Agronomist.
That number is staggering. Most agricultural extension programmes struggle to reach that many farmers with entire teams. Amos has done it as one man — by walking farm to farm, showing results, training a network of lead farmers and helping neighbours make the leap.
This is what makes iSDA’s lead farmer model powerful: when advice comes from someone you know and trust, you believe it. And you act on it.
Farming as a Future
For Amos, the benefits are deeply personal.
“My income has increased. I can pay school fees for my children. I can employ other farmers when I need labour.”
That’s what scale looks like when it’s real: higher productivity, better livelihoods and stronger communities. And with young leaders like Amos, farming is no longer the last resort for youth — it’s a career worth committing to.
Grounded in Reality. Ready to Scale.
Virtual Agronomist has gone from 250,000 farm plots to over 350,000 plots in a matter of months, now reaching 250,000 farmers directly. Amos proves what those numbers mean in practice. He is not only harvesting more himself, he is multiplying adoption across his community at an extraordinary pace. 15,000 farmers inspired by one farmer. That’s what scaling looks like when you put youth at the centre.
👉 Want to learn more or partner with us to scale this impact? Contact us.
