Taita Ngetich’s dreams for agriculture in Africa are grand. The MIT Leadership and Innovation graduate and a Mandela Washington Fellow founded Synnefa, an agri-tech start-up that is transforming the way Kenyan and regional farmers adapt to climate change by embedding smart, AI-driven solutions.
This intervention has onboarded 27,000 farmers across Africa to eliminate guesswork in farming.
The force behind this push is to increase incomes for smallholder farmers while making agriculture adaptive to an increasingly unpredictable climate.
The company works closely with government programmes to ensure its solutions are part of national climate adaptation strategies and partners with international funders, including the Carbon Trust and Energy Savings Trust in the UK to make cutting-edge technology affordable for farmers.
"Investing in people, extension officers, infrastructure, and finance is just as critical as the tools themselves. It’s a system change, not just a tech solution."
His motivation is deeply personal. He grew up in Nyabangi, Kericho, where he watched his mother rely on farming. That sense of purpose drives him through the challenges of introducing smart tech to farmers especially the ones who are older and less familiar with digi-platforms.
He is particularly concerned about outdated equipment and knowledge gaps in rural communities, noting that practices and tools introduced decades ago, like the jembe, are still commonplace.
The father of two says that technology alone isn’t the silver bullet. “Technology is a partner, not a replacement. Investing in people, extension officers, infrastructure, and finance is just as critical as the tools themselves. It’s a system change, not just a tech solution.”
What would he do different? “I would fire all the middlemen and equip farmer cooperatives to directly access global markets by connecting them to global buyers directly.
His rod and staff? Reading the Bible and taking a walk daily.
-Marion Sitawa