Increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries and promoting youth employment and entrepreneurship are important recommendations of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play an important role. Young entrepreneurs using ICT innovations are particularly suited to contribute to increased agricultural productivity and sustainability given their inventiveness, energy and capacity to take risks.

An increasing number of young innovative entrepreneurs in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are developing ICTs for agriculture solutions to support agricultural value chains, providing employment and livelihood opportunities.

To highlight ACP entrepreneurs’ important contribution and to emphasise the need for strengthening their endeavours, CTA, in collaboration with Ashoka's Youth Venture, has produced the publication Innovate for Agriculture.

The winners of the Durban AgriHack Talent Challenge, which took place from 28 November to 02 December 2015 in Durban in South Africa, were announced on 2nd December, at the closing ceremony of the Global Forum for Innovation in Agriculture, African Edition (GFIA Africa).

For more information, go to event's website http://durban-agrihack.ict4ag.org/

The AgriHack Talent Caribbean initiative has been launched with the planning meeting that was held in Jamaïca. A Call for Expression of Interest will be launched on 2 August 2014 to the attention of Caribbean labs and hubs interested to partner on the programme.

The 40 Chances Fellows program will fund four 40 Chances Fellows with the most innovative social enterprise plans that use strategies built on the principles of 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World.  These social enterprises must seek to address issues of hunger, conflict, or poverty and may be established in any one of the following four countries where the Africa Governance Initiative has a strong presence: Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Malawi.

The Google Innovation Awards 2013 (Agriculture Innovation category) went to the Youth Agro Environmental initiative, a Kenyan firm that runs a campaign focused on bringing youth back to agriculture. The winners were announced yesterday at the Connected Kenya Summit in Mombassa.