Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Monday, May 12, 2014

Innovation Prize for Africa 2014 recognizes African mechanization

5 May 2014. Abuja, Nigeria. As global leaders gathered for the 2014 World Economic Forum on Africa to discuss approaches to inclusive growth and job creation, the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA 2014) innovators demonstrated that the best way to achieve equitable economic growth for all Africans is to invest in local innovation and entrepreneurship.

Selected from about 700 applications from 42 countries the IPA has awarded its 2014 prize to Dr Nicolaas Duneas and Nuno Peres, from South Africa for their an innovative product for the treatment of bone injuries. The IPA 2014 also recognized two runners up for their contributions to African innovation.

  1. In the business potential category, Logou Minsob (Togo) received USD 25,000 for his Foufou Mix, a food processor designed to replace the mortar and pestles used to prepare Foufou, a popular dish in West Africa. 
  2. In the social impact category, Melesse Temesgen (Ethiopia) received USD 25 000 for developing the Aybar Broad Based Furrow Maker (BBM), a low-cost farming device that is used to easily drain excess water from waterlogged fields.


From South Africa to Niger, the IPA 2014 finalists - in the field of agriculture - were: 

Daniel Gitau Thairu (Kenya)

Domestic Waste Biogas System

The Domestic Waste Biogas System is a new type of biogas digester which utilizes any material capable of decomposing instead of relying on animal dung to generate gas. Materials that can be used include dirty water, leftover food, spoiled grain, and vegetable and fruit peelings. This makes biogas usable even by households that cannot afford animals.



Elise Rasel Cloete (South Africa) - GMP Traceability Management Software CC

This software is programmed to capture, store and trace data about livestock and enables data to be captured in real-time. The data is then stored in an ear tag placed on livestock and backed up on a remote server.



Logou Minsob (Togo)Foufoumix

This is a device designed to replace the mortar and pestles used in preparing the popular West African dish, foufou. The “FOUFOUMIX " is a small electrical food processor that allows generates discreet, quick and hygienic foufou in 8 minutes, substantially reducing the amount of time needed to prepare the dish, while also enhancing the hygienic conditions during production.


AUDIO SUR LE SUJET + Video at the bottom of this blog post


Maman Abdou Kane (Niger) - Horticultural tele irrigation

The "Horticultural Tele-Irrigation system is a technological process that allows growers to remotely control their market garden irrigation system through a mobile or landline regardless of geographic location.



Melesse Temesgen (Ethiopia)Aybar BBM

The Aybar BBM is a low-cost farming device that can be used by farmers to plough fields that are usually waterlogged and helps them easily drain the water. This turns soils or fields that were otherwise unavailable for farming into high yielding fields.


Sulaiman Bolarinde Famro (Nigeria) - Farmking Mobile Multi-crop Processor
The innovation uses centrifugal forces to process cassava, sweet potatoes, soy, she-nuts, grains and cereals. It helps to separate the tubers from liquid, particles and impurities/toxic elements. The extractor is designed to replace the present crude fermentation and pressing technology which is extremely slow and wasteful and offers limited output and profitability. The extractor reduces a process that normally takes 3 - 4 days into a 5 minute process offering higher quality product outputs.

IPA 2014 Best Social Innovation
Melesse Temesgen
IPA 2014 Runner Up
Logou Minsob

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