Month: March 2025

Empowering Women Livestock farmers through technology

Posted on by team galvmed

Gender gaps in men and women’s access to resources, inputs and services mean their work in agricultural value chains falls far short of their potential in terms of scale, productivity, and output, causing huge costs to their households. We sit down with Dr Tom Osebe, GALVmed’s Senior Manager for Commercial Development in Africa to discuss how digital tools can empower women livestock farmers and enable them to be active decision makers in the management of livestock production in their homes and communities.   

What are some of the challenges facing women when it comes to adopting new technology in animal health?

Typically in Africa, the animals kept in the household are owned by the husband or significant male, leaving women and their children responsible for offering husbandry services. Adopting technology here suggests exercising management decisions which in many cases does not rest with them. There is also an aspect of penetration of internet services and cost where it is available. Where women don’t handle the income, financing this may be a limiting factor.

What can be done to empower more women to adopt technology in the animal health sector?

Advocacy and education can play a huge role to influence management mandates on the farm to be progressively delegated from men to women. Educating women in farm management practices and entrepreneurship could contribute to more women having a strong influence in growing their mandate in livestock production in their homes. There is also need to institute women friendly financial solutions that are relevant for livestock production to grow their investment capacity.

In your opinion, what would be the results of more women adopting technology in the sector?  

Women tend to juggle many balls in the home beyond livestock keeping. They have to ensure meals are made, water fetched, tend to the children, visit the market and so on. Technology would be a big help in allowing them to stay on top the livestock production aspects when away from home or while undertaking other tasks. Adopting technology will also allow them to manage the farm remotely when they are not able to, due to situations like childbearing or illness. And finally, technology will make work efficient and effective which will directly lead to an increase in productivity of the livestock impacting the wider wellbeing of the family.

What are some of the market technologies GALVmed is working on that might benefit women livestock keepers and how?

GALVmed and some of our partners are working on a number of technologies that will add value to the livestock heath sector. One of them is the Telehealth platform which allows for livestock keepers including women to source for animal health service providers, enjoy remote care of their animals, maintain medical records among other features. On this, we are working with our partner VetNOW – a Digital Health Technology Company focused on driving the global transformation of veterinary healthcare – in consortium with The National Animal Disease Information Service (NADIS) and Africa veterinary technicians’ association (AVTA).

The other platform is the Market Intelligence Platform (MIP). GALVmed has partnered with AgNexus Africa -a Kenya based market research company- on a pilot basis, to develop an integrated MIP with current market size reports and market simulation components for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania- which is envisaged to support animal health companies to increase their investment in Africa. The MIP is being implemented alongside the agrodealers digitization and professionalization initiative to automate the collection of retailer-based market data and offer training to agrodealer through bespoke International Finance Corporation agrodealer training material. Better managed agrodealer stores will ensure women access a diverse portfolio of high quality products, for use at the farm.

We are striving to be inclusive in these digital platforms so that women can also benefit.

Anything else you’d like to add?

In many cases, there is a good understanding of value in the household. If women are helped to thrive in their livestock keeping, it strongly contributes to empowering them in the home. They progressively will exercise management responsibilities which will contribute to growing the general welfare of the home and the community.

This blog has been written by Beatrice Ouma as part of the International Women’s Day 2025

Digital inclusion: Increasing access to animal health digital technologies by women

Posted on by team galvmed

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the digitisation of agricultural value chains is enabling access to markets, assets and services for small-scale producers. Digital solutions such as online platforms providing access to farm inputs create efficiencies for both agribusinesses and farmers in the last mile. For example, in animal health, digital procurement solutions can also be bundled with digital advisory services that provide farmers with vital information on livestock disease management.

Women make up at least 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, but they are restricted by social norms and lack of access to resources which may enable them to benefit from digital services. Even though there has been an increase of mobile phone and internet adoption by women, the mobile gender gap is still relatively low at 8%. Women farmers working in agricultural value chains still lack the basic means to access digital services than men, reducing their likelihood of accessing and using digital agriculture solutions. And yet, most of these value chains are increasingly going digital, hindering even more women’s opportunities of progression. So how do we address this challenge and make the technologies more  inclusive?

Key to getting more women to adopt digital technologies is digital literacy training. Digital technology providers and projects need to increase both skills and functionality of these technologies for women farmers so they can use them efficiently, safely, and to their full potential.   

Projects also need to assess which services can best accommodate women farmers and women-led agribusinesses – and it is essential to work with women when rolling out these technologies. For example, information on small animal disease management and poultry could be one area that women are more likely to be interested in and benefit from.

Improving the user experience for female farmers, whether that’s by providing content in a variety of languages or creating a ticket system where female farmers can report difficulty using the services, will also significantly improve adoption by women.

Additionally, including other family members in digital literacy training and adoption, and providing engagement opportunities for male farmers to understand the value of women’s inclusion in digital agriculture services is also important.

GALVmed and partners are working on some crucial animal health digital platforms including a Market Intelligence Platform which is an online platform to address the lack of market data in Africa, and a tele-medicine/digital services app specifically catering for African small scale livestock producers. The telemedicine app will enable remote livestock care, and another complementing app for clinical sign recognition uses images of livestock diseases and symptoms to increase the accuracy of diagnosis.

As we move closer to rolling out these platforms and apps for use by small-scale producers, it is important to be gender aware of how they can be targeted to include female livestock producers, so no one is left behind. As the world works towards building more sustainable and resilient food systems, it is essential to include and empower women farmers to play their critical role in feeding the world. Digital technologies can empower women and promote gender equality in the agricultural sector and inclusion is very crucial now more than ever.

This blog has been written by Beatrice Ouma as part of the International Women’s Day 2025

Photo credit: Agnexus/Envato

Celebrating Success: A Look at GALVmed Achievements

Posted on by team galvmed

For small-scale livestock producers in the global south, a goat, cow, or flock of chickens are not just animals – they are the foundation of their livelihoods. Livestock provide food, income, and security, and losing them to preventable diseases can be devastating.

In a world where over a billion people depend on livestock, improving animal health is critical not only to protect individuals but also to ensure sustainable agricultural systems, food security and safety, and entire community’s well-being and progression.

GALVmed continues to collaborate with partners and key public and private stakeholders to transform the lives of small-scale producers across Africa and South Asia through improved animal health. Our approach remains the same: enhancing the availability, accessibility, awareness and adoption of high-quality veterinary medicines to reduce productivity and animal losses from preventable diseases. And how does this translate into tangible actions?

  • Improving availability: By researching, improving and developing much needed animal health products and solutions suited to the needs of small-scale livestock producers.
  • Increasing accessibility:  By easing barriers in the regulatory and policy environment ensuring the needed products reach the markets and are accessible and affordable to small-scale livestock producers.
  • Increasing awareness and adoption: By using appropriate channels to reach the last mile providing information and veterinary medicines to small-scale livestock producers.  
  • Increasing understanding: By providing practical data and information from the small-scale livestock producer field to measure impact and facilitate data-driven decisions.

Over the years, GALVmed through its partners, has implemented impactful programmes across Africa and South Asia, leading to significant achievements:

  • 2.9 billion livestock vaccines, therapeutics and other animal health products sold to small-scale customers across Africa and South Asia, of which 1.3 billion doses were vaccines and the remainder therapeutics, parasite treatments and supplements (2014-2023).
  • 6.2 million estimated cumulative annual customers served (2014-2023).
  • 38.7 million livestock deaths averted saving the sector approximately of $359 million (2014-2023).
  • Approximately $126 million in poultry deaths averted from Newcastle disease, excluding benefits derived from the project PREVENT (2014-2023).
  • 16 animal health products taken to full development since 2010.
  • A total of 19 products registered under the Mutual Recognition Procedure (MRP) to date.
  • Over 100 publications disseminated.

GALVmed will continue to work closely with partners to make effective animal health products accessible across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, advancing our mission to safeguard livestock health to consequently improve human lives.