BCTA MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Active

SECTOR
Information Communication & Technology (ICT)

HEADQUARTERS
Germany

REGION OF INITIATIVE
Africa, Asia & Pacific

SDG CONTRIBUTION

RELATED NEWS

The world’s largest provider of enterprise application software, SAP, has joined Business Call to Action (BCtA) with the aim to cater to the needs of different market segments, including small and mid-sized organizations, to accelerate and scale impact on smallholder farmers.

SAP will support its corporate customers to achieve their sustainability goals and build a supply chain that reliably links farm and logistics processes in order to ensure full traceability in foods and fair compensation to farmers for their labour.

SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software. In line with its vision and purpose to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, SAP is committed to contributing to the SDGs as both an enabler and exemplar. The company has developed the SAP Rural Sourcing Management solution for better management of sustainability data connecting smallholder farmers to global agricultural supply chains.

Some 500 million smallholder farmers produce nearly 80 percent of all food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and agriculture is the foremost employer in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total labour force. However, smallholder farmers often lack access to technology and financial services, limiting their ability to grow their business and increase productivity and output. The SAP Rural Sourcing Management solution links farmers digitally to the agriculture value chain through a suite of mobile business applications running on the SAP Cloud Platform that support inclusive agricultural chains.

The SAP Rural Sourcing Management solution is a cloud-based technology that digitally records information on producers, their farms, and their communities at every level of the value chain. Equipped with the SAP Rural Sourcing Management solution, field agents collect data on farmer registration, purchasing and processing of produce, transportation records, advances and payments, and results from farmer surveys. These field agents range from representatives of local cooperatives and local or regional producers to global traders and producers who want to directly connect with smallholder farmers as their original source of agricultural commodities.

With this software in the hands of field agents and on the desktops of company office locations, even the most remote rural farmers are better positioned to improve their outputs and incomes. Farmers gain access to relevant information on modern equipment, laboratory research, and emerging technologies. Further, they can more easily collaborate with peers and collect information that allows them access to microfinancing, in turn empowering them to invest in resources like equipment and better seeds for higher yields.