DEADLINE FOR HACKATHON REGISTRATION IS 23 MARCH 2026

TEXPO 26 CHALLENGE - MOVE! FARM TO MARKET

Background

Meet Temba Moyo, a hardworking smallholder farmer in rural Zimbabwe. On his land, Temba grows avocados, groundnuts, and small grains—produce that is fresh, high-quality, and in demand across Southern Africa. 

But despite his effort and quality harvests, Temba faces a frustrating reality: regional buyers cannot see or trust his produce. 

When exporters ask where exactly his crops were grown, how they were handled, or whether they meet cross-border food safety rules, Temba has no formal records—only his word. At border posts like Chirundu and Beitbridge, trucks carrying produce like his are often delayed or rejected due to missing documentation. 

Even worse, large buyers want 5 to 30 tonnes at a time, volumes Temba cannot supply alone. Without a trusted way to combine his harvest with those of nearby farmers, he is forced to sell locally at distress prices, sometimes 20% below regional market value. 

Temba doesn’t lack skill or produce, he lacks proof, visibility, and scale. He needs a simple, affordable digital system that can tell the full story of his crop, from his field to the regional market.

The Challenge

Design a low-cost, Farm-to-Market Traceability System that helps farmers like Temba create a “Digital Trade Passport” for any agricultural product.

The system should allow smallholder farmers to:

• Prove where their produce was grown
• Show how it was produced and handled
• Combine harvests from multiple farms into one trusted, export-ready batch
• Be recognized as verified suppliers under regional trade frameworks

Technical Constraints

• Use Raspberry Pi 4 / Raspberry Pi 5,
• Raspberry Pi Pico, and affordable sensors
• Keep the system simple, durable, and farmer-friendly
• The system must support secure, low-bandwidth cloud integration with collaboration and
• data-sharing tools in the Google Ecosystem