Last updated: October 2025
1. Introduction
Marcbantu Africa ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of our users. This Privacy
Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect your personal and farm data when you use the
Marcbantu Africa platform.
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following types of information:
- Personal information: name, phone number, email (optional), county, location,
language preference
- Farm data: farm details, plots, enterprises, records of activities, harvests, sales
- Financial data: transactions, budgets, sales, loans, contract details
- Usage data: logins, pages viewed, features used, device information
- Communication data: SMS, USSD, WhatsApp messages sent and received
- Location data: GPS coordinates (only when you provide them for your farm)
3. How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:
- Provide the Marcbantu Africa platform and its features
- Generate reports, insights, and recommendations for your farm
- Send you notifications, reminders, and alerts
- Improve the platform and develop new features
- Comply with legal obligations
- Prevent fraud and abuse
4. Data Sharing
We do not sell your personal data. We may share data with:
- Africa's Talking: phone number (for SMS/USSD/Voice)
- Meta WhatsApp: phone number (for WhatsApp messages)
- M-Pesa (Safaricom): payment data (for mobile money transactions)
- Open-Meteo: GPS coordinates (for weather — no personal data)
- Partners (with your consent): banks, insurers, buyers, cooperatives — only with
your explicit permission
- Legal authorities: when required by law
5. Data Ownership
You own your data. You can:
- Access all your data at any time via the platform
- Export your data in standard formats (JSON, CSV)
- Request deletion of your account and all associated data
- Control which partners you share data with
6. Data Security
We protect your data with:
- Encryption in transit (TLS 1.2+)
- Encryption at rest (Cloudflare D1, R2, KV)
- Password hashing with PBKDF2-SHA256
- JWT authentication for API access
- Ownership checks on every data request
- Rate limiting to prevent abuse
7. Data Retention
We retain your data:
- Active data: kept indefinitely while your account is active
- Read notifications: deleted after 90 days
- Communication logs: deleted after 180 days
- Audit logs: kept 1 year
- Deleted accounts: data wiped within 30 days
8. Your Rights
Under the Kenya Data Protection Act (2019), you have the right to:
- Access your personal data
- Correct inaccurate data
- Delete your data
- Object to processing
- Data portability
- Withdraw consent
9. Children's Privacy
Marcbantu Africa is not intended for use by children under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from
children.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this policy. Material changes will be communicated via email or SMS. Continued use of the
platform after changes means acceptance.
11. Contact
For privacy inquiries:
- Email: privacy@marcbantu.africa
- Address: Nairobi, Kenya
12. Regulator
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) Kenya:
odpc.go.ke