Contact People:

 

- Takunda Chineka in Zimbabwwe  is managing the business and the IT and logistics for Turning Matabeleland Green and is available for questions

- Adam Abramson in Israel submited the challenge and is available for questions (Tel: 0547767557)

 

The Challenge:

 

Of the 525 million farms worldwide, 85% are less than 2 hectares in size. Many of these smallholder farms are situated in hard-to-reach, remote communities, where connectivity to markets is low. With some 1.5 billion people dependent on smallholder agriculture – including approximately half of the world’s undernourished people  – the need for agricultural services and products remains high. With mobile phone penetration in the developing world exceeding 70% in 2010 and expected to reach 100% by 2014, the potential impact of mobile agriculture services is considerable.

 

Small scale farmers often do not know their expected yields, total water needs vis a vis field size, lifespan and conditions for keeping certain seeds or harvests, weather forecasts, etc. Seed and crop choice is an important decision for farmers, however farmers often lack the necessary information to make optimal choices. There is also often a lack of coordination between suppliers of inputs, farmers and the buyers of the produce.

 

There is a need for distribution of such information to farmers in real time as well as coordination between stakeholders to increase yields, efficiency and profit for all parties.

 

Potential Solution:

 

A SMS-based agricultural marketing tool for remote communities, providing up-to-date information on:

• Agricultural input prices

• Market prices of various crops to inform growing decisions

• Which are the best markets for their produce

 

Such an application is particularly relevant to out-grower farmers by providing them with information in real time to assist them in making decisions and getting support.

 

Such an app would require a third party to coordinate between these parties and distribute information in real time to all relevant stakeholders.

 

Such a platform would need to be flexible and scalable for different contexts and able to  integrate agricultural suppliers, farmers and markets and allows them to communicate with each other by SMS.

 

Potential Benefits:

 

Farmers: Can make better decisions about what to grow, and place orders on agricultural inputs (fertilizers, seeds, irrigation equipment).

Suppliers: Make more efficient deliveries.

Buyers: Receive real time information from farmers on their current or projected produce and thus earn better profit. Vegetable markets benefit from a more organized and dependable supply. e.g. Farmers could sms buyers to alert of crops that will be ripe the following week or notify them about the amount of produce that will be available.

 

Considerations:

 

• Such an app should be integrated into a larger agricultural support network, such as an outgrower irrigation program, (see below) or a third party that can coordinate between the various stakeholders.

• The app should be adapted to basic cell phones (not smart phones) for wider uptake and simple to use for farmers

• Key players include (1) farmers, (2) agricultural suppliers and (3) vegetable produce markets, and these should be identified together in any pilot program

 

The Zimbabwe pilot:

 

The Organisation:

 

Turning Matabeleland Green is a market-based outgrower irrigation program in western Zimbabwe currently outsourcing 600 small-scale farmers growing tomatoes for income generation. This is a pilot-stage model with immediate plans to grow to 6,000 farmers in Zimbabwe and expand regionally in the long term.

 

Farmers are already connected to the markets and agricultural suppliers through this coordinating organization, which provides farmers with supplies to grow and commits to buying the produce at a certain rate.

 

The Zimbabwe project could benefit from an application that helps to facilitates this process and assists with the exchange of information in real time.This project, if successful would have wider application

 

Existing Solutions:

Most mAgri solutions provide one or a combination of the following:

1)  Information Service (market price, weather data, agronomic support, pest and disease warning)

2)  Data Collection (Farmer expected yields, real-time problems, needs)

3)  Financial Service (loans, crop insurance, payments for sales, etc)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Zimbabwe, the core functions of the application should be Data Collection - getting information about needs (fertilizer, pesticide) and yields from farmers, in order to make the irrigation program more efficient. These are the "Coordinating transportation / storage" and "Real-time crop yield information capture" categories above. The irrigation program would benefit from these greatly.

 

Other non-core functions that would be helpful are the Information Services for the farmers - especially the GROWING category: Weather and pest warnings (See diagram above)

 

The niche here - as there are LOTS of these models out there - is that it could be geared toward outgrower models in which a central organizing body is able to integrate the various needs of the program. There are lots of outgrower models out there - mostly for rainfed cultivation of cash crops like cotton - that might also benefit from an application like this because they have a large burden of providing agronomic support and coordinating the marketing of the yield. Dunavant Cotton is one of the largest, and they work with 60,000 farmers across Africa, with plans to reach 100,000 soon.

( http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Data/Africa_file/Company/mozambique03.html)

 

Relevant Links:

 

http://www.mercycorps.org.uk/research-resources/agri-fin-mobile

http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programmes/magri

 

(PDF from USAID, see file)

 

Relevant Existing Apps:

 

• agsquared.com: allow small farmers to create a farm plan, manage tasks, organize employees, and keep accurate records.  As move through the season and input data, the program becomes customized to their needs.

• Agro Material Lending Center: http://www.changefusion.org/workgroups/change-inspire/default/470

• Agri-Fi Mobile: farm and crop management tools and financial services are "bundled" in affordable, unified platforms on mobile phone channels to promote mass uptake commercially-- http://www.mercycorps.org/research-resources/agri-fin-mobile

• TankMix: help farmers get the right product application rates on their crops.

• Locavore:  help consumers find out what’s in season in their area, and where they can buy it.   Farmers input their market locations, and share what crops are currently available.  A great application that helps market your product directly to consumers.

• Growing Degree Days: Ag Progress created this location-based program to help farmers calculate the amount of growing degree days until crop reaches maturity.  Also offers weather radar.

• IPM Scout: This application showcases a large variety of pests and diseases and helps farmers monitor, track, and keep records on what you find in your fields.   

• Farm manager: allows small farmers to record cropping, livestock, machinery procedures and access this information with ease.

 

Potential partners:

 

• Turning Matabeleland Green (short-term)

• Dunavant Cotton (long-term)

• African Agriculture Fund - Technical Assistance Facility (http://www.aaftaf.org)

 

Defining outgrower farming:

Contract farming is agricultural production carried out according to an agreement between a buyer and farmers, which establishes conditions for the production and marketing of a farm product or products. Typically, the farmer agrees to provide established quantities of a specific agricultural product, meeting the quality standards and delivery schedule set by the purchaser. In turn, the buyer commits to purchase the product, often at a pre-determined price. In some cases the buyer also commits to support production through, for example, supplying farm inputs, land preparation, providing technical advice and arranging transport of produce to the buyer’s premises. Another term often used to refer to contract farming operations is ‘out-grower schemes”, whereby farmers are linked with a large farm or processing plant which supports production planning, input supply, extension advice and transport. Contract farming is used for a wide variety of agricultural products.