Creating scalable, engaging mobile solutions for agriculture

Provides analysis and key findings on the set up and implementation of the project

Abstract

For the last 3 years, the GSMA mAgri programme has been working with 6 mobile network operators (Airtel Malawi, Dialog Sri Lanka, Grameenphone Bangladesh, Ooredoo Myanmar, Telenor Pakistan and Vodafone Ghana) to support the launch and scale of agricultural services. Some of the key findings:

  • User-centric research found that information was the key gap for farmers in every market

  • Leveraging findings from user experience design, business intelligence, and customer feedback, the product teams developed content services that had cumulatively registered more than 5 million users worldwide in May 2017

  • Sixty percent of users globally were active in December 2016. This is an unprecedented level of engagement compared to similar services we have worked with in the past

  • Across the board, users were more likely to make on-farm changes in at least one area compared to non-users. In certain cases, we found evidence of increased income and crop production attributed to the services.

  • Service users cite their mobile phones as a key source of agricultural information.

The report, ‘Creating scalable, engaging mobile solutions for agriculture’, provides analysis and key findings on the set-up and implementation of the project and the design and impact of the services, with key considerations for existing service providers or those launching a new service. It also provide 6 case studies for a comprehensive snapshot of each service.

This research was supported by the UK Department for International Development’s mNutrition - Business models for mobile phone based delivery of nutrition services in Africa and South Asia

Citation

Tegan Palmer and Nicole Darabian (2017) Creating scalable, engaging mobile solutions for agriculture, 25p

Creating scalable, engaging mobile solutions for agriculture

Published 1 July 2017