Alesha interviewing Rikin on the farmer data network idea.
Video recording:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/qj4xOJI3P3kTVkcJjXISZG-1Vz5ZCPQZc8aKFER_HjNm-SnBkDLjG2DJNcuU0gdH.4S3PT6Gsg69jSECQ
Pw: ab7%@Nz4
Some topics that are covered:
Digital farmer network as a natural evolution of the work we have done for years with SHGs / farmer groups in India and farmer development networks in Ethiopia
What is our “objective function”? Farmers understand the value of their data and leverage it to connect with various value-add service providers
DG focuses on farmer digital literacy (esp women farmers), unified data model with management and consent (Farmstack) and empowers farmers to utilize whichever service providers are best suited for their needs (rather than getting into operationally intensive activities like transportation, input provisioning, off-take sales ourselves)
Unify our various existing but disparate tech offerings
Farmers can record and access information, from experts and peer-to-peer
What’s the intersection with Farmstack?
Farmstack codifies data protection rules and governance when data moves from owner/producer to user/consumer.
There is a core farmer profile dataset (name, location, gender, crop/livestock mix, agronomic practices) that can power a lot of use cases
FS implements data protection rules when farmer chooses to share information in their data wallet
Government partners have massive reach and deep engagement with farmers; data network enables farmers to choose to engage with other actors as well (who we expect will play a larger role going forward)
Going forward, opportunity to unify our various programmatic efforts under a common umbrella / objective
Unified data model across our various apps so data is interoperable
Layer in data and consent in our gender training curriculum
Data wallet as an enabler for Packard work in Ethiopia
Expect 3-5 years to see this vision come to life and there will be more immediate waypoints along the way to track whether we are on the right path; start putting in place building blocks now (digital literacy training, farmer registry in Ethiopia as a way to bootstrap the network, validate value prop for farmers to capture and share data, etc.)
Why now?
Video based extension has been institutionalized with government partners so what comes next?
The commercial / private agtech space is exploding so important for DG to carve out our space
Climate change creates urgency for improved visibility to production practices and associated environmental impact
What makes this a stable / durable vision?