Communications Campaign Plan

Context

As part of Digital Green’s new 3-year strategy, we have staked out a point of arrival vision of digital farmer network. Using existing and new Digital Green tools, we will help farmers build a distributed data network that allows them to own and manage their valuable data to access customized services for increased agency, incomes and enhanced livelihood. As we are in the early stages of refining and executing on this vision, we want to start building momentum now among key stakeholders that can contribute to its success, bringing them along the process of developing the need capacity for this vision.

Goals

1. Drive understanding and engagement of our DFN vision among key audiences who will play a role in supporting its success.

2. Generate buy-in from potential partners to build capacity of various elements of the DFN vision.

3. Position DG as a thought leader in the smallholder farmer tech space among the development community in India, Ethiopia, the US, and beyond.

Target Audiences

*initial identification here

Primary Stakeholders, who we need to take an active approach with in the near term

• Farmer Groups: The direct beneficiaries of this work, and central to the vision and long-term success. There is a lot of momentum around FPOs and we plan to work with them but open to working with less formal groups of farmers as well (eg, KRSS who we supported on direct customer sales Sep 2020)

• Resource Institutions: Orgs that provide hand holding and capacity building to FPOs. High level there are “private” NGOs that do this like Velugu, Jattu and Garmodya (in AP), IDF (in Karnataka), Reliance Foundation, etc. There are also government providers, especially State Level Rural Livelihood Missions (who we also partner with on video based extension) who are building upon the SHG structure and often provide funding support to FPOs as well.

  • Also include NAFPO which is a federation of FPOs here as well.

• Service Providers - Organizations that deliver better tailored products for farmers through access to more farmer-level data, building the flywheel of systems improvement. There are digital first orgs like Waycool (procurement), Samunnati (finance), Kalgudi (marketing), BigHaat (inputs) and local traders, input dealers and service providers as well.

• Unrestricted Donors - Broader supporters of the vision, who can fund activities ranging from tech stack development, to FPO/Farmer outreach and engagement, to partner development. Including, BMGF, Walmart, Rippleworks, HNWIs, etc.

Secondary Stakeholders, who we need to keep in mind in the longer term

• Govt partners at the ecosystem level incl NABARD, SFAC, Ministry of Cooperatives. This group provides funding for FPOs and as we have something concrete, can become an effective channel to scale our solution.

• Subject Matter Experts - Those who are contributing insights and knowledge to the vision shaping and its success, or are involved in related research (e.g., pest/disease surveillance, crop/livestock/climate modeling), but aren’t directly invested in the outcome. Including, Emmanuel Murray, Prof. Shambu Prasad, CIMMYT, UC Davis, etc.

• Tech/Development Community - Broader set of stakeholders that we want to bring along the journey with us, to position DG as a thought leader, and continue to build a network of potential partners.

Key Messages

• Right now, small-scale producers in India face numerous barriers to increased productivity and improved livelihoods. Access to inputs such as capital, seeds, and fertilizer can be few and far between. Yield estimations and extension information can prove unreliable, reducing or even ruining yields. And single farmers have little leverage to negotiate prices with larger buyers. 

• Underlying this is a data problem. Currently, farmer data is collected in silos, often without transparency as to what is being collected and why. Data is also often re-collected for each use, from plot boundaries, to yield, wasting valuable time. This lack of a holistic view on a farmers operation limits productivity, power, and profits. 

• That’s where Digital Green sees opportunity: Farmers are cash poor, but data rich. We’re working to digitize farmer data and networks with a model that puts farmers interests first.

• Our vision of a Farmer Data Network is a distributed network of farmers able to monetize and leverage their own data to access customized services for increased agency, incomes and enhanced livelihood – combined with an interconnected and decentralized network of support services, information, suppliers, buyers and actors that meet the needs of farming households.

• A before and after farmer journey is outlined here, that outlines a specific use case and impact of realizing this vision.

• Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) are especially well placed to play a critical role in digitizing farmer groups, as their core functions such as group buying for better input prices, would be improved with this data.

• To realize this vision, need to move ahead on three fronts which are further detailed here:

  • Technology product: What are the tools that FPOs use to capture and view data, where is it stored, how is it shared, etc.

  • Commercialization: How do we drive adoption in the real world? Partner strategy, farmer on-boarding, Digital Literacy, Entry Point use case all fit here

  • Economic and Governance model: what entity is providing these services, how is it funded, what does farmer “ownership” mean practically

• *Point on support needed form potential partners…

• *Point on what progress/milestones look like…

Channel Activities

External DFN Concept Note

• Concise one-pager that describes the DFN at a high-level, for sharing with potential partners and used as the basis for explaining vision and process as we build toward the vision.

• Initial draft of one-pager for NABARD here

Blog Series

• Quarterly blog posts about DFN process and milestones, to tell longer narrative of progress and bring external stakeholders along in the journey – providing moments to coalesce and convene stakeholders as needed.

• Coinciding with blogs will be a set of talking points for individual meetings/presentations/pitches around the same topic.

External Info Session

• Broader sharing of DFN vision and process with external stakeholders to build understanding of concept and how the various elements of DG’s existing (and new) work fit into the vision – leading to potential partnership development.

• Can be a series over time, tied to the various blog posts to keep external stakeholders updated and drive deeper engagement.

Internal Open House

• Deep dive into DFN vision and process with all staff to build understanding of concept and how the various elements of DG’s existing (and new) work fit into the vision.

DFN Components Graphic

• Developed polished version that can be used to explain components and contributions to DFN success in concept notes, presentations, blogs, etc.

• Initial sketch outlined here

Marketing Collateral

• Developed as needed for India, Ethiopia, and Kenya specific contexts

• Could include: pitch deck support, videos, white papers, etc.

Content & Activity Timeline