1 | Connected Farmer

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A mobile phone-based solution for agribusiness to interact and transact with smallholder farmers.

Connected Farmer

ContextAgriculture in Africa, in general, is typified by smallholder farmers – those farmers owning small plots of land on which they grow subsistence crops and one or two cash crops, relying almost exclusively on family labour. The contrary, however, is true for South Africa. Although the country has a substantial segment of smallholder farmers, the bulk of agricultural production comes from 30 000 to 40 000 established commercial farmers.

South Africa is food insecure and is a net importer of a variety of foods. The country’s smallholder farmers are, therefore, becoming increasingly important to alleviate this need. At the same time, they have a role to play as a powerful driver of enterprise development, job creation and a more productive economy. But to do so, the smallholder market segment requires innovation. Only through a fresh approach can those in this segment become the much-needed contributors towards the country’s agricultural needs. Agribusiness needs more effective tools to engage with the smallholder farmer. At the same time, the smallholder farmer needs to be empowered with information, access to markets and financial services. To achieve this, mobile phone technology from Vodacom Business can play a game-changing role.

SolutionVodacom Connected Farmer, developed by Vodacom Business, is a web and mobile phone enabled enterprise solution. It offers a comprehensive, practical and userfriendly platform for agribusiness to engage and do business with smallholder farmers. Vodacom Connected Farmer – proven in other African regions – is now also available in South Africa.

Vodacom introduced Connected Farmer to South Africa in September 2017.

How Vodacom Connected Farmer WorksVodacom Connected Farmer is a cloud-based managed service that provides agriservices to the following stakeholders within the smallholder farmer industry:• Enterprise management (the agribusiness)

• Mobile enterprise users (agribusiness employees in the field)

• Input and other suppliers to the agri-industry (e.g. financial services)

• Smallholder farmers

The process commences with the agribusiness registering smallholder farmers as their suppliers. Mobile enterprise users, such as agronomists, and field officers then profile these farmers and their farms and verify their identity during field visits, using Vodacom Connected Farmer on their mobile devices. The enterprise is now able to communicate with its smallholder farmer base via their mobile phones, whether individually, as a group (for example, all vegetable farmers in the Eastern Cape Province) or across the entire smallholder farming community. This enables the enterprise to provide farmers with personalised and location-specific content, such as weather forecasts, market prices, sound agricultural practice by crop type and other related information.

Vodacom Connected Farmer, furthermore, enables the enterprise to capture transactions with the farmers. It allows the agribusiness to record the farmers’ crop production at the point of delivery and to communicate volumes, quality and price to the farmers via SMS. This offers immediacy and transparency regarding transactions. In addition, the agribusiness and even third-party providers can now issue vouchers to the farmers, who can exchange the SMS-based vouchers at participating dealers for farming requirements, such as seeds, fertiliser and access to mechanisation.

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1. Farmers don’t pay to access the service.

2. Farmers can use their existing handset and SIM providers.

3. Access services via SMSs.

4. Prices include 10 SMSs per farmer per month – counted for the total number of registered farmers.

1. Vodacom provides the Managed Service

2. Per month per user cost.

3. 24-month Contract.

1. Access via web application.

2. Unlimited number of users.

3. No cost for web users.

Smallholder Farmers

Content Provider

MobileEnterprise Users

Cloud-based asa Managed Service

Enterprise Management

Connected Farmer architecture

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Connected Farmer

System capabilitiesFarmer database management• Record, process and manage farmer and farm profile

information according to the requirements of the agribusiness

• Manage farmer groups

• Update farmer and farm data during field visits

• Management can review activity logs, which cover changes and user activity, for example, farmer mobile number changes and last login dates for mobile users

• Sign up farmers for specific crops, crop size and particular planting seasons (horticulture)

• Provide business analytics based on available data to enhance decision making and to improve future activities

Communication• Ability to select and communicate with farmers and

field workers according to required categories and communication needs, whether individually or in bulk

• Forms that can be configured to capture specific data, for example, farmer survey

• A readily available message functionality allowing for real-time communication with farmers on the database

• Sending of automated messages that can be scheduled according to a pre-defined rule set

• For farmers, Vodacom Connected Farmer works on all mobile phones and any SIM card available in South Africa – feature phones as well as smartphones

• All smallholder farmers will receive content of practical agricultural value via a weekly, scheduled SMS service. It can include weather forecast and market pricing

Transactional capabilities• Vodacom Connected Farmer supports electronic

voucher creation, issuing, redemption and reconciliation (eVouchers)

• Agribusiness can make input products, such as seeds and fertiliser, available to farmers, based on the size of their farms, yield estimates or contract value through the use of electronic vouchers

• Recording of crops delivered at buying/collection centre level, using the Vodacom Connected Farmer mobile solution. Delivery receipts sent to farmers via SMS eliminates the need for paper-based records (eReceipts)

Optional content serviceEnterprise clients can also subscribe to Vodacom Connected Farmer Plus, an optional addition to the Vodacom Connected Farmer solution, used by field workers.

This option, in the form of a companion application called AgriSuite Plus, provides content of practical agricultural value. The application is installed on the same device, allowing the user to move between Connected Farmer and AgriSuite Plus.

The content includes topics such as crop and livestock production management, crop descriptions, production programmes, soil preparation and pest and disease identification (farmers using smartphones are able to download the AgriSuite Plus app. Costs to use the app are not included in the Vodacom Connected Farmer cost.)

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Product enhancements and future releases• Production traceability, certification and

verification

• Loan management module to create input loans for farmers and deduct it later from payments due to them

• Payments (in South Africa, via Bank CSV files)

• Tracking of purchased crops from the point of delivery to storage or processing plants

• A contracting module that captures the details of contracts with specific farmers using the mobile solution

Value to the agribusiness• An interconnected agri-community with the

capability to communicate with farmers

• Increased efficiency, productivity and transparency

• Reduced cost and risk involved in transacting with smallholder farmers

• Proactive and informed decision making based on readily available field data

• Improved business and commercial practices that the smallholder farmer can trust and buy into

• Increased crop production that provides security of supply

• Secure role-based authentication and authorisation allows users access only to those system functionalities relevant to them

• Peace of mind as the managed service comprises cloud-hosted servers deployed for specific regions and automated daily data backups

• Additional content of agricultural value via Connected Farmer Plus, using the AgriSuite Plus app Value to the farm

Value to the farmer• Access to quality and personalised agri-

information via a push service

• Improved access to an increased range of suppliers

• Increased access to market and delivery centres within reach, as well as to new market facilities that are available

• Secure cashless value and transactions through electronic vouchers

• Improved income with a stable income stream

• Network agnostic – supports subscribers on all mobile networks

Connected Farmer – benefits• Interconnect the agribusiness and its smallholder

farmers

• Improve productivity and resilience

• Enhance communication, visibility and transparency

• Mitigate risks

• Address challenges

• Unlock opportunities

• Create trust and peace of mind

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Connected Farmer

Vodacom Connected Farmer web solution example

Vodacom Connected Farmer mobile solution examples

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For more information call 082 1960 or visit vodacombusiness.co.za

© Vodacom Group 2017. Vodacom and the Vodacom logos are trademarks of the Vodafone Group.Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. While Vodacom makes every effort to ensure that the enclosed information is correct at time of print, Vodacom cannot be held responsible for any cost, loss and/or damage that may arise as a result of misprints, incorrect information and/or any changes. E&OE (Errors and Omissions Excluded). DATE ISSUED: OCTOBER 2019.