KomunikasIndonesia

Connecting sustainable, rural farmers across distance.

In Indonesia, a sustainable, rural farming network faces an information gap, which impedes their ability to optimize their farming schedules, meet market demand, receive fair prices, diversify their incomes, and participate in the global economy. Scattered across four districts in South Sulawesi, these sustainable farmers struggle to compete with conventional farmers, face steep barriers to upscaling, have little access to much needed government services, and are often forced to accept low prices offered by middlemen. Disorganized and isolated from their peers, these farmers do not collaborate or share resources. Plus climate change has made traditional methods of weather prediction unreliable, exposing these farmers to high uncertainty levels. Without internet access, computers, or SmartPhones, these farmers, although technically part of a network, are unable to share data, coordinate production, or leverage their collective capacity.

The KomunikasIndonesia Application (tKIApp) will empower these farmers by improving the quantity, quality, and efficiency of their communication. By combining cloud-based data storage and SMS technologies, tKIApp will allow farmers to store, own, and share their network’s data. Plus, they will receive calendar reminders and hyper-localized weather forecasts to help them cooperate and optimize their farming schedules. In tKIApp, a farmer logs or requests data via SMS; and receives requested data, calendar reminders, or weather forecasts via a reply SMS. The weather information comes from autonomos micro-weather stations located near the farmers’ villages. All of tKIApp’s data is accessible only to the farmers in the network. Aggregated versions of this data are also available to other entities for a fee on a case-by-case basis if and only if the farmers choose to allow it.

Unlike most farming applications, tKIApp leverages hardware (simple feature phones) the farmers already have, its data-delivery is two-way with the farmers contributing (not just receiving) data, and it allows the farmers to own and control their data. TKIApp is scalable and customizable, applicable to farming and non-farming situations within and beyond Indonesia. Its basic concept can be adapted to embrace new technologies, too. And its hyper-localized weather forecasts will help decrease uncertainty, allowing them to better strategize in a changing climate. TKIApp is farmer-centric. By sharing data, farmers can base their production on documented trends. By viewing fellow farmers’ prices, tKIApp’s transparency allows farmers to leverage their network membership to bargain for better prices for their products. And because farmers own and control their data, tKIApp gives farmers two income sources: their physical products and the data associated with these products. Through tKIApp, farmers can choose to allow NGOs, governments, or private companies to pay them in exchange for data access. TKIApp will enable production coordination, the sharing of inputs and strategies, increased market information access, transparent transactions, and increased income security.

The KomunikasIndonesia App (KIApp), unlike other mobile farming applications, does not require smartphones, instead utilizing technologies farmers already have. Thus, it is low-cost and user-friendly. The KIApp uses 2-way data flow, with farmers themselves contributing data, not just receiving data pushed to them. It enables price accountability through transparent transactions, elevating the farmers’ bargaining position. Furthermore, farmers own their data and can selectively grant external entities access to it. By maintaining data control, farmers can negotiate compensation for having granted access. The KIApp gives farmers a dual income stream, managing the sale of their production and their production data.

For KomunikasIndonesia, simple SMS technology and cloud data storage overcomes distance, allowing farmers to not only record data, but actually have a reason to do so. By recording and sharing data, farmers can coordinate production to meet market demand. Moreover, they can use price data to hold middlemen accountable; refusing inordinately-low prices. Furthermore, KomunikasIndonesia’s hyper-localized weather forecasts are possible due to innovations in low-cost, small weather station technologies. Finally, technology makes the selling of aggregated, anonymized production data feasible. Farmers can remain in control of their data, while sharing versions of it with governments or NGOs in exchange for payment.

In twelve months KomunikasIndonesia and HutanBiru will have collaboratively conducted a Baseline survey of 25 farmers within the pilot village site, and analysed and incorporated these survey results into the initial KomunikasIndonesia Application (tiKIApp) design and into tiKIApp training materials for farmers. By this time, these farmers will also have been fully trained to use tiKIApp. Finally, KomunikasIndonesia and HutanBiru will have conducted a Post-Launch survey of these pilot farmers, and the KomunikasIndonesia team will be in the midst of evaluating the results of this survey to identify areas in tiKIApp requiring improvement so as to better meet farmer needs.

In three to five years, KomunikasIndonesia will have collaborated with HutanBiru to conduct Baseline, Post-Launch, and Post-Production Cycle surveys in two pilot village sites. After the KomunikasIndonesia Application (KIApp) is modified based on the analysis of these surveys’ results, a final KIApp will have been produced. These pilot site farmers will have been trained to use this final KIApp, been actively using it, and full ownership over it and the data stored within it. HutanBiru will take over administrative responsibilities for expanding KIApp usage, adding additional farmers and more local buyers to purchase the farmers’ physical products and corresponding data.

KomunikasIndonesia’s target farmers are alumni of the Indonesia-based NGO, HutanBiru’s, sustainable field farmer schools. HutanBiru maintains contact with these 72 village sites in Barru, Pangkep, Maros, and Takalar. KomunikasIndonesia will make use these pre-existing relationships to facilitate application training, implementation, and evaluation. KomunikasIndonesia will also sustain itself by establishing direct buyer-to-seller relations between its farmer network and local buyers. In exchange for a small participation fee, buyers will have exclusive access to high-quality, organic, local products; and farmers will have steady purchasers. Furthermore, for a small fee that directly benefits farmers; buyers, governments, and NGOs can also access farmer data.

KomunikasIndonesia is finishing our initial Application build which requires input from our twenty-five mostly female pilot farmers. Thus, KomunikasIndonesia and HutanBiru are conducting a Baseline survey to collect vital information to incorporate into the KomunikasIndonesia Application (tKIApp). We work closely with these farmers so that tKIApp is built for farmers, by farmers. This farmer-centric technology will ensure that adoption and satisfaction rates are high. tKIApp will contain customizations for the products these farmers produce, units they use, and transaction types within which they engage. KomunikasIndonesia does and will put farmers, especially women farmers, first.

In one year, KomunikasIndonesia will serve twenty-five farmers and their families, located at the pilot village site. KomunikasIndonesia will have created a unique, farmer-centric application (tKIApp), trained farmers in its use, launched tKIApp, and have farmers actively using it. KomunikasIndonesia and HutanBiru will have collaboratively resolved farmers’ issues related to tKIApp, and assessed the impact of tKIApp via surveys. In three years, KomunikasIndonesia will serve fifty farming families, and be adding thirty more. These farmers will record, store, and share their production data; receive calendar reminders and hyper-localized weather forecasts; and engage in more frequent, lucrative, and transparent buyer-seller relationships.

Founder, Katharine Leigh, speaks Indonesian and has lived in Sulawesi. She also has project management, software, and research skills from the electronic health records and environmental conservation fields.

Alyssa Pritts is experienced in qualitative and qualitative research, having worked in rural communities in Myanmar and Peru.

Jorge Neyra is a web developer who has experience in setting up web applications on Azure using Kudu.

David Rios is a Software Testing Engineer previously from IBM with multiple startup experiences.

Jane Tan is a Communications Graduate from the National University of Singapore with a keen interest in data analytics.

Once the KomunikasIndonesia Application (tKIApp) is successfully piloted, the farmer network and HutanBiru with its ample connections and social capital will take over management and expansion responsibilities. Furthermore, tKIApp pays for itself; its minimal maintenance costs are covered by buyers’ participation fees, and it can be modified to embrace new technologies. Because it provides transaction records, tKIApp can potentially help farmers access financial services. Plus, by selling data access to governments and NGOs, tKIApp increases farmers’ income security, helping mediate poor harvests or other unforeseen events. Finally, its hyper-localized weather forecasts also increase farmers’ ability to cope with uncertainties.

Firstly, Solve’s funding will expedite the conducting of the pilot Baseline survey by our partner NGO, HutanBiru, prior to implementation of the KomunikasIndonesia Application (tKIApp). It will also help cover initial cloud data storage and Application implementation travel costs for our team leader. Secondly, Solve’s network of rural development and technology experts could provide invaluable mentorship to help ensure KI will be well-received by farmers, technically robust, and succeed on-the-ground. Plus, Solve’s industry connections could be extremely useful for linking our target farmer network to local buyers seeking high-quality, sustainably-produced products.

The KomunikasIndonesia Application (tKIApp) needs to be coded in a way that allows any programmer to adapt it to changing technology. Plus, it needs secure data storage, and a method for ensuring farmers input accurate, truthful data. The Solve network’s technical expertise can help with tackling these hurdles, and its familiarity with working in developing communities can increase the likelihood that tKIApp will actually work in the field as a lasting, practical solution. Furthermore, ironing out the logistics and technicalities of mobile-phone-based financial transactions will require the multidisciplinary expertise of the Solve network.