Farmerline Limited

Agriculture is a key driver for sustainable development, poverty reduction, and the transformation of developing economies. However, agricultural systems need to evolve to meet growing demands through knowledge sharing, efficient management and innovation. Farmers lack access to relevant information on agriculture, affordable financial solutions, and reliable supply of quality inputs to improve yields and income. This presents an opportunity for innovative organisations like Farmerline to create products and services that empower farmers in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way.

Farmerline is a social enterprise connecting farmers to information, resources and supply chains across Africa. Our mission is to transform farmers into successful entrepreneurs, creating lasting profits. Our services bridge education, literacy gaps among rural farmers and reduce the cost of communication for the companies that work with them. Mergdata, our proprietary software, offers communication, data collection, and analytics solutions to clients and partners throughout the agricultural ecosystem.

In rural areas of many developing economies, certain vital services are inaccessible. According to AGRA (2017), 46% of Ghana’s population live in smallholder households and have limited access to agro-climatic information and to financial services needed to invest in quality inputs. Productivity is directly impacted by these constraints as farmers are left vulnerable to changing climatic conditions and are unable to access the right inputs that will increase production. Globally, there is a demand for more food production as the world population increases and a fervent call to end hunger under the second Sustainable Development Goal. However, for developing regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, the issue of food security is even more critical as 90% of food production comes from smallholder farmers who have limited access to the right inputs and information. 

Farmerline overcomes these barriers to smallholder farmers’ inclusion, by giving them access to information, inputs, and services. The company does this through its technology-based input distribution and climate-smart agronomic advisory services.

Farmerline’s target farmers typically do not have access to financial services and traditionally farm an average of 4 acres, focusing on a mix of cash crops (cocoa, coffee, and oil palm) and staple crops (grains and vegetables). Many of these farmers cannot read or write and do not have access to the internet, which limits their ability to access and apply information about sustainable farming practices on their farms. As a result, these rural smallholder farmers experience persistent low productivity, which has a significant impact on their livelihood. Further, the general lack of visibility into farming communities has a significant link to low food security, a lack of dietary diversity, and access to education, especially among women and children in rural African communities. Farmerline’s input distribution and climate-smart agronomic advisory services works to mitigate these issues by helping farmers access the information and resources they need to generate sustainable incomes. An assessment report by Acumen Lean Data revealed Farmerline is reaching a disproportionately high number of low-income farmers in Ghana: 54% live in poverty versus the national rural average of 32%. Further, 25% of farmers reported that their lives had “very much improved” because of Farmerline.

Farmerline has built a social business, technology platform and partnership network over the past 6 years that has reached over 360,000 farmers in 13 countries across all five regions of Africa. The company combines data, digital technology and people to connect farmers to vital information and resources such as high quality and affordable inputs that improves productivity and income.

The technology, Mergdata, is a user-friendly and comprehensive mobile and web engagement platform which enables organizations to deploy simple, accurate, and efficient data collection tools for profiling, mapping, and collecting other relevant information - such as demographic and socio-economic data. Mergdata improves the livelihood of farmers through information-based mobile technology services; it delivers as voice messages to farmers good agricultural practices, weather reports, and market information in local languages. Smartphone users have access to vital information in video, audio, pictures and text through an educational application which presents information in a fun way. Thus, helping to bridge literacy and connectivity gap which contributes to increasing their profits and making farming practices more sustainable.

 Mergdata helps agri-businesses digitise their value chains using modules for profiling, mapping, certification, traceability, field monitoring and payment. Data collected are analysed and visualised on customisable analytics dashboards to help users have oversight of their operations. Also, Farmerline works with partners - such as satellite image and analysis partners - to process and present data in formats that are useful to clients; typically integrating with these platforms using APIs. Being a software, first time Mergdata users need only to set up an account online and download the android mobile application from Google Play to have access to all modules on the platform. However, cost of messaging and mobile money transactions will vary in each country depending on charges by mobile network operators.

Farmerline was the first company in Africa to give farmers access to information through voice messages, effectively bridging the literacy gap amongst smallholder farmers.  Leveraging on the power of big data, farmers can now access affordable and genuine input through credit or savings; financial literacy education; climate-smart agricultural tips; and weekly updates on market prices. 

Once farmers engage with Farmerline’s dedicated 399 short-code via USSD or IVR, Farmerline is presented with data on the farmer’s crop type, stage of production, location, and native language, which are then used to connect the farmer to the nearest Farmerline in-field workshop, community agent, or distributor. At this point, the farmer has the option to obtain inputs through a layaway wallet program or input credit scheme. Farmerline’s partner, Ecobank, has committed to creating bank accounts for each registered farmer and managing the funds mobilised through the layaway wallets. As such, farmers earn interest on funds laid away. 

Farmers save funds for 2-12 weeks after which their requested input is
delivered by a Farmerline community agent. Farmerline facilitates the
input credit through a credit scoring algorithm developed in-house that
uses over 100 data points on the farmer’s demographics, farm, and informal savings habits. The algorithm calculates a credit score based on which $25-$50 worth of genuine inputs is lent to the farmer on a collateral-free basis. Participating farmers have a 3 month repayment period, during which they pay 4% interest per month.

Farmerline’s Mergdata is a cloud based mobile and web based platform; users can deploy data collection tools as well as access information using various mobile technologies, including an android mobile application, Integrated Voice Response (IVR) systems, short message service (SMS) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). For payment and collection of funds, Mergdata is fully integrated into the mobile money platforms of all the major Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Ghana. Also, Mergdata uses big data and AI to give organisations insight into the lives of farmers, and to give farmers increased access to services; including financial services.

In a study on Farmerline’s work in Ghana done by Acumen Lean Data, 55% of farmers indicated that access to Farmerline’s core products and services (farm inputs, weather information and trainings) was their main motivation for signing up. The fact that 78% said they could not easily find a good alternative suggests that Farmerline is providing products and services to a relatively underserved market and demographic. Of the 21% who could find an alternative, 62% believe that Farmerline is still better. This suggests that Farmerline holds a relatively strong market position. As such, highlighting the product range and increasing visibility in communities may be the key to converting even more customers.

As such, to supplement the input distribution efforts during workshops and by agents in Ghana, Farmerline plans to convert local input shops into community distribution centres by providing their owners with tablets with which they can make sales and input loan requests. Also, distribution hubs managed by Farmerline will be set up to serve as a point of product replenishment for Zonal Managers and their Officers. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Farmerline’s technology will allow for efficient distribution and logistics, and, to accurately forecast demand per location.

The goal is to be able to create a strong business model that can be easily replicated in other countries of operation.

Farmerline has reached over 360,000 farmers across Africa to date with its Mergdata solution. By the end of 2019, 32,424 more farmers will be reached. The company’s goal is to reach 1.5 million farmers by 2025.

Over the next 5 years, Farmerline is evolving its current model of bundling its product distribution service with mobile information, to a comprehensive platform for distribution & analytics, offering stakeholders cost efficient ways to reach farmers and generate income. This will largely be done by reaching many more farmers through agribusinesses, and partnerships with farmer cooperatives. This approach promises to offer our partners a low-cost platform which is uniquely positioned to reach millions of Africa’s smallholder farmers and rural communities at scale.

• Securing the necessary funding to hire more experts, and secure the resources for scaling

• Time spent securing mutually beneficial partnerships with key stakeholders in the agricultural sector of the various countries Farmerline operates in

• Fundraising 

• Hiring experts to support in partnership business & development in the various sub-regions

• Evolving Farmerline’s business and service delivery model to ensure easy to iteration and adoption in new localities/countries.

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Farmerline has a current full-time staff strength of about 40, and over 200 field agents/ non-salaried workers; both of these numbers are expected to double by the end of 2019. 

Farmerline is made up of young executives and professionals with world class experience from diverse fields in product/service design and implementation, project management, business and partnership development, talent and operations, financial modelling and accounting, mobile and web development, software engineering, agent and farmer management, and customer support. Each team member has a strong sense of leadership and passion for the mission of the organisation; they have the interest of the smallholder farmer at heart, and recognise the power of empowering such farmers to be successful entrepreneurs who consistently make profits from their farms.

Farmerline is committed to creating culturally and linguistically appropriate content and services. To ensure continuous alignment with our goal, Farmerline has formed key partnerships with industry experts over the years to ensure farmer beneficiaries continue to receive useful information and services. For example, good agricultural practices for soya beans, maize, rice, fish farming, cassava, mushroom, mango, cocoa, and cabbage were developed through partnerships with Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), GIZ, TechnoServe and Trias Ghana. In Ghana, weather information, which is crucial to implementing these practices, is collected through a partnership with the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) and the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO); These partnerships have bridged the weather information gap for smallholder farmers by providing the best information, including those from EuroSat, NASA and NOAA. Through the TAHMO partnership, Farmerline has deployed over 80 ground weather stations and aims to install one for each of the 216 districts in Ghana. 

Farmerline uses two business models to serve its clients: 1) Business to Business (B2B) model, which involves licensing our Mergdata technology to business clients at a per user fee to digitise their value chains and engage with their farmers; 2) Business to Farmer (B2F) model, also known as Farmer Services, which involves delivering products and services directly to farmers in Ghana and can be accessed through cash, mobile money and/or credit payment terms.  

Farmerline is evolving its business into a comprehensive platform for distribution & analytics, which offers cost efficient ways for organisations to reach farmers with products/services, and vice versa. Farmerline will generate revenue from platform licensing, commissions on product distributions and professional services i.e. technology, methodology and business model development.  This is a key path towards achieving full financial sustainability for both arms of the company. In addition, the company is raising capital investment through a combination of equity, loans, convertible debt and grants for the development and expansion of products and services.

Aside the prize funding, being a Solver will afford Farmerline connections to the needed technical expertise to integrate AI and Machine learning into its entire platform; resulting in a platform that is robust enough to reach the company’s goal of 1 million smallholder farmers across Africa by 2025. It is for this reason that Farmerline is particularly interested in the AI Innovations Prize.

Also, the personalised support Farmerline will enjoy as a solver - the cross-sector introductions and resulting partnerships - will allow the company to fine-tune its business model, validate it, and scale much faster than it would without.

Finally, Farmerline believes that its work uniquely bridges the resource and knowledge gap for smallholder farmers, helping them out of poverty while contributing towards food security in sub-saharan Africa and the world at large. The recognition of our work through this award, for us as a young social enterprise, will not only help us realise our vision, but will also serve as a source of encouragement for many more young entrepreneurs to take up the task of tackling social challenges in the world.

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Farmerline is looking to partner organization whose supply chain rely or affects the livelihood of smallholder farmers. Below are some key names Farmerline is seeking to partner to enhance their work:  

• Bayer
• Nestle
• Unilever
• Mars
• Mondelez International
• Starbucks

In 2016, Farmerline had support to develop an AI technology for non-collateral based credit scoring using over 100 data points to determine farmers credit worthiness. The algorithm has been deployed to reach about 851 farmers who received inputs on credit.This year, a total of 2000 farmers will receive input on credit. Though the algorithm has seen some improvements in the last couple of years, there is still more room for making it more accurate. For instance, expanding the scope and including additional variables for better assessing smallholder farmers’ credit worthiness. The AI Innovation Prize will be very useful in assisting Farmerline in further developing its algorithm to achieve its objective of enhancing financial inclusion for smallholders.  In addition, we seek to use the prize for the following:

• Build new features on the platform to enhance continuous cost reduction in distributing to the last mile
• Build agents’ capacity to deepen farmer impact, such as conducting training on consultative sales, loan recovery, and timely input delivery
• Partnership development: Reach many more farmers through partnerships with agribusinesses, traders, farmer cooperatives
• Expand agent network to new regions in Ghana

Through its Mergdata technology, Farmerline fosters prosperity and social mobility for smallholder farmers by giving them access to services and resources, thus transforming them into successful entrepreneurs. Our target farmers are those who do not have access to financial services, traditionally farm on small parcels of land (an average of 4 acres), are illiterate, and have minimum access to vital information on sustainable farming practices.

An assessment report by Acumen Lean Data revealed Farmerline is reaching a disproportionately high number of low-income farmers in Ghana: 54% live in poverty versus the national rural average of 32%. Further, it was observed that Farmerline increases yield per acre for farmers by 37%, and income per acre by 26%.

Additionally, Farmerline, through its agent network presently creates 250 jobs per season; a number which is set to double by the end of the year.  In addition, we seek to use the prize for the following:

• Build new features in our technology (Mergdata) to enhance continuous cost reduction in distributing to the last mile

• Build agents’ capacity to deepen farmer impact, such as conducting training on consultative sales, loan recovery, and timely input delivery

• Partnership development: Reach many more farmers through partnerships with agribusinesses, traders, farmer cooperatives

• Expand agent network and farmer reach to new regions in Ghana

• Increase the number of digital identities created for farmers (present number is 100,000)

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In 2016, Farmerline had support to develop an AI technology for non-collateral based credit scoring using over 100 data points to determine farmers credit worthiness. The algorithm has been deployed to reach about 851 farmers who received inputs on credit.This year, a total of 2000 farmers will receive input on credit. Though the algorithm has seen some improvements in the last couple of years, there is still more room for making it more accurate. For instance, expanding the scope and including additional variables for better assessing smallholder farmers’ credit worthiness. The Innospark Ventures Prize will be very useful in assisting Farmerline in further developing its algorithm to achieve its objective of enhancing financial inclusion for smallholders.  In addition, we seek to use the prize for the following:

• Build new features on the platform to enhance continuous cost reduction in distributing to the last mile

• Build agents’ capacity to deepen farmer impact, such as conducting training on consultative sales, loan recovery, and timely input delivery

• Partnership development: Reach many more farmers through partnerships with agribusinesses, traders, farmer cooperatives

• Expand agent network to new regions in Ghana

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