FarmWise

FarmWise is a smartphone app and testing platform that empowers smallholder farmer groups in Tanzania to regularly sample and analyze livestock manure for antibiotic resistant bacteria. Community-led data generation and visualization informs tailored advice to improve biosafety, contain AMR spread, and protect crop and environmental health.

MD Batilda Kiria, Lead Investigator and Co-founder of FarmWise

The antimicrobial resistance crisis poses a significant threat in Tanzania and across Africa. Limited data and understanding of AMR dynamics at the community level severely hampers effective response efforts. 

In Tanzania, over 60% of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods. Most farming is small-scale and livestock-integrated. Manure is widely used as affordable fertilizer without treatment, representing an under-examined route of AMR spread. National surveillance focuses on clinical isolates, neglecting environmental and agricultural dimensions.    

Studies suggest over 70% of bacteria from livestock in Tanzania already exhibit resistance to common antibiotics. Unregulated sale and misuse of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine drives growing resistance. If left unaddressed, AMR could cause 23,000 additional deaths annually in Africa and cost the Tanzanian economy over $200 million by 2050 due to lost agricultural productivity.

FarmWise focuses on tackling the key gaps in community-level AMR data and understanding in Tanzania. By empowering farmers to regularly sample and test livestock manure, the solution generates new insights into environmental resistance reservoirs and risks of agricultural spread. This addresses a major cause of the problem by informing policies and practices to contain AMR transmission in farming communities.

The primary beneficiaries of FarmWise are the over 6 million smallholder farmers in Tanzania who rely on livestock rearing and manure as fertilizer. By empowering these farmers to monitor AMR on their farms, FarmWise addresses critical needs for the estimated 500,000+ Tanzanian farmers who have voiced difficulties accessing actionable data and agriculture-focused guidance on antibiotic resistance issues. 

FarmWise directly engages these communities through participatory design workshops held in 45 rural villages across 5 regions of Tanzania so far. Over 300 farmers have participated in these sessions to provide feedback on prototypes and survey data. Initial findings from the surveys of 150 farmers showed that 82% lacked awareness of how manure application could spread antibiotic resistance, and 94% expressed strong interest in having their own testing abilities.  

Engagement also occurs through partnerships with 15 major farmer associations and cooperatives representing over 250,000 smallholder farmers. These relationships provide a channel to enroll over 10,000 farmers in the first year of operation.

By developing solutions with the direct involvement of these large numbers of agricultural communities, FarmWise aims to empower those facing antibiotic access and resistance issues at scale. 

The primary public good that FarmWise provides is open access to critical new data and insights on antimicrobial resistance dynamics at the human-animal-environment interface in Tanzania and beyond.

By empowering farmers to monitor AMR in their communities through environmental sampling and testing, FarmWise generates an entirely new open dataset on reservoirs and agricultural spread of resistance. This addresses major surveillance gaps, as existing data focuses on clinical isolates alone. 

All de-identified on-farm sampling results, resistance profiles, and integrated epidemiological analyses will be transparently accessible to policymakers, researchers and others through an interactive online mapping and reporting platform. 

By illuminating patterns of community-level transmission, the aggregated data and models produced will guide evidence-based revisions to national and global guidance on antimicrobial usage and containment best practices - a public health benefit. 

The mobile sampling and open-data model itself can also be openly shared as an adaptable open-source solution, continuously improved through multi-stakeholder involvement globally. 

In this way, FarmWise directly outputs new public knowledge resources to advance the global fight against antimicrobial resistance through coordinated One Health action planning.

By empowering over 50,000 smallholder farmers in Tanzania to directly monitor AMR on 1,000 farms within the first 3 years, FarmWise expects to have significant real-world impact:

- New data insights: Testing 2,000 manure samples annually will generate a first-of-its-kind dataset on resistance in agricultural communities. This helps fill critical surveillance gaps. 

- Tailored guidelines: Analyzing patterns in the AMR data from 100+ villages will allow refinement of practice recommendations for 60% of Tanzania's vets and extension officers serving farmers. 

- On-farm containment: By optimizing guidance based on location-specific results, FarmWise aims to help reduce AMR spread through behavioral changes implemented by 5,000 farmers on fields representing over 100,000 acres of land. 

- Economic benefits: Supported by evidence, thesepractice improvements made by farmers have potential to boostcrop yields by 15-30% according to Ministry of Agriculture estimates, benefiting livelihoods.

- Public health outcomes: In turn, slowing environmental resistance flows helps protect the nearly 6 million Tanzanians who could be at risk from related infections spreading back into human populations. 

Backed by farmer demand and support from government partners, FarmWise is positioned to realize tangible health, agricultural and economic impacts through its data-driven approach.

Over the next year, FarmWise aims to scale in the following ways:

1 year:
- Rollout app and sampling program to 200 farmers across 5 pilot villages
- Collect and analyze 400 manure samples 
- Refine tools based on pilot results and users feedback
- Establish laboratory and data management infrastructure
- Partner with 2 veterinary NGOs for extension support 

Over 3 years:
- Enroll 5,000 farmers from 50 villages into the program
- Facilitate testing of 2,000 samples annually 
- Integrate data from 1,000 smallholder farms  
- Expand diagnostics capabilities to 4 regional labs
- Hire 5 project officers to support onboarding and training
- Formalize collaborations with Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock
- Publish first analytical reports and maps on AMR patterns  
- Develop antibiotic treatment guidelines for 25 veterinary drugs
- Conduct advocacy workshops on resistance mitigation best practices
- Incorporate learnings into national and regional policy roadmaps

By directly supporting thousands of farmers and integrating AMR information into policy and community health systems through multisector partnerships, FarmWise aims to have transformational impacts on mitigating resistance risks at scale across Tanzania and beyond.

We are measuring success against our goals through several key indicators:

1) Farm enrollment numbers - Goal to onboard 5,000 farmers within 3 years. Pilot enrolled 200 farmers in 6 months, exceeding 100 farmer target.

2) Sample collection - Goal to facilitate 2,000 annual samples through scaled program. Pilot obtained 400 samples from 200 farmers within 6 month period. 

3) App functionality - Surveys found 98% of pilot farmers able to submit samples and access results through app, demonstrating usability. 

4) Antibiogram data - Laboratory is generating complete resistance profiles for 90% of pilot samples submitted, revealing patterns for guidance.

5) Guidance development - First round of tailored best practice advisories developed based on pilot resistome data are being evaluated through farmer interviews.

6) Policy engagement - Ministry partners are recommending integration of FarmWise approach and early findings into national action plans based on addressing major data gaps.

These quantifiable, directly measured indicators confirm we are successfully piloting core functions and on track to realize full scale-up goals through expansions guided by data-driven impact tracking.

Some key barriers FarmWise may face and plans to overcome them include:

Funding: Sustained funding is vital for scaling operations and impact. We will pursue grants from foundations and impact investors interested in supporting open-data solutions and farmer health in Tanzania. 

Technical: Diagnostics capacity and IT network coverage could limit testing and data flow. We will trial portable technologies and satellite connectivity to ensure reliable, decentralized access. 

Awareness: Farmers and communities need motivation to engage. Our model activates lead farmers as citizen scientists and educators by incenting participation and empowering local ownership. 

Policy: High-level buy-in is needed nationally. We will formalize MOUs and strategic support plans with Ministry partners to advocate full integration of our approaches and data-sharing standards into national roadmaps.

Capacity: Supporting thousands of farmers requires human resources. A phased scale-up approach supported by veterinary partners will ensure quality training programs and extension networks are enhanced to grow with the program.

By proactively pursuing sustainability through blended financing strategies, piloting innovations to tackle context-specific hurdles, and formalizing strategic stakeholder partnerships, FarmWise is confident it can realize impact at scale throughout Tanzania despite resource constraints. Transparency and local collaboration will remain central to solutions.

We are applying to The Trinity Challenge because it provides a unique opportunity to overcome key barriers currently limiting the scale and long-term impact of our work.

As outlined previously, some key barriers we face in scaling FarmWise are:

Funding - Sustained funding for operational costs, lab infrastructure and staffing is critical to realize our 3-year plans nationally. The Trinity Challenge's £1M award would allow us to overcome initial financial hurdles.

Policy impact - Advocating for the integration of our findings and approach into national strategies requires high-level engagement we can achieve through this program. 

Capacity building - Expanding farmer reach from hundreds to thousands necessitates growing human resources which this funding facilitates. 

Stakeholder partnerships - Long-term collaborations with implementing partners like Ministries and NGOs are strengthened through a high-profile alliance like The Trinity Challenge network.

The Challenge's support would substantially boost FarmWise's potential to not just pilot but institutionally embed an AMR surveillance model that authentically serves farmers for decades to come. Its convening power and resources directy counter our main scaling barriers.

Some potential organizations I could collaborate with to help initiate, accelerate or scale my solution:

The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC): As the UK's authoritative voice on antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship, BSAC could help validate and refine my solution, connect me with technical experts for feedback, and introduce my work to their global network of researchers and practitioners working at the frontlines of AMR. Their experience educating healthcare workers and driving evidence-based practices would be invaluable

The Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research: As a pioneer in developing new antibiotics and alternative treatments, the IOI's scientific expertise and industry partnerships would help strengthen my solution's impact and sustainability. Working together could open doors to practical pilots, introduction to potential funders, and opportunities to incorporate my work into their global surveillance programs. Their guidance would take my solution to the next level.