Producers Direct's Technology
Producers Direct have developed some truly innovative and impactful technology. Many of these bring the benefits from Big Data which is largely inaccessible to the world’s 500 million small-scale farmers. This real-time data and insight are essential for them to break out of financial hardship and to deal with the significant climate risks they face.
Farm Direct
This app allows farmers to collect and share agricultural data so that they can make informed decisions on their farms. It does this by tracking and analysing farm health, productivity, and profitability.
93% of farmers improved farm productivity because of accessing information on FarmDirect.
Digital cooperatives
FarmDirect is used to bring together women farmers who individually sell small quantities of crops. By aggregating their crops and selling them in larger quantities they can access larger buyers. It also addresses the frequent problem of crops perishing before they reach the local market and the fierce competition that they face there.
Through surplus food crop sales and more predictable access to buyers, income opportunities have increased by up to 100%.
Croppie
This app uses Artificial Intelligence to evaluate crop photographs to assess how they will perform. This is useful because the farmer can then adapt how they care for the plant to achieve a healthy crop. The app also provides a crop yield prediction which improves the likelihood of finding crop buyers and getting a financial loan, both needed for growing businesses.
Producers Direct won a prestigious award from the CGIAR Inspire Big Data Challenge for the app.