Agribusiness Digital Information Manager

For many decades Sudan has been referred to as " the Food  Basket of the Region". However, failure of agribusiness has led to failure in feeding Sudanese People.  The measures employed to control the transmission of the COVID-19 aggravated the problem of inadequate extension of advisory agricultural services leading to more decrease in crop production. We propose a user-friendly, cloud-based digital platform to connect small scale farmers in Sudan (SCFs) with agronomists in a transparent ecosystem. It allows: virtual consultation, remote monitoring of agricultural processes, e-training, e-marketplace, and ERP system. It facilitates fair access of farmers to services and inputs that is not bound by border. This is expected to improve the agricultural practices of the value chain, increase crop production, food security and alleviate poverty. It will also promote ecosystem integrity.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) considered agriculture as the backbone of Sudan economy contributing to 31% of the GDP. Small scale farming is considered the most important factor in rural development, contributing to poverty reduction and food security. The FAO estimated the total number of households relying on small-scale farming at 4, 738 million (2017).

Facing the economic crisis, political instability and environmental concerns, Small Scale Farmers in Sudan are fighting alone. The sector suffers from sub-optimal productivity and inefficiency due to use of traditional and unsustainable agricultural practices, limited access to productive assets and  inadequate extension of advisory agricultural services (EAS). The measures employed to control the transmission of the COVID-19 aggravated the problem leading to wide food insecurity especially among internally displaced people and in conflict affected areas. The time has come to transform the agribusiness reality in Sudan and empower farmers out of this cycle.  Advancement in technology is a great opportunity to make this change.

Agribusiness Digital Information Manager is a tool to improve agricultural practices by digital provision of advisory agricultural services. We will build a user-friendly, cloud-based digital platform to connect stakeholders in agribusiness domain. It provides: 

1. Virtual consultation: Connecting farmers with agronomists regardless of their geographical location and allows a small group of agronomists to serve a large number of farmers

2. Remote monitoring: Provide a tool to remotely monitor field conditions, by using arial satellite images and remote sensing techniques. This can be in the form of time series of NDVI or any other index and weather information. It can detect problems before they become visible to human eyes.

3. e-learning: developing printed educational materials and video-based tutorials for the different agricultural processes.

4. e-monitoring: a plan including recommended activities can be uploaded to the platform, and can be accessed by farmers and agronomists. Its execution can be monitored by tracking of the activities recommended by agronomists.

5. e-Marketplace: compiling a database of providers of agricultural inputs and outputs.

6. ERP system for monitoring financial data so profit and loss can accurately be calculated.

7. e-information system: Provide an integrated information system for better decision making in the future 

The main beneficiaries of The Agribusiness Digital Information Manager are small scale farmers (SCFs) involved in agribusiness and the agronomists. Small Scale Farmers constitute the largest category of the workforce in the agriculture sector in Sudan. They are faced with economic marginalization and environmental concerns. They are unable to compete because of  the high production cost due to using traditional and in-efficient methods and shortages in wage labor.  

We are planning to reach 100 farmers in one year in and around Khartoum in a pilot project. We will subsequently scale-up to other regions. The advisory services will be given in local (Sudanese) Arabic language to start with.

The Agribusiness Digital Information Manager will create a transparent and safe ecosystem for the agribusiness community to interact and exchange benefits that are not bound by borders. It facilitates fair access to services and inputs. The benefits include:

• Enabling farmers to adopt best agricultural practices will improve the productivity of agricultural products contributing to food production and food security. 
• The Agribusiness Digital Information Manager will give SCFs access to timely technical advice and information, enable efficient field monitoring and decision making, improve access to agricultural inputs and enhance product marketing.
• Using technology will transform the scene for SCFs by increasing the quantity and improving the quality of their products while reducing the need for wage labor. This will increase the farming efficiency throughout the value chain and reduce the cost, improving their competitiveness and income.
• The platform will enable networking of agribusiness community and reduce isolation and fragmentation. This will facilitate collective development and better resilience. 
• The platform will contribute to prevention and control of COVID-19 by adopting a social distancing approach.
• The Platform will create jobs for local agronomists and improve their practice and skills. 
• The platform will benefit local service and input providers by broadening their market through the e-marketplace. 

Use of Agribusiness Digital Information Manager is aligned with the goal "use of technology and innovation can help improve efficiency, replicate good models, and ensure  communities gain durable sources of funding, land rights, and data sovereignty". 

Agribusiness Digital Information Manager will empower local farmers to produce their food, contributing to the security, resilience and more social and ecological responsibility. It will reduce their vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather. 

Enabling farmers to adopt safe agricultural practices will increase the efficiency of their processes, reduce land fragmentation and increase their income while promoting ecosystem integrity.

The Agribusiness Digital Information Manager is in the early stage of prototyping. We are in the process of testing the ability of the solution to provide remote monitoring of farms using satellite images.

We are testing the ability to access satellite images from different providers using APIs and generate NDVI from it.  

Using Digital Technology to overcome the chronic challenges facing small scale farmers in Sudan is a novel idea. 

Use of technology by small scale farmers in Sudan is not-common, scattered and done in individual basis. Connecting groups in the farming community by digital technology to network and exchange benefits has not been tried in the country. 

We are taking the opportunity of technology to integrate and transform the farming community in Sudan. This solution enable the few agronomists in the country to extend their advisory services to large numbers of beneficiaries.   We give our farmers the opportunity to reach out for regional and global expertise. 

 The Agribusiness Digital Information Manager will start by using local Arabic Language to make it suitable for solving the productivity and quality challenges of Sudanese farmers.  We will add other languages and interpretation services to expand in the region and beyond.  

Indicators:

- Number of beneficiaries using the platform- by category.

    - Number of small scale farmers.

    - Number of agronomists.

    - Number of service providers.

-Number of small scale farmers implementing best agricultural practices using the platform..

- Percent improvement in production (acre  yield) among enrolled farms.

- Percent of households able to access locally produced food.

Me and my team have firsthand experience about small scale farming in Sudan. Few of my first degree relatives own small farms and are suffering from the problems I highlighted in my proposal. The high cost of inputs, in-efficient operations and food shortages are part of our day to day life in Khartoum. Many of the farmers I talk to are struggling with the decision making process and inability to find technical advice. Many of them lost their crops to bad weather and ignorance. We feel a responsibility to help them.

As a Business Support System Engineer, my passion is to bridge the gap between business and IT. My team includes a couple of small scale farmers who are willing to participate in the pilot and use their farms to test the solution. Sara Mustafa is experienced in  programme management . She will detail the work plans and oversee the project management aspects of the solution. The team includes a researcher. Her role is to systematically measure the impact and publish it for  the global benefit. 

Our value is to include with no discrimination against any person regardless of their physical, social or any other characteristic. This includes people who want to join our team as well as our clients and beneficiaries. We listen to every voice with care and respect. The wellbeing and support of people is part of our mission. 

 We will consciously strive to diversify the team in a transparent manner. Our plan in the future is to extend the project to benefit Sudanese people in remote and marginalized areas. We will make sure to include representatives of local communities and displaced people, men and women. Once we set the start-up, we will follow a clear policy for diversity and inclusion

I am applying to Solve to get support in executing my solution. I am hoping for technical support and guidance to roll out the idea into reality as well as direction to financial sources to develop the application and launch the start-up.

Development of the digital platform is a sophisticated process that needs expertise and money. I want to develop a world class application that can be replicated worldwide to benefit as many people as possible.

Small Scale Farmers in Sudan is a vulnerable segment of the population . The Agribusiness Information Manager uses AI to help them minimize and manage risks, achieve more results and lower the cost by using data. Using AI allows them to have real time insight of their fields for appropriate decision making. Our ecosystem improves the fairness, transparency and benefit from information to all farmers regardless of their location.

The Agribusinesses Information Manager serves the vulnerable small scale farmers in a low in come country. It can transform the way they live. I want to expand it to reach as far as the disadvantaged groups in remote areas and displaced camps where they live This will need a lot of capacity building efforts in the context of Sudan.