How a geo-information app helps vegetable farmers to optimise inputs and boost productivity

For vegetable farmers in Indonesia, it can be hard and expensive to access information that could help them increase productivity, income, and food security and optimise the inputs of water, fertiliser, and pesticides. To address this challenge, a special project was initiated called SMARTseeds (information services for sustainable vegetable farm management).

SMARTseeds was conceived as a financially sustainable information service. Utilising geodata and remote sensing technology, the service provides location-specific information to farmers, delivered through a mobile app. Geodata is also an essential component of business-to-business services via the SMARTseeds geodata intelligence dashboard.

SMARTseeds for farmers

For farmers, SMARTseeds provides soil and fertiliser advice, weather forecasts, farm profiles, digital information on good agricultural practices, and pests and diseases advice. There's also an irrigation advice feature that helps farmers to use water more efficiently.

In addition, SMARTseeds offers a digital marketplace for vegetables, daily price information, and the opportunity for online consultation with agricultural experts. The services are delivered through a mobile app called SIPINDO.

The business model for farmers has a freemium setup. Most of the services provided in the SIPINDO app are free, while some features - chatting with experts, for example - are made premium. Free users can subscribe to a premium membership for € 10 per year or € 1 per month.

SMARTseeds for business

Through the geodata intelligence dashboard, SMARTseeds services vegetable buyers, agri-input suppliers and distributors, micro-finance institutions (MFIs) and fintech providers, the government, NGOs, and education and/or research institutions. These target groups are provided with vegetable maps, weather and forecast maps, soil profile maps, regional daily vegetable price information, farm and farmer profiles, and road access maps.

The business model, in this case, is inclusive and loyalty-based. SMARTseeds charges a fee to the business for every farmer member who uses the app and receives the information services.

Challenges and successes

As underscored by results at pilot farms, SMARTseeds has given farmers easy and affordable access to reliable information that normally would have been difficult for them to get.

However, to really make an impact, the services need to be improved and made easier for farmers to understand. Although there is a willingness to pay, meeting the quality level expected by customers is still a challenge. For example, users noted that the SMARTseeds fertiliser advice is useful but only applicable under ideal conditions.

On the plus side, surveyed SIPINDO users reported a 22% increase in productivity as well as a 9 - 15% increase in water input usage efficiency.

Moreover, having access to the SMARTseeds weather forecasts enables farmers to better plan their planting and mitigate the risks of harvest failure. This has led to increased resilience and food security in the communities.

Expansion and improvements

The SMARTseeds services were initially provided for selected crops in three Indonesian provinces. After the project ended, the scope was expanded to include new regions and crops.

To upscale, SIPINDO keeps developing new services and optimising the app and underlying databases.

In addition, specialised third parties are called upon to achieve further improvements, e.g. by using machine learning for detecting pests and diseases with image recognition.

Factors for success

PT East West Seeds Indonesia (EWINDO) is an Indonesian joint venture of East-West Seed and Enza Zaden and provides vegetable seeds for specific climate and growth conditions. With its seeds, it also provides an agricultural extension service, which helps farmers to choose the most suitable variety for their field and provides advice on the use of fertiliser and pesticides.

As a result, the SIPINDO daughter company could build on the existing trust and network of vegetable farmers and the personal contacts of the extension service. This facilitated the building of an app with useful information and its distribution to farmers. Having a large group of farmers using the app makes their information attractive for agribusinesses, who are willing to pay for the farmer's information and reduce the cost of the app for the farmers.

The participation of IPB in Sipindo facilitates the development of new features, such as detecting pests and diseases.

Initiators and owners

The SMARTseeds project was initiated by ICCO Cooperation South East Asia, now part of Cordaid (Netherlands), supported by Indonesian partners Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and PT East West Seeds Indonesia (EWINDO), and Dutch partners Akvo (data solutions), Nelen & Schuurmans (IT), and Faculty ITC of the University of Twente. The SMARTseeds information service is owned and operated by a social enterprise called SIPINDO, formed in December 2020, through an agreement between EWINDO, ICCO Cooperation, IPB University and Nelen & Schuurman.

Header image: Tiket2, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons