By leveraging on advances in digital disruption we can aim to be part of the solution to the food pandemic that will face the estimated 10 billion people living on the planet by 2050.
The only way that we will be able to feed this population is through the manifestation of the Third Green Revolution, underpinned by digitally transformed, IoT-driven agriculture. The third green revolution draws upon the combined application of ubiquitous connectivity, Big Data Analytics Technologies, IoT, drones and robotics that enable automation and precision farming that delivers greater crop yields and efficient use of scarce resources such as water, power and fertilizer.
At the 2019 Vodacom Agri-Tech Expo, industry experts from IoT and the Agriculture sector gathered to discuss the technological advances throughout the farming industry, the current trends in the marketplace.
Vodacom Connected Farmer
South Africa is a food-insecure country, while also being a net importer of a variety of produce. As such the countries smallholder farmers have an important role to play as a powerful driver of enterprise development, job creation and a more productive economy. But to do so requires innovation.
Vodacom Connected Farmer is a cloud-based management service that provides Agri service to the following stakeholders within the smallholder farmer industry:
- Enterprise Management (the agribusiness)
- Mobile Enterprise users (agribusiness employees in the field)
- Input and output suppliers to the agri-industry (financial services)
The process begins with the agri-business registering smallholder farmers as their suppliers. Mobile enterprise users profile their farmers and farms and verify their identity during field visits, using Vodacom Connected Farmer on their mobile devices.
The enterprise is now able to communicate with their smallholder farmer base via their mobile phones, whether individually, as a group or across the entire smallholder farmer community. This enables the enterprise to provide farmers with personalized and location-specific content, such as weather forecasts and market prices.
Vodacom Connected Farmer enables the enterprise to capture transactions with the farmers. It allows the agribusiness to record the farmers crop production at the point of delivery and to communicate volumes, quantity and price to the farmers via SMS.
Capabilities
Farmer database management
- Record, process and manage farmer and farm profile information according to requirements of the agribusiness.
- Manage farmer groups
- Management can review activity logs
Communication
- Ability to select and communicate with farmers and field workers, whether individually or in bulk.
- Forms can be configured to capture specific data, e.g. farmer survey.
- A readily available message functionality allows for real-time communication with farmers on the database
Transactional capabilities
- Vodacom Connected Farmer supports electronic voucher creation, issuing, redemption and reconciliation.
- Agribusiness can make input products such as seeds and fertilizers available to farmers, based on the size of their farms, yield estimates or contract value through the use of electronic vouchers.
Benefits
- Interconnect the agribusiness and its smallholder farmers
- Improve productivity and resilience
- Enhance communication, visibility and transparency
- Access to quality and personalized agri-information via a push service
Connectivity is the foundation for your Digital Transformation. Choosing the right network partner is critical for your journey. From Plug and Play LTE to Satellite Internet, Vodacom Business has your network covered.
