Farmer Call Centre I Case Study

Farmer Call Centre

CASE STUDY
March 2020

Digital Extension Services

Improve Farmer Productivity
Using a Farmer Call Centre and Digital Extension Agents
in Delivering Extension and Agronomic Services: A Case
Study of Kilimo Farmers’ Call Centre in West Nile, Uganda
Farmer Call Centre I Case Study

Abstract
In the West Nile region in Uganda, one
agriculture extension worker serves
2,000 farmers, demonstrating the key
role of technology in enabling access
to the much needed extension and
agronomic services.

An inception study undertaken by

UNCDF showed that the lack of access
to quality extension services, is one of
the main constraints in the agriculture
sector and is causing the productivity
in the region to slow down. The next
question was, ‘can digital technologies
like call centre technology act as a
catalyst in unlocking these market
constraints with the sole aim of creating
the desired impact among the last mile?’
This gap gave rise to opportunities for
UNCDF to work with innovators to
develop tailor-made home-grown digital
technologies to combat constraints
in agriculture in Uganda. One of the
organizations is Cabral Tech Ltd. Cabral
Tech Ltd is currently running a farmer
call centre in Northern Uganda, using
a combination of technology and a
network of community influencers
dubbed ‘digital extension agents’
to make extension and agronomic
services reach the last mile farmers.
This publication explains how the
solution works and sheds a light on
some lessons learned in the first year of
implementation.

March 2021. Copyright © UN Capital

Development Fund.

All rights reserved. The views expressed in this

Acknowledgement
publication are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily represent the views of UNCDF, the
United Nations or any of its affiliated organizations This case study is developed by UNCDF and
or its Member States. Mention of any firm or authored by Stephen Waiswa, in partnership
licensed process does not imply endorsement by Cabral Tech Limited with funding from
the United Nations. The designations employed
and the presentation of material on the maps and
the Swedish International Development
graphs contained in this publication do not imply the Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part
of the Secretariat of the United Nations or UNCDF
concerning the legal status of any country, territory,
city or area or its authorities, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Photographs © UNCDF 2021

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Farmer Call Centre I Case Study

Background Kilimo Farmer Call Centre

Although Africa has the highest potential for In July 2020, Cabral Tech Ltd in partnership with
agricultural production in the world, it is still UNCDF under the ‘leaving no one behind in the
unable to produce enough to feed its ever- digital era’ strategy initiated a project to expand
increasing population. Consequently, it is still farmers’ call centre operations in West Nile. The
suffering from food insecurity, malnutrition, project aims to provide agricultural advisory
poverty, etc. Agriculture in Africa is further being and extension services to the hardest to reach
challenged by the adverse effects of climate smallholder farmers, improving market linkages,
change impacts, hence deepening the existing ensuring access to and usage of high-quality
problems. agro-inputs, and also promoting good farming
practices through voice calls, Short Message
According to the North American Energy Services (SMS), Unstructured Supplementary
Services (NAES) 2018, agricultural extension Service Data (USSD) and Interactive Voice
is, and remains the ‘heart and soul’ of the Response System (IVRs).
knowledge base of the Ministry of Agriculture,
Animal Industry, and Fisheries and is one of the Cabral Tech Ltd, through their call centre called
most important elements for the agricultural Kilimo Farmer Call Centre provides the following
sector transformation. The reformed agricultural services;
extension system is expected to significantly a. Access to advisory and extension
improve production efficiency, competitiveness, services
and foster commercialization of smallholder b. Market linkage and access to market
farmers engulfed in a vicious cycle of poverty. information
c. Linkage to agricultural services
In Uganda, 81 percent of smallholder farmers d. Ensuring use and access to agriculture
have no access to agriculture extension inputs
and advisory services (Food and Agriculture e. Promotion of good farming practices.
Organization (FAO), 2018). Unfortunately,
a briefing paper by the Budget Monitoring
and Accountability Unit under the Ministry of
Finance (Briefing Paper 25/19,) shows that only Why a farmer call centre solution
15 percent of technologies, better agriculture was sought in addressing access to
practices and research findings generated
by research institutions in Uganda reach the
extension services and agronomy in
farming communities. This has led to weak rural areas
connectivity to markets and suppliers. And as a Kilimo Farmer Call Centre is a mobile platform
consequence, in 2018, 85 percent of farmers leveraging mobile technology to ensure:
had to accept potential income losses, therefore, 1. Instant access to agriculture advisory
selling their crops directly to the public at the services and new technologies by
local markets. Additionally, smallholder farmers smallholder farmers
experienced low yields estimated at 28 percent 2. Instant alerts in case of pest and
of the expected yields leading to poverty and disease outbreak, and early weather
undernourishment. warnings
3. Increased and proper usage of
Agricultural extension services need to be
high-quality agro-inputs to improve
provided through a pluralistic, inclusive, equitable,
production
decentralized, integrated, and harmonious
system that links all different categories of 4. Increased access to equipment
extension users to the value chain with the services to mechanize agriculture and
appropriate services, innovative technologies, improve productivity
and the market. 5. Improved market linkages, and instant
access to market information by
Smallholder farmers need to be at the centre smallholder farmers.
of agricultural extension services through a 6. Illustration of benefits of Kilimo Farmer
combination of the use of technology with Call Centre
research, educational, farmer institutions for
effective new extension services.

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Farmer Call Centre I Case Study

Benefits
Instant access to agriculture advisory
& extension services
• Linkage to formal markets
• Instant access to market information
• Linkage to equipment services

FARMER
Input Purchase
$
$
AGRO-INPUT RETAILER
Benefits
Agriculture $
Linkage to customers
Services Accessibility Collateral in form of transactions
history
Target marketing to potential
customers
AGRICULTURE SERVICE
PROVIDERS Access to customer data to inform
business decisions
Benefits Farmer demand aggregation
New customer base
• Target marketing to potential customers
• Data analytics to generate actionable insight
• Track down progress of clients for service
improvement

Call centres require the integration of several different technologies to maximize the use of information
and to streamline the activities of call centre operators. Advances in technology and the adaptation
and integration of synergistic technologies have resulted in the development of numerous features that
have enhanced the growth of call centres throughout the world. The computer and the telephone are
two of the major and most familiar tools of technology that have converged to make call centres more
efficient and productive. When used properly along with software technology that assists operators to
assimilate and analyze customer data to respond knowledgeably to customer inquiries, the benefits to
both the customer and the organization are substantial.

How Kilimo Farmer Call Centre works

MARKET INFORMATION AGRICULTURE INPUTS

EQUIPMENT
Kilimo SERVICES AFRICULTURE
Farmers Call SERVICES
Centre

USSD
IMPROVED YIELDS

WEATHER FORECASTS AGRICULTURE ADVISORY

& EXTENSION

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Farmer Call Centre I Case Study

Smallholder farmers are asked to complete their farming profile and information needs on the Kilimo
Farmer Call Center app, afterwhich they are geo-mapped.

In addition to the agriculture extension services through voice calls, SMS, USSD and IVR in local
languages, smallholder farmers receive weather updates on a weekly basis as well as market price
updates and agronomical tips based on the crops they grow and the location they are based.

How to Reach Last Mile Farmers

To make extension and agronomic services reach the
last mile farmers, an innovative channel or network of
community influencers called digital extension agents
was proposed. The digital extension agents support the
service delivery offered through the farmer call centre,
private extension workers, and government extension
workers that currently have gaps in providing the
required information on best farming practices.

Digital extension agents will play a crucial role in

promoting agricultural productivity, increasing food
security, improving rural livelihoods, and promoting
agriculture as an engine of pro-poor economic growth.

Through the connection and rapport built by digital

extension agents, the project aims to improve the
smallholder farmers’ production systems and help them
attain high levels of efficiency in the farm enterprise. A digital extension agent with farmers

Using an innovative hybrid model of leveraging

the farmer call centre alongside a network of
digital extension agents seems to be appropriate
because it’s easier to reach large numbers
of farmers. However, for this model to be
successful, a lot has to be factored in, and below
are some of the initial insights from the field:
a. Digital extension agents require a lot of
training to meet the farmers’ needs although
reliable information through the experienced
extension and agronomist exist to provide
Conclusion
support.
b. Using unqualified digital extension agents
poses a threat as it can impact the churn rate,
since most of them may not meet the level of Cabral Tech Ltd has effectively mapped all the
expertise required to disseminate the digital key value chain actors in West Nile including, but
extension messages to the last mile. not limited to input dealers, public and private
c. The gap and ratio of extension worker to extension service worker. The objective is to
farmers (1:2000) is large thus requires many create a working relationships and synergies
support levels. to improve access to best farming practices /
d. The structure is expensive to develop due information for farmers. More efforts are
to the heavy budget involved in recruitment, being sought to develop a network of digital
training and retention of digital extension extension agents to help simplify the delivery
agents in the initial stages, making it necessary of extension and agronomic services to the last
to develop a sustainable model that makes mile through what is known as ‘Agent Assisted
these digital extension agents profitable so Extension Service Delivery’. We believe the above
they can run on their own. approaches will play a vital role in changing the
way extension services are currently delivered
e. Using digital extension agents who have not
and eventually create an impact on the lives of
been actively engaging with farmers poses
poor households.
a threat to the delivery of information since
farmers tend to trust information from the
people they already know.

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 LEAVING NO ONE BEHIND IN THE DIGITAL ERA
The UNCDF strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ is based on over a decade
of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that
reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable
Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies that leave
no one behind. The vision of UNCDF is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use
services daily that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable
Development Goals. UNCDF will apply a market development approach and continuously
seek to address underlying market dysfunctions.

ABOUT THE UN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

The UN Capital Development Fund makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed
countries (LDCs). UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the
domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through
three channels: (1) inclusive digital economies, which connects individuals, households, and small businesses with
financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and
manage financial lives; (2) local development finance, which capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization,
innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable
development; and (3) investment finance, which provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital
deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization.

For more information, please contact:

digital.info@uncdf.org UNCDF.ORG @UNCDFdigital UNCDFdigital