Scaling Data Models to Create Transformational Impact - II
A conversation with Krishnan Pallassana, Country Director, Digital Green India
It has never been more necessary to use technology as an enabler to create better systems and processes, and to build platforms to analyze and share data rapidly amongst teams and stakeholders. Through scaling tech solutions and using data effectively, organizations can create differential positive changes within their own communities.
In this one-on-one conversation Krishnan Pallassana, from Digital Green share’s the organization’s experience with creating technology solutions that place the end-users at the forefront and designing platforms that restore community agency, and provide individuals with the appropriate choices that they can exercise in their respective context.
A little bit about Digital Green’s approach: Digital Green strives to center farmers as the primary stakeholder in interactions with nonprofits, the government extension system, and other stakeholders.
Their community based videos, introduced 10-12 years ago, helped farmers capture the practices they were following, share them with peers, engage in discussions, receive feedback, and learn collectively. This approach helped increase the number of farmers who were accessing the extension system (10% to 60%), as well as the number of farmers who were willing to try new methods (15% to 50%). And importantly, in each step of the process, the farmers were co-creators of what was being built. Through this model, Digital Green applied a technology solution to meet the localized needs of farmers and then demonstrate scale up.
In addition, they created an open-source software called FarmStack that enables farmers to be at the center of the data ecosystem. By connecting seemingly independent data sets to each other, FarmStack creates a holistic picture of what the farmer’s pain points are and what tailored solutions could look like. This greatly reduces costs for organizations, and expands the reach of existing tools. Importantly, it also enables farmers to give consent for their data use.
Here are some insights from the session:
In this one-on-one conversation Krishnan Pallassana, from Digital Green share’s the organization’s experience with creating technology solutions that place the end-users at the forefront and designing platforms that restore community agency, and provide individuals with the appropriate choices that they can exercise in their respective context.
A little bit about Digital Green’s approach: Digital Green strives to center farmers as the primary stakeholder in interactions with nonprofits, the government extension system, and other stakeholders.
Their community based videos, introduced 10-12 years ago, helped farmers capture the practices they were following, share them with peers, engage in discussions, receive feedback, and learn collectively. This approach helped increase the number of farmers who were accessing the extension system (10% to 60%), as well as the number of farmers who were willing to try new methods (15% to 50%). And importantly, in each step of the process, the farmers were co-creators of what was being built. Through this model, Digital Green applied a technology solution to meet the localized needs of farmers and then demonstrate scale up.
In addition, they created an open-source software called FarmStack that enables farmers to be at the center of the data ecosystem. By connecting seemingly independent data sets to each other, FarmStack creates a holistic picture of what the farmer’s pain points are and what tailored solutions could look like. This greatly reduces costs for organizations, and expands the reach of existing tools. Importantly, it also enables farmers to give consent for their data use.
Here are some insights from the session:
On using data and tech to scale solutions that are community based, and tailored to suit their needs
On how the effective use of technology and data can help empower communities
Tips for new/smaller organizations and entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they are looking to scale, and what they can do to ensure that the platforms they design are actually giving their communities agency.
- It is very important to understand, when working with farmers, that the farming sector in India is so diverse, varied, and fragmented. This means the application of farm technologies, techniques and methods will vary from district to district. We cannot treat farmers as a homogenous group in the country, or even in a state.
- The way a farmer processes data is very different from how you or me would process it. For them, there is a set of information that leads to a certain kind of application, resulting in a certain kind of experience. For them, therefore, data is understood by a certain set of experiences, not percentages.
- Initially, the agricultural extension system (a service that assists farmers) was based on a word of mouth approach, or having people conduct live demonstrations on one plot and inviting farmers to watch, or handing out informative pamphlets. These approaches, due to various socio economic factors, were not very equitable in the farmers they were able to reach and engage. Digital Green disrupted these traditional approaches by creating community based learning videos.
- The success of the Digital Green community based videos was due to three factors:
- The videos that were created were extremely localised, and therefore relevant. For example, a potato farmer in Bihar made a video that was shown to his peers, instead of being translated and shown to other farmers, say in Andhra Pradesh.
- When the videos were shown back to the farmers, there was a lot of room for conversation and peer to peer interaction, and this enabled collective learning.
- The cost of this method was one seventh that of the traditional extension system
- The videos that were created were extremely localised, and therefore relevant. For example, a potato farmer in Bihar made a video that was shown to his peers, instead of being translated and shown to other farmers, say in Andhra Pradesh.
On how the effective use of technology and data can help empower communities
- It is important to make community members (in this case farmers) co-creators in your intervention, and ensure that there are feedback loops, and lots of interactions with other stakeholders (be it the facilitators, the government, etc).
- We also need to think about data, from the point of view of the people we are collecting it from. For example, while we typically collect a lot of data from farmers, this data hardly goes back to the farmer to help build their agency or give them decision making choices.
- If you look at the sector as a whole - the farmers are getting support from various ministries in the government, financial institutions, insurance service providers, agriculture business, technology startups etc - and each of these players is collecting data from farmers, to provide them with a certain service. And all these players use the data they collect to fine tune their own businesses or services, they do not share the information with the farmers themselves, which means that the farmer’s agency does not get built.
- Another factor to consider is that the different data sets that are collected never speak to each other. For example, the data collected by a technology company will hardly interact with the data collected by a bank. And if there is a way to close that gap, then you will have a set of cohesive, holistic data that can add a lot of value to your farmer’s (or community member’s) life and work. This is what Digital Green was able to do with FarmStack.
- Importantly, FarmStack also has a consent manager built in, which enables farmers to look at what data of theirs is being shared, and how, and lets them decide whether they want to be a part of it or not.
Tips for new/smaller organizations and entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they are looking to scale, and what they can do to ensure that the platforms they design are actually giving their communities agency.
- If you look at a typical farmer, there are only three things a farmer looks for: Number one, can I increase my income because of this technology? Number two, can I reduce my expenditure because of this technology? And the third one, can this technology reduce the risks that I'm facing on a day to day basis? Which is to say that the farmer wants very tangible, immediate benefits from using technology. So agtech providers need to think about whether they are meeting one or more of these immediate requirements that the farmer has. And of course, the accessibility and affordability of the technology is also very important.
- Another thing to keep in mind is that there are different companies and technologies that are trying to address the core needs of these farmers. And usually, during a 90 day or 120 day funding cycle, a lot of them are approaching the same farmers and telling them about their services and how they can add value to their lives. More often than not, this leads to farmers being confused, and being forced into taking decisions which might not be in their best interest. One way to approach this problem would be to work with other stakeholders. Are there other players who have already created technology that could help farmers, or have access to data that could benefit them, and is it possible to partner with them? Doing so would enable the sector as a whole to come together without compromising on their own business models, while simultaneously providing much higher value added service to farmers. Digital Green has carried out these kinds of partnerships with both technology providers and market access players.
Quotes
Key Statistics
- The average annual income of an Indian farmer is > USD 1,000. This low income explains the precarious financial circumstances in which a typical farmer operates in India. Thus, lowering the cost of technology will help. (Source: IBEF)
- India has improved remarkably in its digital connectivity and market access has become very easy. The number of internet users is projected to reach 666.4 million in 2025. (Source: Down to Earth)
- Farmers in rural India have witnessed increases in productivities of around 50% in just one cropping cycle since the use of an Farm Management Information System. (Source: Farmfit Report)
- Digital Green’s community based video approach increased smallholder farmer access to the extension system, from 10% to 60%. It also enabled a rise, from 15% to 50%, in farmers who were adopting new farming methods. (Source: the session)
- India has improved remarkably in its digital connectivity and market access has become very easy. The number of internet users is projected to reach 666.4 million in 2025. (Source: Down to Earth)
- Farmers in rural India have witnessed increases in productivities of around 50% in just one cropping cycle since the use of an Farm Management Information System. (Source: Farmfit Report)
- Digital Green’s community based video approach increased smallholder farmer access to the extension system, from 10% to 60%. It also enabled a rise, from 15% to 50%, in farmers who were adopting new farming methods. (Source: the session)