Building agricultural database for farmers

What if, through generative AI, a farmer could ask a chatbot any question, and instantly get an answer tailored to their specific community and context? This is exactly the experience that Digital Green has built with OpenAI. Called Farmer.Chat, this product supports the essential work of agricultural extension programs in countries including India and Kenya. 

For farmers navigating a changing climate, agricultural extension (also called agricultural advisory services) is critical. Extension agents teach farmers best practices for growing their crops, help them connect with local suppliers, and provide market and pricing information. But especially in rural, remote communities, giving every farmer the support they need is a huge challenge. Even India’s network of over 400,000 agents has an agent-to-farmer ratio of only 1:650.

Over the past 15 years, Digital Green has been dedicated to solving this problem through digital agricultural extension. Working with the Ministries of Agriculture in India, Ethiopia, and Kenya, Digital Green has created nearly 8,000 farmer-to-farmer training videos in more than 50 languages, enabling extension agents to provide timely, locally-relevant information to more farmers. These videos have increased farmer income by an average of 24 percent. 

Digital Green saw a chance to make an even bigger difference in farmers’ lives by harnessing generative AI. “With videos, we’ve been able to replicate success from farm to farm within a region, enabling farmers to learn from one another—while also growing a database of locally-derived agricultural best practices,” said Rikin Gandhi, CEO of Digital Green. “With OpenAI, we saw an opportunity to leverage this database to help farmers learn from one another at a previously unimaginable scale.”

As of January 1, 2024, over 4,500 extension agents are using Farmer.Chat across both Kenya and India. Digital Green is continuing to refine Farmer.Chat and expanding rollout in India to twelve states.