Challenge

Smallholder farmers were not exempt from the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during the summer of 2020. Smallholders have very limited access to the internet and cooperative staff were suddenly no longer able to visit the farms. This left smallholder farmers in a state of confusion, with many questions unanswered.

Could they still buy inputs? Could they deliver their harvest to the cooperative? How would they know the price of coffee? Would they no longer receive agronomic support?

Kagaari North FCS, a Kenyan coffee cooperative, knew that the pandemic would have a huge impact on the future of the cooperative and all of its members if the farmers were not provided any guidance or support through this difficult time. They also knew that if any farming practices were to continue, their farmers would require PPE in order to protect themselves when buying inputs, working with field labourers, or visiting the cooperative.

Kagaari North FCS were well aware that a new and innovative solution was required to ensure that their farmers could still receive the information and guidance needed to operate efficiently and safely on their farms through the pandemic.

Solution

This is where the Climate Edge platform came in. Climate Edge helped Kagaari North provide their farmers with the support they needed. Through the use of a simple user interface, the organisation could easily use our bulk SMS feature to deliver information to remote farmers in real-time whilst field agents were unable to travel.

Kagaari North already kept a record of all of their members' details, including their phone numbers. So they were able to upload this data directly onto the platform and begin delivering messages on the same day.

Utilising the Climate Edge platform, the cooperative’s staff frequently sent out bulk SMS messages to all of their farmers informing them of key information; including agronomic support, market coffee prices and Covid support messages.

Results

Using the Climate edge platform, Kagaari North FCS were able to provide their farmers with the same level of assistance as they were pre-pandemic; turning a logistical nightmare into a success story. A great example of this was during the issuance of PPE to farmers. Kagaari North FCS had the opportunity to inform their farmers on the days when PPE would be available for collection from their local factory.

In total 65% of the cooperative members successfully collected PPE to help them continue their farming practices throughout the height of the pandemic. Without the organisation would have faced a significant financial loss and the farmers would have struggled to continue operating.

Realising the efficiency of using our Bulk SMS feature, Kagaari North have continued to utilise our platform, having delivered over 27,000 bulk SMS messages to their members since August 2020