FieldFriend

An extension agent for every farmer in Africa

We're looking for pilot partners →

Smallholder farmers in Africa are not growing, or earning, what their land allows.

The cause is missing knowledge and missing information. Agricultural extension, which shows farmers how to maximise their yields and profits, reaches a fraction of who it needs to, and farmers have no dependable connection to the buyers, suppliers and services around them.

FieldFriend is that missing link. It gives every farmer the best plan and continuous useful advice for their own field, and connects them to the agricultural value chain, so that they profit from what they grow.

A farmer standing in his young rice field

The story behind FieldFriend

James Dahlgreen
James Dahlgreen, founder

My name is James Dahlgreen. I've spent the last four years working to improve rice cultivation across Africa. At SRI-2030 I worked with farmers, governments, the private sector and NGOs to bring about change that benefits them all. A highlight was working with the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture to create long-lasting change for improved rice cultivation practices: a pilot, national policy, a national scaling plan and its implementation.

I've seen the benefits that happen across the value chain when farmers improve their crop cultivation practices - farmers earn more, processors have access to a higher quality, more dependable supply and governments ensure their food security.

Yet even as conditions for farmers worsen - inputs and fuel costs rise, rains become more unpredictable and droughts, floods, pests and diseases damage crops - the information on how farmers can deal with these issues, profit from their land and feed their nation is not available. It is written down in research institutes, government guides and project manuals, but does not sufficiently reach farmers.

A combine harvester cutting paddy, with its operators aboard
Mechanisation services at harvest.

Alongside seeing farmers struggle from a lack of information and knowledge, I saw that other actors in the value chain were also facing a similar problem. These value chain actors could not maximise their profits without knowing more about the farmers they were working with: who is growing what variety in what location, when might farmers need transplanters or combine harvesters, what inputs are farmers using, how much will they harvest.

Introducing FieldFriend

FieldFriend is two systems in one.

The first gives every farmer a plan for their season: it takes their location, their soil and their local weather, combines them with a continuously updated corpus of agricultural research on their crop and their variety, and builds a day-by-day calendar telling them what to do and when, in specific terms rather than ranges. The plan changes as the season does, answers questions if something goes wrong or further guidance is needed, and arrives on the phone the farmer already has, through app, WhatsApp or SMS.

The second system grows out of the first: as farmers work through their season, FieldFriend learns what is being grown, how and when, and uses that to connect each farmer to the buyers, suppliers and services around them, at the moment they are needed.

What makes FieldFriend different?

Digital extension is coming to smallholder agriculture in Africa. However, current solutions do not come close to matching the benefits of a physical extension officer. Typical methods of digital extension like PDFs or videos are generalised, static and passive, and do not provide the same personalised advice that a physical extension agent would, or the constant check-ins and reactivity that farmers need.

FieldFriend changes that, providing extension to farmers that is specific, personalised, active and reactive. It uses the latest research on best practices and delivers comprehensive information that is not just tied to fertilisation regimes.

A typical guide says

“Mark out nursery beds as strips one metre wide, sized to about 1% of your field's area.”

FieldFriend says

“Your field is 1.1 ha. Make 11 beds, 1 m wide and 10 m long. Start on 12 June.”

The knowledge behind the system is verified - farmers get the best information possible.

What FieldFriend does for you

FieldFriend is not a charity and it is not funded like one, but we promise that farmers will never pay to use it, because it is paid for by the value it creates in the value chain around them.

In pilot, and looking for partners

If your organisation is interested in piloting FieldFriend, please get in touch. That means processors, off‑takers, input companies and service providers, state and national government, cooperatives, and NGOs or projects with extension material worth delivering.

Three things are useful to know when you write:

Write to james@fieldfriend.africa

Looking for pilot partners · write to james@fieldfriend.africa