KM INSIGHT RESEARCH
Farmers Get Agricultural Information Through Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Opportunity Farmer Support Agents (FSAs) Use a ChatBot/Generative AI Tool, Embedded in WhatsApp, to Answer Farmer Questions
Research Overview
In Malawi, between February and April 2024, Opportunity tested a chatbot/generative AI solution with 150 users. The solution was dubbed “Ulangizi,” or “advisor” in Chichewa, the main language in Malawi. It was designed for use by Opportunity Farmer Support Agents (FSAs) to easily and rapidly provide accurate answers to smallholder farmer questions using a WhatsApp interface in either English or Chichewa, with text or voice interaction, and even by sending photos. The information the chatbot searches originates from the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture.
Key Conclusions
The following high-level conclusions emerged from tracking queries and surveying users:
1. High quality and rapid speed of information: The majority of queries (84%) were answered, and 62% of users are likely to recommend Ulangizi to others.
2. Practical relevance to farmers: More than half of the queries generated a response that impacted farming practices.
3. Around 1/3 became frequent users: Around half of the users trained still used Ulangizi a month afterwards, a figure that declined to 30% three months after training.
4. Strong benefits for FSAs: Ulangizi boosted FSA confidence and respect, and saved time for around half of users.
5. Profile of satisfied users: Most likely to recommend Ulangizi were frequent users, Chichewa users, younger users, and men.
6. Suggested improvements: The Ulangizi text interface was easy to use, in English and Chichewa, but users were less satisfied with the voice engagement, which generated 65% of suggestions for improvement.
Scale-up
Plans
Opportunity plans to replicate the AI solution for farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ghana in 2025.
RESEARCH CONTEXT
The Opportunity Agricultural Finance Program and Opportunity’s Digital Innovations Group. Opportunity International (Opportunity), a global microfinance support organization, aims to empower people living in poverty to transform their lives, their children’s futures, and their communities. Operating in multiple Sub-Saharan African countries, the Agricultural Finance Program (AgFinance) helps smallholder farmers to grow more and earn more by accessing training, financial services, and other support. Opportunity reaches target smallholder farmers – 53% of whom are living in poverty and 56% of whom are women – through community-based Farmer Support Agents (FSAs). FSAs are lead farmers whom Opportunity trains and equips to train smallholder farmers, link them to finance, and track their data. FSA use smartphones, provided by Opportunity, in data collection and training, but most smallholder farmers do not have smartphones and many are located in areas with weak or no cell phone service, which is how most people access the internet in Sub-Saharan Africa. Opportunity’s AgFinance program is supported by the Digital Innovations Group (DIG), who use human-centered design to identify, adapt, and deploy modern technology solutions to challenges facing Opportunity clients. In 2024, Opportunity’s DIG team started to focus on bringing the power of AI solutions to people living in poverty.
The Challenge of Access to Agricultural Information. Given the challenges with modern communications, coupled with limited outreach/availability of government extension agents, many smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa struggle to find solutions to pressing agricultural challenges. Radio and word of mouth are common sources of farming information, with the former often being too general and the latter limited in accuracy and depth. Although FSAs are experienced and relatively successful small-scale farmers, and Opportunity provides further training in good agricultural practices, their knowledge remains limited. Their farmer-clients often ask the FSAs questions that they cannot answer. To get answers, FSAs consult government agricultural extension agents, which can take time and may require them to travel to government offices to get an in-person response. Opportunity digital experts saw potential solutions through AI, accessed by FSAs While there are some AI solutions in use in Sub-Saharan Africa that also deliver agricultural information to farmers, they are app-based requiring digital literacy and not grounded in content specific to Malawi’s environment. ♦
OPPORTUNITY’S FARMER AI SOLUTION
Human-Centered Design Process. In 2023, Opportunity’s DIG staff travelled to Malawi multiple times to observe and cocreate with FSAs, AgFinance staff, and the Ministry of Agriculture in a human-centered design process. Together, several characteristics of a solution were identified, including the need for a familiar interface, use of local language in text and voice, and reliable sources of locally relevant agricultural information. With a generous donation of expert developers from AIS, a tech firm in Reston Virginia, followed by integration wth an open AI platform Gooey.ai, Opportunity developed the farmer AI solution. After a series of iterations, it was pilot tested in Malawi with over 150 FSAs and government extension agents between February and April 2024.
RESULTS FROM THE PILOT TEST
The Solution. The farmer AI solution was dubbed “Ulangizi,” which means “advisor” in Chichewa, the common language in Malawi. Its main purpose is to help FSAs deliver accurate, timely answers to agricultural questions facing their smallholder farmer clients. Key features of the solution include
• Usage on a smartphone
• Chatbot interfacing with generative AI
• Familiar interface – WhatsApp
• Reliable source of relevant information – the Ministry of Agriculture good agricultural practices manuals
• Use of text or voice, in English or Chichewa
• Ability to send and interpret photos – typically to diagnose diseases ♦
Research Methods. Data on the performance of Ulangizi in Malawi came from two sources:
• Analytical bot. An analytical bot ran alongside the Ulangizi chatbot to assess the queries and responses.
• Direct user feedback. Users had the ability to provide positive & negative feedback electronically as they used the bot.
• FSA/extension agent surveys. Opportunity conducted pre- and post- pilot surveys with the FSAs and extension agents using Ulangizi. ♦
Results. Ulangizi seems to have a positive impact on farmers, and to make farm advisory work both more effective and faster. The analysis of the pilot program concluded the following–
• Ulangizi provided accurate, useful information quickly to smallholder farmers in both English and Chichewa. The majority of queries (84%) were answered,1 and 62% of users are likely to recommend Ulangizi to others. The vast majority (95%) of users found Ulangizi’s responses to be accurate with 45% saying they were very accurate and 31% saying they were accurate when a photo was uploaded.2
• Ulangizi generated useful information for farmers. More than half of users provided a response used to impact farming practices, with the most focus on prevention and treatment of diseases and pests (36%) and crop planning (27%). Ulangizi addressed a wide diversity of crops, with a primary focus on the main crops grown by Opportunityassisted farmers: tomato, corn/maize, soya/soybean, and groundnuts/peanuts.
• Provided strong benefits to FSAs: Ulangizi helped FSAs to easily, quickly, and accurately respond to farmer questions, and improved agent knowledge, thus giving agents more confidence and respect as farm advisors and supporting them to change farmer mindset. Ulangizi also reduced transportation costs for most users (76%), and saved time for around half of them. Some users reported that Ulangizi made extension work more efficient, enabling them to serve more farmers.
1 This data was captured by an analysis bot running to assess the query and response rates, and providing a success/fail-to-answer rate, along with classifying the query/response content.
2 The rest of this data was captured from direct electronic user feedback as users experiences an app, and a survey of
Ulangizi users.
Malawian farmer and her bountiful harvest
FSA using the Ulangizi solution
• Around 1/3rd of those trained became regular users: Altogether, Ulangizi handled 4,000 queries. Around half of the people trained were still using Ulangizi after the training month, and this figure tapered down to 30% by the end of the pilot. Most users asked under 20 questions altogether. On average, in the second half of the pilot, there were 3-4 users asking around 5 questions per day. Users who used the tool the most, and for the most critical topics (farm practices and plant infestation and infection), were the most likely to recommend to tool to others.
• Demographics of satisfied users: Users more likely to use Chichewa were more satisfied with Ulangizi (75% vs. 41%), as were users aged 25-34 (71% likely to recommend Ulangizi). Men were slightly more satisfied with Ulangizi than women (by 5 percentage points).
• Suggested improvements: The Ulangizi text interface was easy to use, in English and Chichewa, but the voice feature was problematic with 65% of suggestions for improvement being related to voice engagement. In addition, solution designers recognize that the photo interpretation could be more accurate if it used fine tuning to better interpret photos – a process deemed too expensive at this juncture. Deeper inquiry is merited as to the accuracy of the information, as government extension agent rating for Ulangizi’s accuracy was lower than the FSAs (with government agents possessing a higher degree of expertise). Users expressed interest in having responses include photos or videos, gaining access to additional sources, and receiving more direct responses (i.e. without a lot of extra verbiage).
• Operating costs: All 4,000 inquiries were transacted at a cost of around US$300, with the cost/query ranging from 5-10 US cents, depending on its complexity.3 ♦
RECOMMENDATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH
The pilot program was sufficiently beneficial for Opportunity to invest in its expansion in Malawi and replication in several other countries – specifically Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ghana. In three of these countries, Opportunity will face the challenge of multiple language use and, in all of them, the challenge of more diverse agroecological zones than those in Malawi. Even as it scales-up, Opportunity will explore additional adaptations, including additional information sources, independent quality/accuracy review, improved photo interpretation, potential for photo or video responses, and the possibility of delivering responses in a more direct manner. Opportunity will also continue to research the Ulangizi solution, considering some additional questions such as–
• How do experts rate the accuracy of the responses?
• How does usage change throughout the agricultural season and over the long-term?
• Does training and practice change user response to the voice feature, and/or how else might this be addressed, given the limited availability of AI voices in the region?
• How do different training and outreach methods influence usage?
• Overall, do efficiency gains balance out increased operational costs?
• How are farmers applying and benefitting from the information received?
This pilot program underscores that, even under adverse communication conditions, the modern technology such as AI can reach rural Africa and benefit smallholder farmers ♦
This study shows Opportunity’s strengths in –
• Digital and AI innovation – Using human-centered design, devising and deploying innovative AI solutions.
• Collaborative Partnerships – Collaborating with leading AI firms and government ministries.
• Pilot program research – Demonstrating the capacity to quickly capture, analyze, and use research findings on short-pilot programs.
• Agricultural Capacity Building – Positively contributing to practical knowledge used by farmers to improve practices in order to grow more and earn more.
3 Much of the development costs were absorbed by pro-bono work from AIS and Gooey.
Malawian farmer and her Opportunity FSA