SMARTseeds, a Geodata for Agriculture and Water project

Intro
About
Approach & Results
Movie & PPP
Quotes
Highlights
Partners & Co-Financiers

Intro

Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) improves food security in developing countries by using satellite data and making this information available to farmers via SMS and mobile applications. G4AW is implemented by several public private partnerships (PPPs). ICCO leads or takes parts in several of these PPPs throughout Asia among them SMARTseeds. Geodata for Agriculture and Water is a program funded by the Netherlands Space Office.

Country

Indonesia

Start project

2013

Problem

In recent years, vegetable farmers in Indonesia have been highly affected by changes in climate, weather patterns and availability of water. While farmers used to rely on radio and television, general information is nowadays insufficient for good crop planning. The same is true for information on soil nutrients, estimated price of commodities, and new technologies on fertilizer and seeds.

Many vegetable farmers lack market access and information, as well as technical support services. These factors have resulted in the inconsistent quality of vegetables produced, such as chili, tomato and cucumbers. The Indonesian consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables is below the recommended level set by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Approach

As the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables is increasing, especially in urban areas in Indonesia, the government attempts to achieve food self-sufficiency through improved farming techniques, which increase their production and income. This opens opportunities for a local project which fits in the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW), using satellite data to improve food security in developing countries. Farmers receive information via SMS or mobile phone applications on sustainable farming techniques, reducing the amount of pests and diseases, and also on daily market prices.

Geodata and soil information

Within the G4AW projects, SMARTseeds stands out as a service providing advice based on location specific data. While there are currently over 30+ mobile apps on the market providing agriculture advice, none provide services based on a specific farm location. SMARTseeds is able to do this through the use of geodata and soil information collected from the field.

It provides three information services:

Crop calendar via SMS – recommendations for farmers on when to plant what type of vegetables.
Agricultural practices advice via mobile app – recommendations for site-specific practices: seed selection, pest and animal control.
Market information via SMS and mobile app – on vegetables prices and availability.

Results

Vegetable Seed Company PT East West Seed Indonesia (EWINDO) and SMARTseeds together introduced the mobile application ‘Sipindo’, which includes features such as weather forecasts with a spatial resolution of up to 5 km. It also contains recommendations for soil nutrient content based on lab test results, fertilizer recommendations and a guide for farmers which enables them to select the crops that are most suitable for their soil conditions. What makes these features more unique is that the information is location-based (location specific data).

Succes of SIPINDO app

Since the launch of SIPINDO last year, the app has reached 15,000 farmers in 3 Indonesian provinces and 14 regencies. Some initial results at the demonstration plot have shown that the project managed to deliver cost efficiency of up to 33.95% and a yield increase of 12.09%, exceeding the project targets of 10%. As of April 2019, the Sipindo app has been downloaded by 24,831 users, of which the majority are android-based. Smart seeds intends to reach 100,000 farmers -of whom at least 30% are female by the end of 2019.

More information: www.smartseeds-indonesia.org

Public Private Partnership

SMARTseeds is one of the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) projects funded by the Netherlands Space Office. This program is a Public Private Partnerships (PPP) involving 6 public and private partners from Indonesia and the Netherlands: ICCO Cooperation, EWINDO, Nelen & Schuurman, University of Twente (ITC), Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB) and Akvo.

The SIPINDO app service will eventually be owned and hosted by the main private sector partner –EWINDO- with support from the public-private Dutch and Indonesian partners. The services can easily be extended for other types of crops and/or implemented to other regions in Indonesia.

Highlights

Downloads Sipindo app (april 2019)
                      24,831 users
                    
Reach
                      15,000 farmers
                    
Cost efficiency
                      Up to 33.95%

Quotes

Kees de Ruiter

ICCO’s Regional Manager South East Asia

“We hope that the information services can provide valuable support to farmers to help them farm more efficiently and more effectively deal with factors, such as climate change”

Suwarna Jaman

Farmer Indonesia

“The main problem I faced on my farm was on the provision of fertilizer. There was no service to support me and that’s why I agreed to be a demo plot farmer for SMARTseeds. In December 2017, I had my first harvest. Based on the fertilizer advice from SMARTseeds, I was able to spend EUR 35.00 less than I normally would on my inputs”

Glenn Pardede

Managing Director East West Seeds Indonesia

“The features of the mobile application are expected to support farmers predict the weather in more detail, to provide fertilizer recommendations and to guide the selection of crops that are most suitable for the farmers’ soil conditions”