Location-specific services for farmers An initiative supported by WFP Innovation Accelerator

Smallholder farming 2.5 billion people worldwide - 1/3 of global population - are smallholder farmers. They are a great asset of global agricultural economy, producing 70 % of the food consumed worldwide. However, they are living in very difficult conditions, and out of them about 400 million are among the poorest and hungriest people on the globe.  Photo: WFP / Miguel Varguas

Weather events drastically damage crop production 67% of farmers report >50% of losses in crop due to weather events* Accurate weather forecasts could reduce losses, but smallholder farmers do not have reliable and timely information on weather In addition, smallholder farmers rely on traditional techniques for farming, which are not always effective (partly because of climate change) foto: WFP / Miguel Varguas Source: WFP’s Interviews with 300 farmers in Guatemala, January 2016

Information exists, but is not conveyed to the right person at the right time… …of farmers do not receive any information on weather 61% 61% …of farmers want more suggestions on what to sow and when 53% …want alerts on extreme /unexpected weather events 29% …receive information from radio / TV, but only at a macro-level Source: WFP’s Interviews with 300 farmers in Guatemala, January 2016

Solution: Low-bandwidth smartphone app w/ farming advice Providing farmers with… Agricultural tips Weather information & alerts Nutritional tips Price alerts Feedback and peer-to-peer comm.

“Risk of heavy rain in the next week. Harvesting soon is recommended” Focus on sowing and harvesting, with simple icons & texts “High drought predicted in the next 3 weeks. Not to sow is recommended” “Risk of heavy rain in the next week. Harvesting soon is recommended” “This season consider sowing ‘maicillo’ rather than maize in your area”

How it works WFP collects key information from partners (Met Office, UN Agencies, NGOs) Information is translated into easy to understand, and actionable advices for farmers AgriUp Farmers can share feedback with WFP and peers Farmers receive location-specific agritips

Potential impact Number of smallholder farmers in Guatemala Number of smallholder farmers who are hungry worldwide 5 M 400 M Number of smallholder farmers in Guatemala, El Salvador & Honduras 8 M Estimated increase in productivity through better access to information +20-40% Potential monetary impact if we reach all those farmers $ 240 M

Our team Communication & marketing manager 8+ experience in comms & project management WFP, UNV, European Commission, APCO Worldwide ALESSANDRA D’ANGELO Communication & Marketing Manager HECTOR ROCA EMMANUEL SEVRIN JAMES GREEN 10+ years work with Guatemalan farmers ICT management experience Boston Consulting Group Harvard University French Red Cross Co-founder of Livecoding.tv (100k users, $800k funding) Y-combinatory University of Aberdeen User Engagement & Partnership Manager Project Management Support Product manager

Our growth plan Pilot V 1.0 V2.0 V 3.0 Scale-up April 2016 June 2016 October 2016 Jan 2017 Apr 2017 Pilot V 1.0 V2.0 V 3.0 Scale-up Whatsapp group 40 farmers in Guatemala Agritips, weather alerts & nutrition tips 100 farmers Location-specific advice 5 000 farmers + Price alerts, peer-to -peer feedback system 25 000 farmers + Scale up across Guatemala & other countries 25 000 farmers +

alessandra.dangelo@wfp.org; emmanuel.sevrin@wfp.org Thank you! Contact us @ alessandra.dangelo@wfp.org; emmanuel.sevrin@wfp.org An initiative supported by WFP Innovation Accelerator An initiative supported by WFP Innovation Accelerator