Healthy, sustainable, and inclusive food systems are essential for achieving global development goals. Agriculture stands as a cornerstone of global development, playing a crucial role in ending poverty, boosting prosperity, and ensuring food security for a growing world population. As we face the challenge of feeding a projected 10 billion people by 2050, the transformation of our food systems becomes increasingly urgent. 

Agriculture drives economic growth

Agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to combat extreme poverty and foster shared prosperity. It plays a vital role in economic growth, accounting for approximately 4% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Furthermore, agriculture provides employment for around 27% of the global workforce and is crucial for food security, particularly in developing regions. Notably, growth in the agriculture sector is two to four times more effective in raising incomes among the poorest populations compared to other sectors. (World Bank, 2024)

Despite its importance, agriculture faces several pressing challenges:

1. Climate Change: Extreme weather events and shifting growing seasons destabilize agricultural systems.

2. Soil Degradation: Intensive farming practices reduce productivity and increase vulnerability to environmental shocks.

3. Water Scarcity: Over-extraction and pollution threaten agricultural productivity, especially in arid regions.

4. Biodiversity Loss: Monoculture and chemical inputs compromise the resilience of agricultural ecosystems.

5. Limited Access: Smallholder farmers often lack access to modern technologies, financial services, and markets.

The Promise of Digital Transformation: High-Trust at Low-Cost

To address these challenges, countries and organizations are turning to cutting-edge technology with the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) approach, to drive inclusive growth, empower citizens, and enable society to leap forward.

When seen from a DPI lens, the digital economy is built on three key pillars: Identity, Assets, and Transactions—essentially answering the questions: Who am I? What do I have? What do I do with it?

In agriculture, the digital identity, tokenized assets, and open-transaction networks could manifest as - digital, verifiable, and tokenized—Farmer registries, Land registries, Land ownership records, Soil health cards, Crop sown certificates, Organic agriculture certifications, Open-network Marketplaces.. and so on.

Through registries, credentials, and tokenization, we can revolutionize the agriculture industry by introducing digital verifiability, fractional ownership, and liquidity of assets. This enables faster and more efficient trade of farm produce, the creation of high-trust marketplaces, and greater transparency and traceability throughout the supply chain. By leveraging these, we can reduce fraud and counterfeiting, empower smallholder farmers with access to financial services, and promote sustainable agricultural practices. Ultimately, these innovations can improve food security, enhance economic opportunities, and create a more resilient and equitable food system.

The Power of Digital Registries and Verifiable Credentials

Traditional paper-based systems are costly and inefficient, often involving high costs and low trust. The expenses associated with issuing and delivering paper certificates, losing originals, requesting duplicates, and conducting background checks can be overwhelming for individuals and organizations alike.

Transitioning to digital registries and verifiable credentials can:

• Empower Farmers: Improve access to credit, insurance, government schemes, disaster recovery plans, and market participation.

• Streamline Subsidies and Aid: Safeguard against supply chain disruptions, unexpected climate changes, and ensure fair market practices.

• Enhance Observability: Provide credible data to inform policy reforms, reward sustainable farming practices, and monitor soil health at scale.

Building Trust Through Registries and Credentials

Digital registries and Verifiable credentials can establish high-trust at low-cost by:

1. Reducing costs through trusted sources of information

2. Preventing repetitive data collection

3. Enabling instant verification of farmers’ identities, land ownership, and assets

4. Empowering farmers with multimodal document sharing

5. Creating an interoperable and decentralized source of truth

6. Improving accessibility and inclusion of services

7. Fostering innovation and collaboration within the ecosystem

As an example, the AgriStack initiative in India, is implementing a comprehensive digital framework that includes farmer and farmland registries, crop registries, and a unified farmer service interface. This initiative aims to connect government departments, private enterprises, and social organizations through a robust digital infrastructure. This digital infrastructure aims to unite government departments, private enterprises, and social organizations. Additionally, open-source digital public goods like Sunbird RC, Inji, and CORD are available for anyone to adopt in their solutions.

Let’s Imagine a Sustainable Future

A Farmer's Journey: From Seed to Market

Meet Amina, a smallholder farmer. She cultivates a few acres of land, growing maize and cassava.Traditional methods and limited access to markets have constrained her income and ability to expand her farm.

Seed Registry and Verifiable Credentials: Amina purchases certified maize seeds from a local cooperative. The seeds are registered in a blockchain-based registry, ensuring their quality and provenance. Amina receives a verifiable credential that confirms the seed's authenticity. This protects her investment and increases her chances of a successful harvest.

Asset Tokenization: As her crops mature, Amina tokenizes a portion of her maize harvest. These tokens represent ownership of the maize and can be traded on a decentralized marketplace. This allows her to access a global market and potentially sell her harvest at a higher price than she could through traditional channels.

Traceability and Sustainability: The registry and tokenization system also ensures the traceability of Amina's maize. Consumers can verify where the maize was grown, the farming practices used, and whether it meets sustainability standards. This can increase demand for Amina's produce and premium prices.

Financial Inclusion: By tokenizing her assets, Amina can access financial services, such as loans and insurance, that were previously unavailable to her. These services can help her invest in improvements to her farm, expand her operations, and weather unexpected challenges.

Let’s co-create a DPI Stack for Open Agri Net

The DPI approach for trust, tokenization & data sharing, when combined with open-networks and artificial intelligence, has the potential to unlock vast opportunities. Together, we can work towards ending world hunger, creating sustainable food production systems, reducing inequalities, safeguarding against supply chain disruptions, and a thriving economy.

Let us envision a future where minimalist digital public infrastructure empowers individuals, facilitates consent-driven data sharing, lowers service costs, and expands inclusive access to opportunities. By infusing high-trust and transact-ability into our economies through registries, credentialized records, and tokenized assets that are reusable across sectors, we can transform the agricultural landscape for the better.

Together, we can build a more sustainable, inclusive, and prosperous future for agriculture and the world!

SurendraSingh Sucharia

Vice President - Product & Technology, Dhiway

Product Lead - Sunbird RC

Note: Help of technology, such as Generative AI, Search, and Internet, was taken for research, paraphrasing and reframing parts of this article/document.

Transforming Agriculture with DPI - The “Why” 

Agriculture is key to the African economy and is a primary source of livelihood for most of the populations. To leverage the advancements made by DPI in recent years and to create an inclusive and innovative digital knowledge economy towards climate-resilient Agriculture, it is imperative to empower farmers with necessary tools and knowledge, along with necessary opportunities for market linkages and credit sources. This necessitates the need for a “Global DPI-based Digital Agri-transformation effort”; by enabling open & decentralised agro-networks that are underpinned by a universal suite of open protocols & data standards. Smallholder farmers produce a large part of Africa’s food supply. However, they face multiple challenges at production and marketing levels, hindering their productivity and livelihoods, including limited access to markets, agricultural inputs, credit, and technologies. Uneven access to agricultural extension services significantly hinders smallholder farmers' ability to address these challenges. 

Building on the foundation of robust people-networks that exist today - The Kuza Youth Agripreneur Model

In response to this, an Agri-tech social enterprise Kuza Biashara - a smallholder farmer ecosystem management platform that leverages the last mile entrepreneurial agents to increase the income of smallholder farmers at scale, in Africa & Asia - has been at the forefront of providing innovative solutions for off-grid farmers through micro-learning, micro-distribution, and micro-mentorship. Through its Rural Entrepreneur Development Incubators program (REDI), Kuza trains young people from rural communities to become agripreneurs. Agripreneurs join Kuza’s OneNetwork, a digital marketplace, to connect with service providers and offer bundled services to smallholder farmers (e.g access to high-quality input, crop advisory, credit, and market linkages). Each agripreneur supports 200 smallholder farmers to help them boost their productivity and incomes. By actively assimilating farmer-voices through this model, Kuza has curated a massive library of content spanning across;

• bitesized HD video-based skilling content on entrepreneurship, soft & life skills in local languages 

• good agricultural practices & climate smart technologies, regenerative agriculture practices for 40+ food crops, horticulture crops and livestock.

Kuza OneNetwork: A Connected Ecosystem for AgricultureBuilding upon the successful Kuza agripreneur model & OneNetwork, a vision for a DPI-effort in Kenya is being put forth on the table with critical sectoral stakeholders involved - incl. Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, KALRO, ASNET, among others - that aims to establish an open and federated transaction network (an expanded version of the Kuza OneNetwork). The OneNetwork is  envisioned to create a seamless, interconnected ecosystem - bringing together farmers, agripreneurs, traders, suppliers, financial institutions, government bodies, and consumers. Kuza is spearheading the design & deployment of the OneNetwork across Kenya, with a Beckn protocol (a global DPG for transaction interoperability) powered approach; wherein it is proposed that the Agripreneur workforce will leverage a Kuza seeker platform to connect to & transact with a host of provider side platforms in the OneNetwork ecosystem, to fulfil several use cases in Agri-advisory, Agri-credit services, Agri-marketplace services, and furthermore (*a proposed vision is illustrated below) via this OneNetwork.

This model is centred around an ambition to accomplish the following policy goals:

1. Enhanced market linkages to Agro-service providers to Local farmers

2. Seamless discovery and access of farming inputs, credit services and equipment with price transparency

3. Expanding interest among Kenyan youth to uncover rural entrepreneurship opportunities  - via the “Agripreneur” model and DPI-tools like verifiable credentials (for skills & job-related efforts) and a Digital wallet. 

4. Strong data observability to aid a Government’s policy-driven farming practices and enabling Government, Academia and Civil society contributions to sustained innovations in the sector.

Scaling up Kuza OneNetwork adoption Globally

Kuza’s current adoption trajectory is shaping up as follows;

• The Kenya OneNetwork will be scaled up pan-country in ‘24-’25. 

• This OneNetwork playbook for Agriculture will be explored for; 

• expansion across the EAC region, in ‘25-26, with potentially a connected regional-marketplace in the offing.

• Kuza plans are underway in more territories - Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Nepal, Colombia, Brazil among others - with a DPI/Beckn enabled open transaction network model being a core pillar in the proposed Agri-DPI modernization strategies for those countries. 

Kuza’s experience in Kenya, and other deployments in Africa & Asia - represents a unique worldwide opportunity to firmly establish & accelerate the DPI and Open Networks - in Digital Agriculture missions across the globe.

An uneven playing field

In Hasten’s work to address climate change and biodiversity loss in India, smallholder farmers tell us a consistent and bleak story – once-fertile lands are barely able to feed their families, soils are depleted, water has disappeared, the forests surrounding the farmlands are gone, and the changing weather patterns make for smaller, unpredictable harvests. 

These farmers understand their current practices are unsustainable, but are unable to adopt regenerative practices due to lack of knowhow or resources. Plus, the economics of  implementing regeneration doesn’t pencil out. It makes more sense for a family to cut down a tree than to leave it standing; to abandon a barren farm and migrate to the city rather than stay and restore it. 

Meanwhile, a fraction of the billions of dollars invested annually in climate projects and technologies makes its way to rural communities. Global investors consider nature based investments risky for many reasons, and routinely choose “safer” bets like carbon capture machines or solar panels. 

Today’s nature based climate projects are typically designed to maximize carbon capture, compromising on biodiversity outcomes and leaving communities with little income to show for their efforts. In the words of Charlie Monger, “show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome.” is the crux of the problem; current incentives are not aligned with farmer needs. If we align incentives then we can make nature based investments much less risky than how they are perceived today. By leveling the playing field, we can accelerate humanity’s response to the climate and biodiversity crisis, and work at the required scale.

Climate & biodiversity action for all

Our vision for the Xylo platform is to enable anyone, anywhere, to take climate and biodiversity action, equitably. We give rural communities direct access to global climate markets, unlocking resources to regenerate land assets. We connect global climate capital providers directly to local climate and biodiversity action. Micro actions by millions of smallholders add up to mega impact for climate change, biodiversity loss and poverty alleviation. 

Through our platform (inspired by Societal Thinking, ONDC and through collaboration with Beckn /FIDE), rural small landholders are compensated to regenerate air, soil, water, farms, and forests, leading to increased climate resilience. This benefits local communities while contributing to national and international climate action targets. Farmers are provided with knowhow and resources required to improve their land assets. They decide what and how much to invest, and how to manage the assets they’ve created, including participating directly in the global carbon markets. 

The platform enables local enterprises to provide climate- and biodiversity-related products and services. Native saplings, soil amendments, planting and maintenance services, and low-cost financing are transacted; as the marketplace matures and evolves, local entrepreneurs can identify supply gaps and innovation opportunities.

An initial offer to test the platform is a “legacy forest,” a small farm forest composed of native species that creates immediate income from payments for ecosystem services, medium term income through produce, and “legacy” income through sale of carbon credits. Together with AF Ecology Centre, we’re making legacy forests available to drought-stricken farmers in Anantapur.

If you’re an NGO, philanthropy, financial institution, agri-tech provider, institutional carbon credit purchaser, or climate action enthusiast, sign up here to stay connected as we launch the platform.

www.hastenregeneration.org

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Digital Green is on a mission to transform the lives of smallholder farmers around the world. Since 2006, we've been working tirelessly to bridge the gap between farmers and vital agricultural knowledge. Today, we're celebrating our journey and looking forward to an even brighter future with the power of AI and open agricultural networks.

From Community Videos to AI Assistants: A Journey of Innovation

Our story began with a simple yet powerful idea: using community generated videos to share best practices among farmers. This approach proved highly successful, reaching millions of farmers in collaboration with our public sector partners and demonstrably improving their livelihoods. Digital Green has empowered over 6 million smallholder farmers (53% women) with innovative tools and knowledge, leading to income increases of up to 25%, and with over 70% of farmers adopting improved practices in many areas. 

However, we recognized the need to deliver even better, more customized solutions to farmers so they can increase their prosperity even more.

Empowering Farmers, One Interaction at a Time

Enter Farmer.Chat, our revolutionary AI assistant for agriculture. This innovative platform goes beyond video-based learning. It provides on-demand, personalized advice tailored to each farmer's specific needs and local context. And it does so while responding in local voice, with photos, videos and text; whatever interface is best for the users.

Farmer.Chat doesn't just deliver information; it empowers farmers to make informed decisions where they weigh tradeoffs at the moment a problem presents itself. Imagine a smallholder farmer in Bihar facing a sudden pest outbreak. With Farmer.Chat, they can immediately submit a photo and ask a question, without delay and without guessing about what solution might best treat the problem. 

Not only can Farmer.Chat enable real-time advice on how to identify and combat the pest, but it can also connect farmers to service providers who can provide affordable inputs to ensure their crops and incomes are growing effectively. And, once the crops are ready to sell, they can get the latest market pricing, helping them identify the best timing and location to sell to maximize profits. 

Building a More Equitable and Sustainable Future

Our vision extends far beyond increased yields. We are deeply committed to:

• Gender Equity: Closing the gender gap in agriculture by ensuring women have equal access to knowledge, resources, and opportunities.

• Youth Inclusion: Engaging young people in the digital transformation of agriculture, connecting them to opportunities and using their innovative energy to empower communities

• Climate Resilience: Equipping farmers with the tools and knowledge and services they need to adapt to climate change and build resilient livelihoods.

Leveraging OpenAgriNet for Global Impact

To further amplify our impact, Digital Green is actively participating in OpenAgriNet. Like the other participants in the OAN, we are convinced that the only way to support the world’s smallholders, particularly in the era of AI, is by embracing and building open-source and interoperable digital public goods. By joining this initiative, we are:

• Sharing Knowledge and Resources: Contributing our expertise, data, and technologies to a collective pool of agricultural knowledge.

• Collaborating with Global Partners: Working with leading organizations like CGIAR, Scio, and the UAE's Technology Innovation Institute to develop innovative solutions.

• Advancing Climate-Smart and Gender-Equity Outcomes: Utilizing OpenAgriNet's resources to support farmers in achieving these critical goals.

A Future of Open Innovation and Collaboration

OpenAgriNet's open-source architecture enables ecosystem actors to cost-effectively reuse pooled resources, including dynamic decision support tools, local agricultural vocabulary, and model benchmarks. This fosters collaboration and innovation, leading to more effective and efficient solutions for farmers.

By participating in OpenAgriNet, Digital Green is proud to contribute to a global network that will enhance data accessibility by providing access to open datasets, including conversation logs, unstructured content, and annotated ground truth data. By coming together to develop and share fine-tuned AI models for the unique needs of smallholder farmers, we can ensure the inclusion of low resource languages and decision-support that can generate dynamic advisories. And, true to the principles of OAN, we’re excited to promote open-source development, sharing code, tools, and learnings that enable others to build upon our work.

A Bright Future for Smallholder Farmers

Through our work with Farmer.Chat and partnerships like OpenAgriNet, there is reason to be optimistic we can collectively achieve a sustainable, equitable, and prosperous future alongside smallholder farmers worldwide. By leveraging the power of AI and open collaboration, we are empowering farmers to make informed decisions, improve their livelihoods, and contribute to a more resilient food system.

This blog post was written by the Digital Green team, a collective of passionate individuals working to transform the lives of smallholder farmers by empowering them with digital technology.