Title : An integrated digital agriculture platform for smallholder farmers: machinery access, crop passport, and AI-driven advisory ecosystem
Abstract:
Smallholder farmers across developing economies face persistent challenges including limited access to farm machinery, fragmented advisory services, climate variability, pest outbreaks, and weak market linkages. While digital agriculture has emerged as a promising solution, most existing platforms address these challenges in isolation. This poster presents an integrated digital agriculture ecosystem designed to holistically support smallholder farmers through a single, unified platform. The proposed model integrates a farm machinery rental system that allows farmers to access essential equipment on a pay?per?use basis, significantly reducing capital investment and operational constraints. A Digital Farm Identity and Crop Passport module records land details, crop history, input usage, and yield data, enabling traceability, data?driven decision?making, and future integration with certification and financial services. A subscription?based digital advisory service provides localized, crop?specific guidance on agronomic practices, input optimization, and government schemes. The platform incorporates AI?driven climate, weather, and pest prediction models using historical and real?time datasets to generate early warnings and actionable recommendations, enhancing climate resilience and reducing production risks. Furthermore, the system integrates transportation and market linkage services, connecting farmers with buyers, logistics providers, and aggregators to improve price discovery, reduce post?harvest losses, and strengthen value?chain efficiency. By consolidating machinery access, digital records, predictive analytics, and market connectivity, the platform aims to improve productivity, sustainability, and income stability for smallholder farmers. This integrated digital agriculture framework demonstrates strong potential for scalability and adaptation across diverse agro?ecological regions, contributing to global efforts toward sustainable agriculture, digital inclusion, and food security.
