DigiFarm by Safaricom Mobile Technology Secures Meru Farmers

Safaricom has partnered with iProcure, FarmDrive and Arifu to have four depots in Meru County.
DigiFarm is an agribusiness solution tailored for smallholder farmers, which provides them with financing information on different crops and animals in addition to quality products and services at discounted prices. The four depots are located in Laare, Nkubu, Mikindori, and Meru. Quality and affordable inputs are available at the depots with access to advisory and technical information from experts stationed at each depot.

DigiFarm has empowered farmers with solutions to grow their businesses. The DigiFarm technology is specifically tailored to the needs of Meru farmers. Rita Okuthe Director of Enterprise Business at Safaricom says ‘DigiFarm provides localized information at discounted inputs. The services are also tailored to cater to the needs of the farmers in each county it is available in.’

Financial assistance is also accorded to the farmers using DigiFarm. The loan processing services rely on big data developed by Farm Drive to score farmers financing. Since formal lenders lack enough information to access the farmers’ history, it is managed by Farm Drive. The input recommendations for their agricultural produce is also data-driven. The recommendations are based on climate, current weather conditions, soil types and soil fertility.

Digifarm now serves more than 670,000 farmers and it has opened 18 depots across the country. In Meru, County DigiFarm serves 105,000 farmers through their application. Both Farm Drive and iProcure are among the five startups that qualified for Safaricom’s $1 Million dollar Spark Fund. The Spark Fund provides early-stage funding to businesses innovating around mobile technology. To enroll for the DigiFarm services dial *283#

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