San Francisco, California Nov 8, 2023 (Issuewire.com) - San Francisco, CA – Digital Green is excited to unveil an innovative approach to improving small-scale farmers’ agricultural productivity through its latest offering, Farmer.Chat. This AI chatbot solution is powered by OpenAI, delivering tailored assistance to hundreds of thousands of agricultural extension workers around the globe, who provide advice and support to tens of millions of farmers.
With the ability to easily integrate various data types – from documents and websites to videos and real-time market and weather updates – Farmer.Chat is setting a new standard for tailored agricultural advisory through a custom GPT version of Farmer.Chat that will be available on the OpenAI GPT Store.
A key feature of Farmer.Chat is its capacity to build a knowledge base that is as broad as it is deep, allowing for an unprecedented level of customization. This empowers agricultural extension workers to address the unique challenges and questions posed by farmers in different regions and various agricultural sectors – queried through image, text, and voice input in local languages.
Digital Green is tapping into OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 and GPT 4 APIs to develop custom chatbots in close partnership with the Ministries of Agriculture in India, Ethiopia, and Kenya. These localized chatbots enable interactions in dozens of languages and are accessible to agricultural extension workers through apps they already use such as Telegram and WhatsApp.
These chatbots are already seeing tremendous traction – since launching in Kenya eight weeks ago, that single instance has gone from zero to 500 users, who have sent over 10,000 messages.
“This has the potential to exponentially increase the speed and cost-effectiveness of extension systems, while also improving the relevance and actionability of advisory to millions of farmers, helping them improve productivity and incomes through better informed decision-making.” says Digital Green co-founder and CEO, Rikin Gandhi.
Through its expansive reach and impact, Digital Green has already made significant impact in agricultural development over the past 15 years: support for 88,000 extension agents (half of whom are women), outreach to 5.3 million farmers (61% female), and a substantial 24% increase in farmer profits. Farmer.Chat aims to amplify these outcomes by providing a scalable, data-informed, and accessible platform to boost the speed and effectiveness of extension workers.
Highlighting the real-world benefits of this solution, Varshini, an extension worker from India recounts: "In a meeting with a women farmer’s group, I was able to answer questions about pest management immediately and confidently using Farmer.Chat. By our next meeting, that same farmer reported that her field was free from pests."
Farmer.Chat's approach aligns with Digital Green's mission to leverage cutting-edge technology to increase the efficiency and impact of extension services for small-scale farmers. To explore the capabilities of Farmer.Chat and the benefits it offers, visit farmer.chat.
About Digital Green:
Digital Green is a global non-profit development organization that champions the use of technology to empower rural communities, enhance the sustainability of their livelihoods, and improve the effectiveness of agricultural extension services. They are helping partners around the world transform agricultural extension services, ensuring that every farmer has access to the customized information and support they need to thrive.
Media Contact
Digital Green eric@digitalgreen.org http://www.digitalgreen.org
