Data and Analytics for Digital Agritech for Smallholders Training Course

Digital platforms are changing how smallholder farmers buy inputs, receive advice, access finance and sell produce. Behind each platform sits a stream of data that could show who is being reached, which advice works and where farmers are slipping into risk. In many organisations that data sits unused in scattered files, or it is analysed so late that decisions have already been made.

The programme focuses on the data needs of services that serve smallholders. Participants start with data foundations: what to collect, how to capture it reliably in low-connectivity settings, and how to protect farmers' privacy. They then learn the core techniques of analysis, including cleaning, segmentation, cohort tracking and the design of indicators for reach, adoption and income. Later sessions bring in geospatial and weather information, simple forecasting, credit risk modelling and experiment design.

Sessions are lab-led, using anonymised farmer datasets typical of mobile advisory, input credit and market linkage platforms. Participants conclude with an analytics plan, a prototype dashboard and a set of recommendations for their own product or programme.

On completing the course, participants will be able to:

• Design farmer data collection forms and registries that suit field conditions.
• Apply consent, privacy and data protection practices to farmer information.
• Clean and combine datasets from mobile platforms, surveys and payment systems.
• Segment farmers and analyse engagement, retention and adoption patterns.
• Build dashboards that report reach, yield and income indicators.
• Use satellite imagery and weather data to monitor crop conditions.
• Develop basic yield forecasts and risk indicators for farmer groups.
• Evaluate credit scoring approaches based on alternative data.

The programme is aimed at those who build, manage or fund digital services for farmers, including:

• Agritech product and operations managers
• Data analysts and data officers in agricultural programmes
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning officers
• Digital extension and advisory service coordinators
• Cooperative, SACCO and farmer organisation managers
• Agricultural lenders and insurers
• Input suppliers and offtakers running outgrower schemes
• Donor and development agency programme staff

Participants complete the programme with:

• A farmer data capture design and consent template.
• A clean, analysis-ready practice dataset and cleaning script or routine.
• A prototype dashboard of reach, adoption and income measures.
• A method for using satellite and weather data in crop monitoring.
• A scoring approach for assessing farmer creditworthiness.
• A priority analytics roadmap for their own organisation.

Delivery follows a lab-first approach. Participants experience:

• Guided exercises on anonymised smallholder datasets
• Dashboard-building clinics with step-by-step support
• Case studies from mobile advisory and input finance services
• Group design tasks for data capture and experiment plans
• One-to-one feedback on each participant's analytics roadmap

Vision Reach Global Consultancy issues a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion to participants who attend all sessions and finish the analytics labs and roadmap.