Digital tools promise to extend advice, finance and market access to smallholders at a cost that traditional extension cannot match. In practice, take-up is uneven, usage often drops after the first season, and the farmers least able to benefit, including women, older people and those with limited phone access, are the easiest to miss. Reliable monitoring and evaluation is the only way to separate genuine progress from enthusiastic reporting.

The course starts by clarifying what a digital agritech programme is trying to change and how the product, the farmer and the field context interact. Participants then build a monitoring system that combines platform data with field-collected information, learning how to define active use, track retention and understand why farmers stop. Evaluation sessions cover outcome measurement for yield, income, input use and resilience, along with practical impact designs that fit small budgets, such as matched comparison groups, staggered roll-out and contribution analysis.

Sessions are applied, using sample datasets from SMS advisory, mobile money and satellite-based services. Participants practise questionnaire design, sample selection and dashboard building, and finish with a complete M&E plan for an agritech initiative, including data protection safeguards and reporting for funders.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Build a theory of change and results framework for a digital agriculture intervention.
• Define and track indicators across reach, adoption, sustained use and outcomes.
• Combine platform analytics with farmer surveys and qualitative methods.
• Design samples and questionnaires for phone and in-person surveys of smallholders.
• Choose a feasible evaluation design to attribute or contribute to income and yield changes.
• Assess gender and inclusion gaps in access and benefits.
• Apply data quality checks and responsible data practices to farmer information.
• Present findings through dashboards and short donor reports.

The course is relevant to people who build, fund or assess digital solutions for farmers, including:

• Monitoring, evaluation and learning officers in agriculture programmes
• Impact and product managers at agritech companies
• Programme managers for digital extension and financial inclusion
• Agricultural extension and ICT4Ag specialists
• Donor and development partner programme officers
• Cooperative and farmer organisation managers
• Researchers and evaluation consultants
• County and national agriculture ministry planners

Participants leave the course with:

• A results framework with indicators for a digital agriculture programme.
• A usage funnel template for measuring active and retained farmers.
• A farmer survey questionnaire with sampling guidance.
• A short checklist for gender and inclusion analysis.
• An evaluation design option matched to their budget and timeline.
• A draft dashboard layout and a donor reporting outline.

Training is grounded in the data and decisions of digital agriculture programmes. Participants engage through:

• Practical walk-throughs of real-world agritech services and their data
• Spreadsheet exercises on usage, retention and cost metrics
• Hands-on form design and testing in a mobile data collection tool
• Small-group evaluation design clinics
• Peer review of M&E plans before final presentations

Participants who complete the five days and the practical tasks earn a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion from Vision Reach Global Consultancy, confirming their training in digital agriculture monitoring and evaluation.