In the United Kingdom, Wefarm, the world’s largest farmer-to-farmer digital network, announced reaching over 1.1 million users across Kenya and Uganda. Moreover, for the first time, farmers have asked and answered more than one million questions through Wefarm in a single calendar month. With one in five farms in Kenya and Uganda using the network, the company plans to expand into the rest of Africa in 2019, beginning with Tanzania.
Wefarm’s network allows small-scale farmers to ask each other questions on anything related to agriculture and then receive bespoke content and ideas in response. Farmers can ask questions in any language and messaging is free of charge.
Wefarm’s natural language processing libraries are the first of their kind in the world; this model can identify three regional African languages – Kiswahili, Luganda, and Runyankore – in addition to English. This means Wefarm users don’t need English proficiency, which increases reach and access.