Farmer-led Tools, Dashboard Development, and the Future of Farming

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The Farmer-led Tools, Dashboard Development and the Future of Farming project is interested in identifying participatory ways of collecting farm-level data, and in understanding how that data can be made accessible to smallholders – with particular focus on women and girls – via ‘farmer dashboards’ to improve their farming practices. The project is funded by Global Affairs Canada’s Fund for Innovation and Transformation (GAC FIT) and implemented in collaboration with the Coady International Institute (Canada) and the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of India.

The project builds on previous ICRAF work in the Middle Nyando Block, straddling Kisumu and Kericho counties, including the Accelerating Adoption of Agroforestry (Triple A) project, an asset-based community-driven development (ABCD) project implemented from 2015 to 2019. The project works with lead-farmers and uses data collected to develop individual farmer data reports that feature various analyses of farm-level data that had been collected over the previous 6 years with the help of the paper-based integrated household leaky bucket tool. Qualitative research is conducted to understand the Triple A lead-farmers’ expectations and interests in terms of (a) the kind of data, (b) level and detail of analysis, and (c) data representation and visualization to inform their practices in a relevant and evidence-based way. The project will introduce the Farm Leaky Bucket mobile phone application upon completion of its minimal viable product (MVP), and work with the Triple A lead-farmers to adapt and improve the application’s functioning and personalized data report and dashboard features.