While smallholder farmers produce one-third of the world’s food, many of them live in poverty. A key challenge they face is a lack of access to information to improve their farming practices.
As a cost-effective way to help smallholder farmers increase their yields, a growing number of so-called digital extension services are using mobile phones and tools like text messaging, apps, and audio or video calls or messages.
The story of digital extension tools, and mobile platforms more generally, is one of creating small benefits for large numbers of people at a low cost, said Craig McIntosh, a professor and co-director of the Policy Design and Evaluation Lab at the University of California, San Diego.