Two unique things about the platform are that farmers have where to turn to in event of late night emergencies in their farm. It also allows farmers to speak with experts in the language they can freely express themselves. Let’s say there is an outbreak of coccidiosis in the farm at the middle of the night, you can speak with a veterinary doctor immediately, without having to wait till morning for stores to be opened.
By Abasifreke Effiong
An agrotech based in Akwa Ibom State, El-kanis and Partners has taken the lead to offer a 24/7 agro consultancy services in vernacular to rural farmers in Nigeria.
The company launched the vernacular interactive voice response app called the El-Kanis Vernacular Interactive Voice Response Platform (EIVR) in November to help rural farmers get more prompt services.
Two unique things about the platform are that farmers have where to turn to in event of late night emergencies in their farm. It also allows farmers to speak with experts in the language they can freely express themselves.
Let’s say there is an outbreak of coccidiosis in the farm at the middle of the night, you can speak with a veterinary doctor immediately, without having to wait till morning for stores to be opened.
When a farmer calls the dedicated phone line – 08021810028 – he has the choice of speaking to an expert using any of the Nigeria’s major languages.
Though the app is currently designed for Ibibio language spoken by majority of residents in Akwa Ibom State, and pidgin English, the company says it is working to expand the language options to include Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo by the end of the first quarter of 2022.
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The Principal Consultant at El-Kanis and Partners, Mr. Ekan Ukpe, said the EIVR runs a 50 percent discount call tariff rate and a caller who runs out of call credit during an interaction can be called back.
“EIVR is a business platform. We developed it bearing the users in mind. For instance we considered the literacy level of the farmers. We know that many rural farmers are not educated enough to be able to describe in English language what they observe in their farm. We also took into consideration their income level, that is why EIVR runs on a call tariff that is half the cost of normal calls”, Mr. Ukpe explained.
“We also know that a farmer can run out of call credit in the middle of conversation especially at night, so on this platform, we can call back such a farmer. We are looking at making it a toll-free line in future”, he added.
Another benefit a farmer gets using the platform is that inputs bought on the platform are administered free of charge.
The platform seeks to support rural farmers with agro-services, connect agro-producers to processors and enable market access for farmers. The company also has dispatch vehicles to convey inputs to farmers.
Services offered on the EIVR platform includes consultancy to livestock and crop farmers, turnkey services, inputs buying as well as training.
The platform is set up such that when a farmer calls the line, option 1 is for livestock farmers, option 2 is for crop farmers, option 3 is for what we call turnkey arrangement. The platform has the competence to set up large farms for people and can assist people who want to set up big farms, buy land, survey, do land registration, start a farm and manage for them. Option 4 is for input buying. If you want to buy seeds, additives, agro chemicals, livestock feed, any type of Agric input, you press 4. Extension 5 has to do with training.
The company offers training on agronomy, farm record keeping, corporate governance in the agric sector, among other services.
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The company says it has a consultant veterinary doctor, an internationally trained agronomist as well as a partnership with Harvestplus for the supply of agro inputs.
Before the launch of the EIVR platform, El-kanis and Partners had developed other digital technology platforms for farmers. Their products include Farmtrust AG-sensor drone solutions, FarmX which is an agricbusiness management operations platform, FarmX shop, an online fresh food-stuff market.
It has also developed Agricbusiness Enterprise Development Program, AEDP, as a training hub for agricbusiness and has handled the Akwa Ibom State Farmers Information Management System, AKFIMS, a database system for Akwa Ibom State farmers.
El-kanis and Partners is a digital technology developer for agriculture and food sector.
