Country: Kenya
Lead organisation: Shambabetter LLC
Shambabetter 3-in-1 digital platform offers sustainable, personalized agricultural advice, through a WhatsApp chatbot for farmers, an app for advisors, and a dashboard for farmer-facing organisations. Under RAIN, Shambabetter is piloting an offline marketplace in Kenya to connect farmers, vetted input providers, and markets, and will digitize and scale it to 5,000 farmers.
Shambabetter works with an existing offline marketplace which addresses farmers’ limited access to markets and regenerative inputs. Working with around 40 farmers around Ciumenene farm, the Company connects these farmers directly with vetted regenerative input providers, providers of organic certification and off takers.
To scale this offline pilot, Shambabetter will digitise the marketplace in two steps. First, by adding offerings on loans and insurance, and by providing access to relevant providers via lists on the organisational WhatsApp chatbot. Secondly, the Company will integrate the marketplace fully into the platform and allow extension agents to earn a commission for connecting farmers with off-takers.