People may think of John Deere as a successful global company, only interested in providing big machines to big commercial farmers. But in Africa and other developing countries, this is not true.

This world-renowned and reputable company is also very focused on poverty alleviation. John Deere believes that agriculture is the way forward to develop rural areas and to empower smallholder farmers through mechanisation and data technology. John Deere has also developed very progressive plans to open the doors of profitability and sustainability for farmers with limited land and resources.

John Deere is a Platinum sponsor of the 2018 ICT4D Conference

Aid organisations, NGOs and companies from all over the world recently attended the 2018 ICT4D (Information and Communications Technology for Development) conference in Lusaka to find solutions for poverty relief in Africa. Strong focus was placed on accurate and continuous data collection from health care to agriculture.

John Deere is no stranger to this concept and as the platinum sponsor, they put their full weight behind this effort. With JDLink™ and John Deere Operations Centre, a farmer can collect data from a moisture probe at the remotest corner of his fields to the status of a possible faulty oil filter on his combine harvester, which allows for pro-active dealer support. The possibilities are endless and data-supported farm management becomes more accurate and easier by the day.

Sherrie Woodring, Chief Executive Officer of the Great African Food Company, (GAFCo), was a John Deere sponsored keynote speaker at the Wednesday morning plenary session.   Her speech was a conference highlight. She shared how GAFCo extends global food markets to smallholder farmers by partnering with John Deere to enable these farmers to gain access to the same technology and efficiencies as large commercial farmers.

“GAFCo’s mission is to lift children out of poverty by improving income of smallholder farmers through access to technology, markets, finance, insurance, quality inputs, and knowledge.  John Deere provides the farming technology enabling farmers to grow acres under cultivation, and improve yields through conservation agriculture practices,“ she says.

African software teams compete for contractor app

John Deere is constantly searching for solutions to make their equipment and technology available to all farmers, big and small. A few weeks before ICT4D, they launched a “Hackathon” – a competition where the IT community harness their expertise to come up with a solution to a problem or challenge. The challenge was to develop an affordable programme, whereby smallholder farmers can gain access to mechanisation.

John Deere collaborated to conduct the Hackathon with Opportunity International (a non-profit micro-financing organisation based in the United States). They received 38 entries from 18 countries. Entries from 15 African countries were received and 35% of the proposals came from teams with a female. Three finalists were announced during a John Deere sponsored luncheon at the ICT4D conference.

The third place went to Akello Banker from Uganda, who drew up a business plan where banks are closely incorporated in contractor services. The second place went to Agora Community Services from Zambia. They developed a programme where machine learning is employed to collect all the possible data on a farm to give them access to finance and contractor services. The winner was Patatinga from Kenya, who developed a scalable programme where they focus on combining communities of people to make mechanical agriculture possible.

Hi-tech in small machines

“We are not solving challenges with bigger machines, but with smarter machines. Therefore connectivity is the key in this process,” Georg Larscheid, Integrated Solutions Implementation Manager for John Deere, said during the sponsored luncheon. He discussed the technology John Deere has integrated into equipment:

• Sensors on planting equipment which measure accurate seed placement and planting depth.
• Communication technology with telematics, where the implement communicates with the tractor.
• The collection of real-time data in a cloud to be shared by third parties.
• Automatic guidance systems where GPS technology is used to ensure accurate tracking.
• Farm Operations Centre where data from various points and sensors on the farm can be integrated for advanced decision making.

During the conference, John Deere also touched on the other exciting programmes and partnerships that demonstrate their commitment to smallholder farmers and technology:

Artificial intelligence fits into agriculture

John Deere is constantly exploring new dimensions of technology to make farming more profitable and sustainable. They recently acquired a silicon valley based company, Blue River Technology, to leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence technology for farmers.

Now, John Deere will be able to teach their machines to learn like humans. Their first project is to teach their sprayers to identify the forms and shapes of the different weeds through repetitive exposure. This will make it possible for the sprayer to spot spray any of these unwanted plants in milli-seconds. John Deere estimated that it will reduce herbicide costs for farmers by up to 90%.

Agriculture 4.0

Agriculture 4.0 is the name of the new era farmers have to embrace. It is about data collection on the farm and sharing it with other parties in the cloud. This poses a concern, since farm data is confidential and data leaks can be harmful to the owner. Luckily, one of John Deere’s main focuses is the protection and safeguarding of a farmer’s data. “We shall always regard data as the sole property of the relevant farmer and we shall employ the best systems and technology to safeguard it. The farmer also has to approve any sharing of his data,” Georg says.

A rock solid dealership

As part of the conference, a John Deere 5065E and 5075E tractor were demonstrated on York farm south of Lusaka. Each tractor demonstrated an implement to show their mettle to the visitors. The demonstration was organised by AFGRI Equipment Zambia, the local John Deere dealer. They offer a range of small John Deere tractors from 42Hp to 90Hp and a full range of implements for small and emerging farmers.

John Deere’s smallholder solutions (S.M.A.R.T.), encompass a comprehensive suite of products as well as financing and services that yield great value. “When you buy John Deere equipment through AFGRI Equipment Zambia, you automatically qualify for a lower interest rate if financed by JDF (John Deere Financial) through Stanbic Bank, FNB or Zanaco,” Katuna Sinyangwe, Sales Manager of AFGRI Equipment Zambia, says. “Since emerging farmers do not have land title deeds to offer as security, the equipment is regarded as collateral if financed through John Deere Financial’s partners in Zambia. The payback period is also linked to the farmer’s harvest seasons and cash inflow.”

All John Deere tractors come with a 2 000 hours or a two year warranty, whichever comes first.

For more information about this equipment and the rest of the extensive range of solutions offered by John Deere, please call +260-211-273757-62 or send an e-mail to afgri@afgri.com.zm