Smallholder crop advisory over WhatsApp

Overview

Extension officers cannot reach every farmer in season. We need practical agronomy advice delivered in local languages via WhatsApp, tied to weather and soil ti

Posted by

Agricultural extension service · Masvingo

Location

Masvingo Province (field testing with farmers)

Sub-theme

Agritech & Food Security

Team size

2–6 people

Pilot budget

Pilot budget on request

Applications close

Open

• Agriculture
• Agritech & Food Security

The problem

Background

Extension officers cannot reach every farmer in season. We need practical agronomy advice delivered in local languages via WhatsApp, tied to weather and soil tips.

What's going wrong

Extension officers cannot reach every farmer in season. We need practical agronomy advice delivered in local languages via WhatsApp, tied to weather and soil tips.

What we need

A strong solution will:

• Working chatbot pilot covering 3 districts with measured engagement and agronomist escalation path.

Constraints

• Low data usage
• bilingual (English + Ndebele or Shona)
• human handoff for complex cases.

Deliverables

By forum week, matched teams are expected to bring:

1. A working prototype or demonstrable approach.
2. Evidence of fit to the problem and constraints.
3. A costed plan for a pilot.
4. A seven-minute pitch for forum week.

How teams are evaluated

Applications and final pitches are scored by the challenge owner and the ZBIF secretariat on:

• Fit to the problem30%

  Does it solve the problem as the challenge owner describes it?

• Technical feasibility25%

  Can the team build and run it with the resources available?

• Cost and scalability20%

  Is it affordable to pilot, and to roll out if the pilot works?

• Team capability15%

  Does the team have the skills and time to deliver?

• Local impact10%

  Jobs, skills or value it keeps in Zimbabwe.

Who can apply

• A registered ZBIF innovator account: innovators, consultancies, technologists, university teams or freelancers.
• At least one team member based in Zimbabwe.
• Able to attend forum week in Bulawayo on 27–28 April 2027 if shortlisted.
• IP ownership and pilot terms are agreed between your team and the challenge owner in the Deal Room.

Timeline

1. 19 Oct 2026 Challenge posted We are here
2. Rolling Applications close
3. Within 3 weeks Matching results sent to teams and the challenge owner
4. Until forum week Build phase, with mentor and challenge-owner check-ins
5. Forum week Live pitch and Deal Rooms in Bulawayo

Data and resources

Shared with matched teams after signing a simple data-use agreement.

• Challenge owner point of contact After matching
• Operational context pack Shared under data-use agreement