This company launched with $600 a decade ago. How it's using data and AI to boost yields for millions of small-scale farmers

Getting the right information at the right time is critical for any sector but especially small-scale farming. Losing a yield could mean a farmer has no income for a year while weakening food security and local economies. To bridge these gaps, company Farmerline has created AI-powered tools, including one that acts like a "911 for farmers," bringing critical information on weather, crop diseases and more on demand to people who need it, all in 34 languages. The company has also developed ways alternative data can be used to develop credit scores for farmers, helping prove the investing opportunity to lenders while connecting them to much-needed financing. With small scale farmers locked out of some of the biggest innovations in the last century thanks to access and affordability, founder Alloysius Attah shares what's needed to ensure agriculture is future ready – including the power of a database that can create a national pulse on food security for NGOs, governments and the private sector. Attah also shares his company's founding journey, what he's learned in the past 10 years - and how global crises like COVID have helped him rethink how he prioritizes as a leader.

This interview was recorded in January 2025 at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Updated statistics can be found in the corresponding transcript.

About this episode:
https://farmerline.co/

Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/alloysius-attah-farmerline-ai-data-finance

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