Vitabu Farmer Connect
Information for farmers, on any phone.
Cooperatives, agribusinesses and NGOs can give farmers today's market prices, weather advice, farming tips and a place to sell produce, over USSD, SMS and voice, with no internet needed. You run it from Vitabu: set the prices, answer the help desk, send alerts and see the reports.
New add-on. Talk to us about a pilot.
What it does
Works on any phone
Farmers dial a USSD code, send an SMS or call a voice number. No smartphone, app or internet connection is needed.
Prices, weather and tips
Market prices for eight crops across the markets you maintain, a two-day weather outlook with farming advice for eight towns, and a tip for each crop.
English, Hausa and Swahili
Menus and messages in three languages. Voice menus are spoken in English only. Have a native speaker review the Hausa and Swahili wording before launch.
A produce marketplace
Farmers list bags for sale by USSD or SMS and buyers see the cheapest offers with the seller's number. Offers expire on their own.
Alerts and a morning update
Farmers follow the crops they care about and are texted when a price moves by the amount you choose, plus an optional daily update with weather and prices.
A help desk
Problems, call-back requests and recorded voice messages become tickets your team resolves, with an optional SMS reply to the farmer.
Airtime rewards and broadcast
Reward referrals and first offers with airtime, and text all farmers or a group by crop, town or language. Both are under your control and off until you switch them on.
Reports
Farmers, prices, marketplace, help desk and outreach reports for any date range, exported to CSV, PDF or Excel.
What to know before you start
- It runs on your own Africa's Talking account. You bring the USSD code, SMS shortcode and voice number; message, airtime and call charges are billed to that account by Africa's Talking, not by Vitabu.
- Prices are the ones you enter. Until you do, farmers see clearly marked sample data.
- Weather comes from a free public forecast and covers eight towns, so it is advice, not a guarantee.
- It is new. It has been tested against simulated Africa's Talking calls, not yet with real farmers at scale, so start with a pilot group.
Farmer Connect is an add-on to Vitabu ERP, so it shares your organisation's users, roles and security controls. Your Africa's Talking key is stored encrypted and is never shown again. See our security overview.
Ready to Bring Your Business Together?
Start with the capabilities you need today and expand the platform as your business grows.