FarmerChat - Channelling AI to Help Agricultural Smallholders Prosper at Scale

In this episode of Digital Talk, host Ian Ginn sits down with Alex Mwaura, the Kenya Country Director for Digital Green. With over 24 years of experience in the humanitarian and development space, Alex shares the incredible journey of how Digital Green is moving beyond traditional video-based extension services to pioneer FarmerChat—an AI-powered mobile assistant designed to help smallholder farmers thrive in an era of climate uncertainty.What You’ll Learn in This Episode:The Evolution of Extension Services: How Digital Green transitioned from YouTube videos to hyper-localized AI advisory. The Power of FarmerChat: A deep dive into the Android-based AI assistant that uses text, voice, and images to diagnose crop pests and diseases. Impact by the Numbers: Discover how AI has helped farmers increase the adoption of improved agricultural practices from 7% to 70%. Keeping the "Human in the Loop": How Digital Green uses expert agronomists to validate AI-generated advice to ensure accuracy and safety. Scaling through Partnerships: Why telecommunications companies are the key to reaching the "last mile" and supporting the 60% of the African workforce employed in agriculture. Links and resourcesDigital GreenFarmer ChatCase Study: Digital Green Farmer Chat Episode sponsored by IFG Consulting Europe– Supporting telcos with tech strategy, digitisation and growth.Guest Bio:Alex has worked in the humanitarian and development sector for over two decades, fueled by a passion for sustainable community development and the use of technology as a driver of social impact. From an organizational development standpoint, he is dedicated to building highly functional teams that design and deliver impactful projects and programs. Currently, Alex serves as the Country Director with Digital Green Kenya. In this role, he oversees the deployment of FarmerChat, an AI assistant that provides localized and timely agricultural advisory for farmers. As of March 2026, this initiative has reached over 1.3 million farmers. Prior to joining Digital Green, Alex spent 23 years leading multisectoral humanitarian and development initiatives across East, Central, and Southern Africa. Podcast credits:Host: Ian GinnEditor: Francis WrightDesigner: Rebecca GinnProject manager: Ivana DuricSend us your feedbackSupport the showFollow Digitel TalkWant to be a guest on the show or sponsor a podcast? For all enquires contact [email protected] you liked this episode, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a 5* review and rating, it really helps our channel.You can find us on LinkedIn @digitel-talk or on our website www.digiteltalk.com