Improving Smallholder Farmers’ Livelihoods through Mobile Phone-Based Agricultural Advice

The majority of the world’s 450 million smallholder farmers and the 2 billion people who depend on them live in rural villages in developing countries, growing crops at close to subsistence levels to feed their families. Small changes in agricultural practices can substantially improve productivity and profitability, but farmers continue to lack the advice they need to close the yield gap and maximize their incomes. However, mobile phone ownership and access to mobile phones are increasing in developing countries, presenting a huge opportunity to provide digital agricultural advisory services. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Jason Keene, student at the Harvard Kennedy School, interviews Jonathan Lehe, Director of New Programs at Precision Agriculture for Development, who discusses how PAD is working to improve the lives of farmers in developing countries. www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid Interview recorded on April 5, 2019. About Jonathan Lehe: Jonathan Lehe is PAD's Global Research Manager. Mr. Lehe holds a Masters in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School. He has more than 10 years of experience in the global health and education sectors, managing research projects and implementation of programs to scale up access to critical public services in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. He has previously worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and consulted for the World Bank, Bridge International Academies, and MIT's Jameel Poverty Action Lab. View the transcript for this episode here: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/cid/files/Transcripts/Transcript-Improving%20Smallholder%20Farmers.pdf