Eight Tech Consults Ltd conducted a descriptive research study on behalf of Elanco to inform the design and development of a digital platform for small-scale livestock farmers in Uganda. The study focused on smartphone access, content needs, tick control product usage, communication practices, and desired features for a farmer-centric digital solution.
Overall Objective:
Generate actionable insights to guide the creation of an effective digital platform for small-scale producers.
Specific Objectives:
- Establish characteristics of smartphones accessed by farmers and their usage patterns.
- Determine the content needs of small-scale producers.
- Establish tick control product access and usage patterns.
- Establish current farmer communication and collaboration practices.
- Gather insights on farmers’ opinions of the desired features of the ELANCO digital platform.
Tasks completed
- Designed and digitized research tools in collaboration with the client.
- Pretested tools and conducted 37 interviews using purposive random sampling.
- Employed mixed-methods data collection and analysis.
- Assessed smartphone ownership, usage, and mobile application familiarity among farmers.
- Identified content needs and preferred communication channels.
- Analyzed tick control product access, usage, and knowledge sources.
- Gathered farmer preferences for digital platform features and language.Compiled findings into a comprehensive report and presentation.
Output
- Detailed report on smartphone access and usage among small-scale farmers.
- Analysis of content needs and preferred learning channels.
- Data on tick control product usage and knowledge dissemination.
- Insights into farmer communication and collaboration practices.
- List of desired features for the Elanco digital platform (e.g., offline capability, community forums, GPS tracking, record-keeping, language preferences).
- Recommendations for platform design and implementation.
- Presentation of findings to Elanco and stakeholders.