Ignitia
Providing highly accurate forecasts for small scale tropical farmers via SMS.
A weather model specifically calibrated for the tropics, resulting in forecasts that are twice as accurate as global models (~84%). Ignitia gets these forecasts to farmers by partnering with telcos to send GPS-specific daily forecasts, as well as monthly and seasonal predictions. The message is sent in a simple text-lite format, and can be received on any mobile phone (no smartphone required). Farmers don’t have to pay a large sum upfront, instead they subscribe via their telco and pay in micro-installments from their existing mobile credit. It costs just $0.03/message, adding up to just 1%-2% of a farmer’s total costs for a ROI. Last year in Ghana, ~80,000 farmers subscribed and we had less than 3% churn over the season. Since our system is also 97% automated, it’s easily scalable across countries.