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Agricultural intelligence should start with the farmer.

Openfarms Lab is an agricultural technology company focused on practical intelligence and digital tools for African farmers. We work in Nigeria with the farmers, researchers and partners our tools are meant to serve.

Campaign image: Agricultural professionals in crop fields

A useful answer needs to know the farm.

Farm decisions depend on crop, location, planting date, growth stage, recent work and the conditions of this season. When advice loses that context, a farmer has to start again every time.

At the heart of our work is an AI Extension Worker: a digital assistant designed to remember a farm and its season, draw on trusted agronomic knowledge, and help the farmer decide what to do next.

SmartFarmer serves farmers through our dedicated app. WhatsApp provides a familiar interaction mode. Our business-facing services connect organisations to the same purpose: better-informed agricultural decisions.

Useful agricultural intelligence, accessible across Africa.

Mission
Make farm decisions more informed and accessible, starting from the realities of the field.
Vision
Useful agricultural intelligence accessible to farmers across Africa.
Our promise
Technology built around the farmer.

Built for the realities of African farming.

Four principles guide what Openfarms Lab builds, how it describes the work and when it expands.

  1. 01

    Local context matters

    Advice should reflect crops, practices, seasons and conditions that matter where a farmer works.

  2. 02

    Access shapes the product

    We design for mobile use, limited data and intermittent connectivity, with familiar channels and simpler interactions in mind.

  3. 03

    People stay in the loop

    Agricultural professionals remain important for uncertain or consequential decisions. Our tools should support their judgement, not replace it.

  4. 04

    Evidence sets the pace

    We will expand from a focused first product as research and real use show what helps farmers.

Principles in practice

What each principle looks like in the work.

Choose a principle to see where it shows up, and follow the link to look closer.

Local context matters

01 Local context

Local context matters

Advice should reflect crops, practices, seasons and conditions that matter where a farmer works.

In practice
Each season is recorded against a specific field and crop, and SmartFarmer is translated into English (Nigeria), Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Nigerian Pidgin.

See the languages

Access shapes the product

02 Access

Access shapes the product

We design for mobile use, limited data and intermittent connectivity, with familiar channels and simpler interactions in mind.

In practice
SmartFarmer keeps working on weak signal, with changes waiting on the phone until you are connected, and WhatsApp meets farmers in a chat they already use.

See how it works offline

People stay in the loop

03 People

People stay in the loop

Agricultural professionals remain important for uncertain or consequential decisions. Our tools should support their judgement, not replace it.

In practice
An organisation can decide which AI answers are checked by a person first, and a question can be handed to a person, who is clearly named as not the AI.

See the controls

Evidence sets the pace

04 Evidence

Evidence sets the pace

We will expand from a focused first product as research and real use show what helps farmers.

In practice
Predictions are compared with what happened in the field, and what we learn, including where we were wrong, decides what is built next.

See how we evaluate

A connected approach to agriculture.

Farmers at the centre

SmartFarmer and WhatsApp interactions bring our work closer to the people making daily decisions in the field.

Organisations alongside them

Our business services connect field relationships, operational needs and agricultural information.

Evidence behind the work

Research and evaluation shape our approach to AI, farm context and responsible decision support.

One company, four ways in

The farmer at the centre, and everything built around them.

Each part of Openfarms Lab exists to serve the same purpose: better-informed decisions on the farm. Select any part to look closer.

The farmer at the centre, connected to SmartFarmer, WhatsApp interactions, business services and research. Each part links to its page. The farmer and their season SmartFarmer Our app for farmers WhatsApp interactions A familiar conversation Business services For organisations working with farmers Research and evidence What we test, and how
Illustration of how the parts relate. Each box links to its page.
Where we work nowNigeria, with pilot work in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Rivers.
Crops we focus onCassava, tomato and maize. More are added only after their data and model behaviour are reviewed.
How we describe itWith qualification. Research and roadmap work is described as such, and we make no claims about results we have not measured.

A team across product, engineering and field relationships.

Openfarms Lab brings together people working in business operations, engineering, design, growth, partnerships and finance. They work with farmers, researchers and organizations to make useful agricultural intelligence accessible.

Meet the team

Farmer and agricultural collaborators examining a crop together

Build with the people closest to the field.

If you farm, research, deliver services or support agricultural innovation, we would like to hear from you.