Chad: Farmers increase yields with technology

The Climate Resilience and Agricultural Productivity Project (ProPAD) call center is located on the third floor of the Ministry of Agriculture building. It is outfitted with state-of-the-art technologies and new electronic installations. The Center serves as a pivotal element in Chad's initiative to modernize agriculture through the implementation of climate-smart technologies and enhanced extension and advisory services facilitated by information and communication technologies. The “e-voucher” system for distributing agricultural subsidies and e-extension services is being used in Chad for the first time.

The creation of an e-voucher platform and an e-extension platform allows the government to address the shortage of extension agents, offering agricultural advisory services to farmers. These platforms also create a transparent system for distributing input subsidies in the project intervention areas.

Since its inception in April 2021, the call center has operated in a spacious area divided into booths, where each call center representative works at a computer equipped with a headset. The team consists of eight members: six call center agents, an IT specialist, and a supervisor. They have handled a total of 118,438 calls from over 30,000 producers across three provinces (Mandoul, Moyen Chari, Salamat). To effectively communicate within the project's environment, they use the local languages of the intervention area as well as French through the toll-free number. "When an on-site intervention is necessary, we dispatch one of the 250 farmer relays, who are trained and equipped with bicycles, to visit the location and provide updates," explains Adoum Djidda Ali, the call center manager.

Electronics Enhancing Agriculture

These agents are integral to the technical system designed to inform and guide beneficiaries, acting as intermediaries between them, the cantonal controllers, and the IT specialists overseeing the e-voucher programme. This platform for e-vouchers and e-extensions enables subsidized sales of agricultural inputs (maize, sorghum, sesame, pesticides, NPK fertilizer, and urea) via mobile phones to producers identified in the five pilot cantons of the project: Hemat in Salamat, Danamadji and Balimba in Moyen Chari, and Bedjondo and Bedaya in Mandoul.

ProPAD agents, stationed within the project areas, are assisting beneficiaries with the utilization of the e-extension system. This system facilitates the dissemination of agricultural recommendations to 60,000 households. Additionally, farmers have access to a toll-free hotline for advice and guidance. By dialing 13 22, they can communicate with a technician from the project's call center in French or one of the local languages.

In Balimba, a town in southeast Chad known for its maize and groundnut crops, inconsistent rainfall and a shortage of supervisors to advise farmers have impacted production. Mndadjim Prisca, head of a women's group in Balimba sub-prefecture that has benefitted from the call center's services, describes the benefits: “We have increased our production; We now earn between 60,000 and 80,000 CFA francs for agricultural work, which used to bring us 600,000 to 700,000 CFA francs.”

Quality inputs access

The e-voucher platform effectively distributes agricultural subsidies and e-extension. It has provided over 5,000 tons of improved seeds to farmers' organizations across different agroecological zones. Project data shows that 133,656 producers, with 41% being women, have received improved seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides through the platform.

The fields have regained their previous levels of productivity. Tamdji Ngardoum, a seed producer from Koumra in southern Chad, recalls: “In the past, we would go to the market at the start of the rainy season to purchase seeds with uncertain fertility, resulting in 3 to 4 kilograms of spoiled seeds out of every 10 to 12 kilograms.”

Experts have endorsed this advancement. Dr. Djinodji Reoungal, head of the regional agricultural research center in Bébedjia, stated, “We received approximately 30 new generations of improved seeds; it is a relief.” Yacine Doudoua, Director General of the Chadian Institute for Agricultural Research for Development (ITRAD), confirmed, “Yields have increased by up to 80% since the introduction of the new varieties by ProPAD.”