Growsmartt digitally: Farmer builds app to help farmers

In 2012, while Vijay Dialsingh was working a full-time job in the finance sector, he made the decision to become a part-time farmer.

Having access to two acres of land, at that time, Dialsingh established an automated irrigation system and planted 20,000 hot pepper plants.

For Dialsingh, planting the hot peppers seemed straightforward and he was hopeful about the harvest.

But there was just one thing wrong with Dialsingh’s plan.

His knowledge of growing crops was limited to online information.

Upon noticing abnormalities on the plants, he assumed it was a disease…he was wrong.

After consulting with an agronomist, the abnormalities turned out to be a pest problem, but the information came a little too late.

Dialsingh lost the potential harvest from all 20,000 hot pepper plants.

“I lost everything. It was a heart wrenching experience.

“To know that you gave up so much, to invest in something, to only have a severe loss because of your lack of experience and information,” said Dialsingh, 33, in an interview with Sunday Newsday.

While the experience could have discouraged Dialsingh, it did not. He continued planting and, in 2013, made the decision to leave his job in finance and become a full-time farmer.

Holding majors in management and economics from the UWI, St Augustine, Dialsingh always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

The decision to invest in agricultural entrepreneurship was driven by extensive online research.

Studying the agricultural supply chain, Dialsingh saw the potential to find a niche in the local market. He reflects on losing the hot pepper crop as motivation to improve the accessibility of food and agriculture information in TT. His inability to quickly find information on his crop problem also played a role in his plan. In late 2013, he conceptualised the Growsmartt Collective Intelligence digital platform for the food and agriculture community.

“The platform is intended to make it simple to access credible agriculture information from anywhere, and at any time, from a trustworthy collective of individuals.

“Why not have a digital platform where we could connect the information needs of food producers with answers and solutions by experts?”

Apart from using Growsmartt to find answers to agricultural questions, Dialsingh hopes farmers will be able to use the platform, through an app, to report production values.

He is optimistic the data gathered, through farmers, can be used to identify areas of oversupply and under-supply in TT’s fresh produce market.

Such information can help develop strategies to improve efficiency in the mark.

While Dialsingh does not have a background in technology, a team of hired software developers and graphic designers have been working with him to design the platform.

Funding to build the platform has, thus far, been sources from local and international grants.

Dialsingh has also invested personal savings to bring the idea to life.

“I developed the first prototype of the platform between 2015 and 2016. It was tested a lot and the Growsmartt team was able to learn a lot.

“However, for a while, after the initial testing, I did not know how to take the idea to the next stage. I had no mentors.

“Fortunately, I had the opportunity in 2018 to be a part of the US State Department’s Young Leaders of the Americas initiative.”

For the 2018 initiative, Dialsingh travelled to Austin, Texas, where he was able to meet and discuss the platform with professionals from the US technology industry.

Upon returning home, Dialsingh felt like he found greater clarity and revamped the work on the platform.

To date, while it is not yet public, over 250 people have tested the platform during trials.

Securing stakeholder support is now a priority for Dialsingh.

“We (at Growsmartt) know what we need to do technology wise, but it will require funding to help hire more team members and all the various expertise that is needed for this venture.

“What we’re doing now is building a stakeholder coalition to learn more about what is going on in TT’s food systems.”

“This initiative is something that needs all stakeholders in the agriculture industry. This is an effort that is much more than one individual, it needs to be a collaborative and systemic approach.”

Dialsingh recently secured the support of organisations like Namdevco, the UWI Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.

NGOs like WhyFarm and the Start-up Republic NGO have also pledged their support.

“Initially, I had no idea on how to go about reaching out to these different agri-stakeholders and develop collaborations.

“But, after looking at successful innovators and entrepreneurs, I realised they all had one thing in common…they were all willing to put themselves out there whether their early ideas were perfect or not.

“I learnt I had to believe in myself, my ingenuity and the successes I had accomplished with the Growsmartt idea.”

In 2021, the Growsmartt platform is expected to have scaled pilot project in the cocoa sector.

Using the platform, cocoa growers will be able to access inform and share information on their harvests.

In January, of this year, Dialsingh was invited to apply, on behalf of the UWI, for the Food System Vision Prize funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

The prize challenged participants to give their vision of global agriculture by the year 2050.

“The competition encouraged us to be bold and put forward visions that would not only be realistic but would be out of the norm and changes the course of action as it relates to agriculture.

Dialsingh’s vision for the digital transformation of TT’s food knowledge system by 2015, using the Growsmartt platform, did not disappoint.

Out of over 1,300 submissions, from 193 countries, Dialsingh’s submission made the prize’s top 14 list, racking up a special mention award along the way.

While Dialsingh may have a 2050 vision for TT’s agriculture, and the world at large, he has not lost sight of the present.

He is eager to see more growth in TT’s agriculture sector and strengthened food security.

With the advent of covid19, Dialsingh hopes the uncertainty caused by the pandemic would be a wakeup call for local food production to be taken more seriously with a hope of reducing foreign food imports.

“We have the capacity and the ability (to become food secure), I think what we lack is the connectivity and coordination of people, data and resources.

“Our vision (at Growsmartt) is to help contribute to this food secure Caribbean hub. That security will not only come from food production, in terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality.”

People interested in collaborating with Dialsingh, on the Growsmartt idea, are encouraged to reach out to the Growsmartt Facebook page, send an email to: vijay.dialsingh@growsmartt.com or connect with Dialsingh on LinkedIn by searching his name.