Leveraging DPI for inclusive, farmer-centric agriculture

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is a set of foundational digital systems that are secure, interoperable and supports the delivery of and access to public and private services across society.

DPI helps drive a country’s social and economic transformation, helping to achieve the United Nations (UN)'s sustainable development goals (SDGs).  

However, there remains a limited discussion on how DPI can improve the lives of farmers – a profession that employs more than 800 million people around the world. 

At the Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure (CDPI)'s Leveraging DPI for Sustainable Agriculture & Farmer Choice webinar, speakers shared how DPI solutions could empower farmers by improving their access to government services such as social assistance. 

In his keynote presentation, CDPI’s Co-Chair, Pramod Varma, underlined the importance of designing foundational models for ID systems and data registries in the agriculture sector.  

"In many countries, identity systems already exist, but they are still paper based. This leads to low trust and high costs due to fraud and manual verification," said Varma. 

He proposed converting paper-based IDs into verifiable digital credentials, using QR codes and a light authentication layer.  

This ensures that the proof of identity cannot be faked, and this makes it easier for people to access services across sectors.  

Varma also highlighted the isolated nature of agriculture data registry, where different government departments collect the same data without sharing or reusing it. This leads to overlapping efforts and slows down farmers' access to services such as subsidies, loans and insurance.  

He suggested that such data be converted into electronically signed digital credentials, which can then be returned to citizens. This puts the individual at the centre of the data ecosystem instead of enforcing data sharing across often complex jurisdictions.  

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Implementing an inclusive DPI  

The Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO)’s Asia Pacific Senior Resilience Officer, Hang Thi Than Pham, said that the DPI concept was in line with FAO's transformative vision of "Four Betters": better production, better nutrition, better environment and better lives.

According to Pham, DPI can help accelerate these goals through inclusive digital technologies, supportive policies, and investments. "We focus on bridging the digital divide to ensure everyone gets the maximum benefit, especially smallholders and vulnerable farmers," Pham said. 

However, the challenge of implementing DPI is that the system is often hampered by policy and institutional coordination in the region. 

She cited the example of the 6,000 Filipino fishermen, beneficiaries of the FAO anticipatory fund, whose return to sea after after a recent typhoon took one to five months due to delayed payments from the fund.   

"In the context of digital payments, besides technology, enabling policies are critical," she noted.  

FAO is also developing national digital architectures, supporting digital extension systems and implementing risk dashboards in pilot countries such as Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Laos and Timor-Leste. These tools help governments target resource allocation and predict climate impacts more accurately. 

Open-source platform for agriculture  

OpenSPP’s Executive Director and Association for Digital Cooperation’s (ACN) Director, Jeremi Joslin, explained how the open-source platform transforms fragmented systems into interconnected, farmer-centric solutions.

OpenSPP is modular software designed to simplify beneficiary registries to cash transfer mechanisms and social assistance distribution.  

According to Joslin, the platform was developed to address the needs of many governments and humanitarian agencies that require resilient digital systems, especially in resource-constrained countries.  

"Many governments face a recurring need for systems like this but often don't have the capacity to build from scratch," Joslin said. 

According to Joslin, one of OpenSPP's standout features was its support for dynamic registries, which is crucial in an agricultural sector where conditions are constantly changing.  

OpenSPP's design also emphasised data portability and interoperability and supported the use of verifiable credentials that allow farmers to own and share their own data, such as proof of yield or participation in subsidy programmes. 

He shared the impact of the open-source platform in Sri Lanka, where it helped the government address inefficiencies in the fertiliser subsidy programme by integrating an existing digital farmer registry with a supplier tracking system. 

"Instead of rebuilding from scratch, the platform is a plus one to existing data systems," he said, adding that reusability is important in DPI. 

Creating young agripreneurs 

Kuza Biashara's founder and lead mentor, Sriram Bharatam, shared how his social enterprise is changing the future of agricultural systems through a youth-driven, technology-enabled model. 

He shared Kuza's project in rural Kenya, which is dominated by unemployed youth and small-scale farmers, some of whom have dropped out of school.

Through its Rural Entrepreneur Development Incubators (REDI) programme, Kuza recruited and trained local Kenyan youth to become agripreneurs, work alongside senior farmers and develop an inclusive agricultural ecosystem. 

"The youth are equipped with portable digital backpacks containing videos and learning tools that can be accessed without internet and electricity, enabling learning between farmers in remote areas," said Bharatam. 

Each agripreneur mentors around 10 farmer groups of 15-20 members, becoming a trusted resource for training, agricultural services, market access, and business assistance. 

Kuza also developed the One Network digital platform to connect agripreneurs, service providers, financial institutions, and government in one ecosystem. 

Today, more than 5,000 agripreneurs have helped more than 1.5 million farmers in 43 of Kenya's 47 rural counties. 

A World Bank evaluation shows 65 per cent of farmers reached are women, with 80 per cent of farmers experiencing a reduction in household debt.