Data Driven Farming Prize

About the Prize

Feed the Future believes in helping farmers extract maximum value from local agricultural production by increasing their access to the data and information they need to make more effective farming decisions. Democratizing access to data and information can drive the transformation of commercially-driven agriculture in targeted regions. As a result,  the prize aims to support solutions for farmers and value chain actors to make effective choices to enhance their productivity, on-the-ground decision-making, and market planning. Data-driven agriculture is not a new concept, yet the potential of these techniques and approaches has not yet come to fruition in less developed economies. For this reason, the competition will create the opportunity to source potentially relevant innovations from anywhere in the world and link them to a local context with specific opportunities and challenges. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. Agriculture contributes 34% of the national GDP and 70% of the population works in the sector. The country is ranked 25th in biodiversity, Nepal has the potential to be a food surplus country if smart, sustainable intensification that includes smallholder farmers can be realized.

Prize Statement

The prize is seeking tools and approaches that source, analyze and translate data into actionable, timely and context-specific information for smallholder farmers to improve value from agricultural productivity. In particular the data driven solutions will be tested in Nepal, and should be able to meet one or more of the following outcomes:

• Produce timely and context specific insight for improving the production of rice, other cereals and vegetables in Nepal.
• Support a more sustainable use of Nepal’s natural resources (i.e. increase biodiversity, use water more sustainably, improve use of land).
• Enable the market by providing inputs, extension services, and connections which support farmers in a sustainable way in Nepal.
• Improve influence and application of agricultural products in Nepal (i.e. better use of fertilizer, generation of quality seeds).
• Generate timely and actionable information to manage Nepal’s agricultural productivity risks due to  weather emergency.

Eligibility Criteria: Who can enter?

The Prize will accept entries that meet following criteria (see the Eligibility Criteria page for more details):

• Open to all.
• Local applicability. 
• Willingness to share the ideas. 
• Prototyping Skills.
• Intellectual Property. 
• Incomplete Entries.
• USAID Responsibility Determination.

Judging Criteria:  What the judges will be looking for?

All entries will be judged against following criteria (see the Judging Criteria page for guidance)

• Criteria 1. Data-Driven.
• Criteria 2 Potential Impact.
• Criteria 3 Usability.
• Criteria 4 Affordability.
• Criteria 5 Growth potential.
• Criteria 6 Privacy & Security.

Who’s behind the Prize?

You can find all partners here.

Feed the Future is America’s initiative to combat global hunger and poverty. It brings partners together to help some of the world’s poorest countries harness the power of agriculture and entrepreneurship to jumpstart their economies and create new opportunities. www.feedthefuture.gov  

Nesta Challenges exists to design and run challenge prizes that help solve pressing problems that lack solutions. We shine a spotlight where it matters and incentivise people to solve these issues. We are independent supporters of change to help communities thrive and inspire the best placed, most diverse groups of people around the world to take action. We support the boldest and bravest ideas to become real, and seed long term change to advance society and build a better future for everyone. We are part of the innovation foundation, Nesta.