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The International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) signed the GES TAP project with 470,000 farmers, now implemented by FCT and Sokoto State in NigeriaNFCServe. The group hopes to have 500,000 farmers sign up for the service in the coming weeks.
The TAP program utilizes contactless cards provided to farmers and NFC-enabled Nexus 7 tablets placed at point redemptions across the state. GES, which stands for Growth Enhancement Support, is a subsidy program provided by the government to farmers to enable them to afford fertilizers, seeds and other agricultural inputs to grow food. TAP is a joint venture between GES and Hyperion Consulting.
Farmers tap their card on a Nexus 7 tablet when they visit a points redemption office, so the redemption center agricultural dealer can confirm the farmer’s identity, see which government funding vouchers the farmer is entitled to, and provide the farmer with what they need The product. The farmer then pays the remainder and taps the tablet again with the card to complete the transaction.
“Everything is powered by technology, first, the farmer has a card to tap on the NFC tablet, then the NFC tablet will confirm who the farmer is and thus know which vouchers they are entitled to and whether they have been redeemed.
“These cards are without a doubt at the heart of everything we’re doing; it’s an NFC service, and for me, I have to say, it can do anything.”
“Right now we have 470,000 farmers with NFC cards, and our target is 500,000, and I think we may actually be able to exceed that,” adds Lawrence Tweed, project leader for the GES TAP service. “Currently, we have about 400 Nexus 7 tablets in use. At FCT, we have 58 tablets for redemption at 29 locations, so there are 2 tablets at each of those 29 locations in FCT. “
“In Sokoto, we have 148 tablets in use at 74 locations. Field workers in both states are also using Nexus 7 tablets when they go out to register farmers.”
“We’re using NFC to extend connectivity to places that don’t have network coverage; TAP reaches parts that other mobile networks don’t, and in doing so, we empower farmers to be part of the GES program.”
“But, there’s a bigger meaning here,” Lonie added. “This is just a pilot in Nigeria, and for Nigeria and other emerging markets, the opportunity is even greater when these communications are not as good as we would like them to be.”
“This can be easily scaled, for example, to use something like vouchers for health centers, or transportation systems; to get people around the country. Of course, education is a good potential use case in emerging markets. . We can imagine end users taking out vouchers to get girls to school.”
“In some parts of the developed world, NFC is sometimes the solution to a problem, but in Africa we have a lot of problems and for many problems NFC is the ideal solution.”
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