Traktor

Nino Nanitashvili , Georgia

Nino Nanitashvili has joined her dutch colleagues Jonne Catshoek and Mark van Embden Andres to release​ Traktor, a decision support tool to help farmers increase their productivity. Traktor is an app launched by a joint Dutch-Georgian team (with assistance from People in Need, the EU, USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Dutch Embassy in Georgia) aimed at modernizing agriculture throughout the country. The Traktor app has 10,000 downloads, with as many as 37,000 people using the Traktor platform during peak times. Supported by Elva, Traktor began as a website with instructional videos for farmers to share best practice on optimal growing times and techniques for different crops. In the pilot phase, initial engagement was high, despite stereotypes around farmers being resistant to technological change. Traktor then developed into an app with features such as weather warnings, crop care reminders and links to suppliers of farming goods. There are more than 200 instructional videos available on the platform which have been created by in-house agronomists. Traktor's online communications reach 300,000 farmers each week. Because of this, Traktor was approached by USAID to do an awareness campaign to inform farmers about a disease that was spreading to hazelnut farms across the country. Using videos, articles and social media to inform farmers about the risks and preventative action they could take, this campaign engaged more than 100,000 farmers in one month. Traktor has generated $30,000 through its various revenue streams to date. Traktor plans to further develop its social business model by providing consultancy services to users in the future, as well as develop their partnerships with agricultural suppliers into a mutually beneficial arrangement. These developments will enable Traktor to be self-sustainable in the future