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About GEOBIS

GEOBIS uses spatial and other geodata for providing effective, time and location specific advisory services to smallholder farmers in Bangladesh. It is aimed at improving agricultural productivity and farmer income, upgrading agricultural zoning and at improving the crop management and responsiveness to weather related emergencies.

GEOBIS will provide farmers with weather related information, advice on the usage of seeds, land preparation, sowing, transplanting, irrigation, agro-input and advice on preventive and remedial measures for controlling pest and diseases.

Farmers will be informed through mobile phones, call centre, a website, app-based services as well as personal advice via extension officers and Lal Teer’s field staff. Since illiteracy rates are high and the usage of smartphones is limited, the network of extension officers will initially be the most important channel in conjunction with mobile phone. Throughout the project:

GEOBIS partners will encourage and expect the involved farmers to become more knowledgeable and technologically independent.


 Target user group

The primary users are farmers in 14 Northern districts of Bangladesh. They largely practice multi-cropping and cultivate very small plots of land, averaging 0.5 acre. GEOBIS will also cater to the information needs of agricultural researchers as well as university students researching on agriculture. At a later stage other potential customers in the financial or retail sector will also be considered.

 Business proposition

The project will assess several business propositions, depending on the communication channel used and the farmers’ willingness to pay. Key farmer interaction interfaces include interactive voice response, a subscription to text messages or automated outbound calls, a fee for advice from an extension officer supported by dedicated help line, subscription to a web-based application and mobile android application.

 MISSION

GEOBIS’s mission is to provide reliable and timely agricultural advisory services to farmers aimed at improving agricultural productivity and management.

 VISION

To modernize the agricultural outlook of Bangladesh through application of information technology services.