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Published on
06.01.25
By Dinah Borus
VarScout is a cloud- and mobile-phone-based application that transforms how crop varietal data is collected and used. Initially developed by CGIAR’s International Potato Center (CIP) in partnership with RESONANZ Group GmbH, VarScout enables farmers, extension agents, researchers, and policymakers to record, store, monitor, and visualize crop varietal information in real time. These data can enhance, at one and the same time, smart crop decisions by farmers, productive breeding work by scientists, judicious agricultural policies by governments, and sound investments by funding agencies.
What are the problems the VarScout application is helping to solve?
For crop farmers, extension agents and agripreneurs.
Many smallholder crop farmers in Kenya and other developing countries do not know the specific variety of the crop they are planting (and growing, harvesting, selling, and consuming). There are several reasons for this. First, the seed certification and regulatory systems of poorer countries tend to be weak, with much of the crop seed marketed unlabeled and/or poorly documented. And because the agricultural extension systems of developing countries tend to be underfunded or understaffed, many farmers are not given sufficient training in the differences among varieties, including their advantages and optimal growing conditions. For these reasons, most small-scale farmers continue to rely on informal seed systems. For example, with the relatively high cost of improved seed varieties, many farmers save their seed from previous harvests or exchange seed with their neighbors, leading to local crossbreeding and the renaming of local varieties. The result is little understanding of who is growing what crop variety and where and why, or how, where and why new varieties are being diffused, including climate-smart technologies, which stops farmers’ ability to fully realize any genetic gains in their cropping systems.
For crop breeders, policymakers and funders.
The release and adoption data for major food crops in lower income countries is often scattered, infrequently updated, and inaccurate. The absence of reliable, varietal-level data on what, where, and for how long certain crops are grown reduces the effectiveness not only of crop breeding research but also of the government policies and donor investments that support better breeding. Breeders, for example, lack information on the adoption of varieties and funders have limited insight into the impacts of their investments on breeding programs. VarScout aims to help close these gaps with its accurate and up-to-date varietal data.
In short:
- Farmers need to know what crop varieties to PLANT to realize genetic gains.
- Breeders need to know what crop varieties are being ADOPTED by farmers, and why.
- Funders need to know what the IMPACTS of their investments in crop breeding are having.
What are the advantages VarScout provides for everyone?
By building public databases mapping the locations of different crop varieties, VarScout gives farmers, extension agents, agripreneurs, marketers, crop breeders, policymakers and funders real-time access to information that can improve seed selection, quality, and systems, increasing overall farm productivity and resilience in the face of climate and other changes. The data collected through VarScout can facilitate much, such as connections among farmers, marketers and seed producers that bring about more efficient value chain operations.
How VarScout maps crop diversity for smarter decisions
VarScout is a mobile application downloaded onto a smart phone that allows users to collect reliable, GPS-specific data on where different varieties of staple crops are being grown and upload that information to a public database. The map is crucial for optimizing crop breeding programs, enhancing seed systems, and improving smallholder farm productivity. By knowing which crop varieties are being grown where, researchers can better understand farmer crop preferences, identify gaps in the seed supply, and address urgent needs of crop farmers facing a changing climate.
Initially, VarScout focused on potato and sweetpotato varieties, but its success has encouraged expansion to include common beans, maize, and even bananas. The app has already made it possible for significant discoveries, such as the identification of the ‘Steven’ potato variety, which was popular among farmers but unregistered. Insights like these are critical for preserving agrobiodiversity, adapting to climate change, and uncovering hidden gems that might otherwise be overlooked.
Scaling success with the Ukama Ustawi Scaling Fund
VarScout’s journey from pilot to wider-scale adoption received essential support this year from the CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa (Ukama Ustawi) Scaling Fund. As one of the winners of the 2024 Scaling Fund, VarScout received $125,000 and invaluable support from CGIAR scaling experts. This funding allowed the VarScout team to refine the app, improve its user experience, and add functionalities that make it adaptable to different contexts.
Importantly, the VarScout team also hosted an ‘Innovation Packages and Scaling Readiness (IPSR)’ Workshop in April 2024. The workshop brought together more than 25 policymakers, extension officers, scientists, agripreneurs, digital and scaling experts to analyze and improve the scaling potential of the VarScout Digital App. This was achieved by identifying and addressing key bottlenecks to scaling the app. The workshop participants were able to identify many of the barriers and challenges, as well as enablers and solutions, to scaling the innovation successfully. They also assessed the ‘readiness’ and ‘use’ levels of the innovation.
With the additional resources from the Scaling Fund, VarScout worked alongside CGIAR’s Seed Equal Initiative and partners, including the county governments of Nakuru and Meru to expand its data collection efforts, amassing over 20,000 varietal data points in Kenya’s Nakuru and Meru counties. A team of 60 agricultural extension agents were involved in the data collection Training sessions were conducted for over 34 extension officers and local data collectors, empowering them to actively engage with the app and contribute valuable data from the field. The involvement of two subnational government bodies and the integration of tools like Seed Tracker and other emerging technologies helped ensure that funders, policymakers, researchers, and extension staff have the data they need for informed decision-making.
Achievements made possible by the Scaling Fund
With the support of the Scaling Fund, VarScout made significant advances this year, including:
- Improved app features: Improvements to the app, making it faster, more responsive, and more user-friendly.
- Expanded data collection: New functions, such as monitoring seed quality and measuring field sizes, were added, enhancing the app’s relevance to both extension services and policymakers. Over 20,000 data points have been collected.
- Inclusion of more crops: VarScout now includes major staple crops like maize and beans, which are crucial for Kenyan food security. This expanded focus has made it easier for extension officers to integrate VarScout into their everyday work.
- Capacity building: Over 150 extension officers are expected to use VarScout by the end of 2024, gathering data from over 2,500 farmers, with a focus on gender equity to ensure that half of the participants are women.
The Scaling Fund has allowed VarScout to think beyond just data collection. It’s now working on developing a sustainable business model and building partnerships that will secure its long-term future. By involving local stakeholders—including farmers, extension officers, and agripreneurs—VarScout ensures that the benefits of agricultural innovation are shared widely and equitably.
The road ahead
With support from the CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa (Ukama Ustawi) Scaling Fund, VarScout is proving that even seemingly simple digital tools can enhance food security at the household, community, and national levels.
Notes
The author, Dinah Borus, is a Kenya-based scientist at the International Potato Center (CIP) and coordinator of the VarScout project in Kenya. Authors of the major sources of information for the article include: Nicoletta Buono, Edwin Kang’ethe and Esther Kihoro, of the Impact at Scale Program of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), which coordinates the Scaling Fund supporting VarScout under the (Ukama Ustawi) CGIAR Diversification in East and Southern Africa Regional Integrated Initiative; Marcel Gatto, a senior scientist and agricultural economist at CIP and co-lead of the VarScout project conducted by CGIAR’s Seed Equal Initiative (Delivering Genetic Gains in Farmers’ Fields); Ian Barker, a senior director for strategy delivery and scaling in the CGIAR Genetic Innovation Science Area who first contacted the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), in Cambridge, UK, about building an AI method to identify specific food crop varieties from just a few pictures of the crop; and Andres Meyer, lead developer of the VarScout app at RESONANZ Group, a Swiss software company developing innovative agricultural software to empower people with emerging technologies. Initial compilation of information for this article was generated by Chat GPT 4o Canvas from human-assembled resources of information, including news and articles on various websites (CGIAR.org, cipotato.org, varscout.web.app/#/tutorial, varscout.org, NIAB.com, resonanzegroup.com); various VarScout project agendas, updates, reports and slide presentations; and transcripts of Teams discussions. The author of this article verifies the accuracy of all the information provided here.
Acknowledgements
We thank all contributors to the CGIAR Trust Fund for their invaluable support and our partners, including the CGIAR Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa Ukama Ustawi Scaling Fund, which is supported through the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade (MFAT); International Potato Center (CIP) and RESONANZ Group GmbH, for developing the digital app and for supporting the piloting phase; and Kenya Ministry of Agriculture, the county governments of Nakuru, Meru and Bungoma and over 60 extension officers and youth agriprenerurs who actively participated in the field observation and varietal data across these counties in Kenya.