Smart City Playbook

Environment & Agriculture

Usecases

Central Farmers Community & Marketplace

The Central Farmers Community & Marketplace enables farmers to connect with each other along with a wider community of experts, equipment providers, consumers and businesses, to offer agronomy advisory services, access to advanced farm equipment rentals, precision farming solutions and digitization enablement. As farmers are bound by the network of mediators and the lack of direct access to markets and end-consumers, farming becomes unattractive since potential revenues are lost among mediating players in the value chain. As such, the Central Farmers Community & Marketplace directly links between local farmers and consumers, ensuring that consumers get the highest quality products while farmers benefit from increased revenues. This platform can be also an opportunity for farmers to collaborate and exchange resources, thus reducing potential cost.

KEY

CHALLENGES

Farmers are still using traditional farming methods, leading to inefficient production, misuse of resources, and lack of crop diversity

Farmers are not enabled with the necessary resources to effectively engage in farm-to-table process

KEY EXPECTED BENEFITS

Reduced OPEX

Farmers will reduce operational costs by utilizing available inventories, eventually saving costs on both suppliers and buyers in terms of lead times, storage and shipping

Increased Production

Farmers will receive technical and administrative industry tools to maximize production due to the consolidation of agricultural information on one platform

More Profits

Farmers will be able to align produce growth (e.g. type and price) with market demand and maximize market value capture due to contextualized information

ALIGNMENT TO SMART CITY OBJECTIVES

Prosperous

TARGET USERS

Farmer

Logistic Partners

Business Owner

USE CASE

JOURNEY

Ibrahim is a young new farm owner in Al Madinah city. Being new to the market, he constantly tries to reach out to other farmers for advice and recommendations on equipment and farming techniques.

His friend tells him about the Central Farmers Community & Marketplace, which enables connections with other farmers, a wider community of experts, and equipment providers. In addition to offering agronomy advisory, the platform gives access to advanced farming equipment rental and purchase and precision farming solutions.

Through this marketplace, Ibrahim is also able to connect with consumers, ensuring they get the products they want with high quality while he benefits from increased revenues and an increased customer base.

One season, Ibrahim realizes the need to increase fertilizers in his farm. To reduce operational costs, he decides to rent a specialized fertilizing tool. He reaches out to other farmers on the platform and contacts one of them. They exchange information and agree on logistics, then payment is settled electronically via the platform.

POTENTIAL SERVICE FEATURES

Social engagement among farmers

Marketplace for sales and rentals

Access to training and knowledge

KEY TOUCH POINTS

Web & App

Wallet

Carriers

Agricultural Machinery

Implementation
Timeline

Within 6 months

12 – 18 months

Over 24 months

Technology Commercial Viability

Currently commercialized

1 – 3 years to commercialize

5+ years to
commercialize

Regulatory Conduciveness

No New Policies and
Standards

Some Policies &
Standards to be
Introduced

Complex Policies to be
Introduced

Investment Requirement

Low

Medium

High

Use Case Ownership

Government Driven

Piloted by Gov. & Transitioned to Private Sector

Private Sector

Startups & Entrepreneurs

IMPLEMENTATION CONSIDERATIONS

Policies for water usage in private properties

Integration with smart home management systems

Regulations for seed imports

POTENTIAL TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

IN THE MARKET

Environment & Agriculture

Use Cases

Smart Farming Solutions

Eco Digital Wallet

“Farm-to-Table” 
Transformation Toolkit

Sustainable Living Dashboard “Rasheed”

Zero Food Waste Platform “Ne3mah”

Smart Waste
Management

Central Farmers Community & Marketplace

Vertical & Community Agriculture

Smart Green Buildings

Interactive Connected Street