Two years ago, I helped a Morocco-based agricultural initiative, Al Moutmir, understand how to scale their offerings. This account is multifaceted: An example of infusing anthropological methods for public good, small business development, student enrichment, and personal growth. It also illustrates the value of anthropology in helping to solve urgent real-world problems and enhancing careers.
The Al Moutmir Initiative
Farmers throughout the world face myriad challenges, among them inadequate water supply, fertilizing with limited soil knowledge, applying whatever they can afford; lack of reliable weather prediction, and crop sales that barely cover their costs. Al Moutmir (“fruitful” in Arabic) helps farmers in Morocco and aims to expand throughout Africa and globally. Their effort, referred to as “smart farming,” brings agronomists face-to-face with farmers and offers digital platforms to teach production-boosting practices free of charge, increasing farmers’ revenue as well as their crop health. Al Moutmir agronomists have relationships with over 40,000 Moroccan farmers in person and online, and 470,000 more farmers in digital-only formats. Al Moutmir falls short of reaching all of Morocco’s 1.5 million farmers, or Africa’s estimated 33 million farmers. When I began my project with Al Moutmir, the major challenge was how to scale their program. Digital solutions were one answer, but face-to-face interactions enable on-site demonstrations and build trust.
Ethnographic Research
I went to the field to learn how farmers understood, used, evaluated, and shared Al Moutmir as a resource. My Columbia Business School colleague, Kamel Jedidi, and I, along with an Al Moutmir agronomist, spoke with farmers who grew wheat, onions, olives, and other crops. We also conversed with agronomists on the car rides to farms in two regions of Morocco. We, and two professors from Africa Business School in separate excursions, conducted multi-sited ethnographies across multiple farm locations. Conversational interviews incorporated structured and semi-structured questioning; we encouraged farmers to engage in storytelling. Findings from the research included farmers’ responses after agronomists shared knowledge and helped them access digital platforms. We made close observations of farmers’ farmland, techniques, equipment, and real-time use of Al Moutmir’s mobile applications, @tmar, a virtual agricultural adviser, and T@swiq, which connects farmers to markets. We learned about and saw first-hand farmers’ mutually beneficial “communities of practice” and visited a mobile lab that provides soil analysis and customized fertilizer recommendations. We were educated on the limited role of agronomists from the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture who give advice but “never follow up.” An added benefit of ethnography: We had a serendipitous meeting with government agronomists on a dirt road to a farm who told us, “Al Moutmir does a better job than we do.”
A Key Insight
The findings from our fieldwork were substantial, but I will focus here on one insight framed from an anthropological perspective. (For details on this project, see the Columbia CaseWorks case.) It was ignited by a middle-aged man’s life history, recounted as we sat at a table in a toolshed. Hamid was born to a farming family in Morocco. When the farm income could no longer support the family, they migrated to Italy, but Hamid stayed behind to care for the farm. He enrolled in a vocational school to gain agricultural knowledge and skills. Then he founded a farmers’ association that began with seven neighbors and grew to 22,000 members. Soon he visited seven to 10 farmers a day, accompanied by an agronomist he employed to monitor farmers’ progress and offer advice. Hamid developed a relationship with an Al Moutmir agronomist and became an evangelist for its scientific approach. He accompanied the agronomist on field excursions and posted recordings of the visits on social media along with farming advice. One of his videos received four million views in 24 hours. With his number of followers swelling to 300,000, Hamid hired an agronomist and monetized his activities by charging for advice and earning revenue through video views on YouTube and Facebook. He also partnered with a smart fertilizer blending business to provide customized fertilization close to farmers’ locations.
Hamid’s story led to a key insight: He is a model of how an individual from the private sector can do good for farmers and do well personally. Hamid is an agent of change, advancing Al Moutmir’s agenda while advancing his own. Hamid is an outsider to the communities he serves, and he is also a fellow farmer. In essence, Hamid’s status and role are that of an “outsider/insider.” Al Moutmir has multiple avenues for scaling its smart farming platform in Morocco, throughout Africa, and beyond. While digital solutions will be essential, a thousand Hamids could grow the initiative exponentially. That insight was made via ethnographic fieldwork with a “classic” anthropological perspective on status and role.
Conclusion
Applied anthropology pathways emerge in unexpected places. As a business school professor, after retiring from my business career, I had a chance to contribute to scaling smart farming and enhance my teaching portfolio. The lesson: Unusual opportunities can emerge at any stage of one’s professional life. Embrace them to advance your experience, skills, career, and, perhaps, help repair the world.
The post How can an anthropologist in a business school contribute to scaling smart farming? appeared first on The Anthropology Career Readiness Network.