Flow client DDV Seed Services is a Johannesburg-based business that stores, packs and maintains tobacco seed for a range of customers in Africa. The company approached us to find a quick and easy solution to train contract tobacco growers to ensure the best possible yields.
DDV supplies tobacco companies with “grower input packs” that are distributed to growers contracted to them. To ensure that the contract growers’ crops get the best protection against diseases and pests, each input pack includes single-dose crop chemicals, personal protective equipment, application utensils and instructions.
The growers need technical training to correctly and safely use the chemicals and protective gear. Flow proposed the development of a mobile application-based e-learning platform that can be accessed via a tablet and included in each grower input pack.
This would enable the growers to view instructions taking them through every step of the technical training. The guide covers all aspects, from technical application (such as wearing the correct protective clothing) to practical know-how, such as how to sow a seedbed and how to apply the necessary chemicals.
“We at DDV are looking forward to launching the grower input pack in Malawi and Zambia this month. We believe this innovation that we have developed with Flow Communications will further promote the compliance and professionalism that the grower input pack is synonymous with,” said DVV seed and agronomy manager Michelle du Toit.
Due to the highly specialised, technical and confidential nature of the information provided, the application comes with a unique, built-in login functionality. Once logged in, users can select their specific country and whether they are planting one hectare or half a hectare of crops.
Thereafter, they can access an instructional video for each phase of the eight-month growing process, as well as an interactive transcript of the entire video. Videos are also linked to relevant reference documents and background information, and vice versa.
The application needed to be able to work offline, as the growers would use the training material while out in the farmlands. One of the main aspects Flow needed to perfect was to make a large amount of video and reference data run seamlessly and to ensure that it is completely accessible offline.
In addition to the important training steps, we also included a growth-calculator function in the app. This enables users to select the month of the growth cycle they are in, and to access visual and written descriptions of where they should be in the growing process. This obviously depends on weather conditions and other external factors.
Flow is proud of this immensely technical application and we are looking forward to working with DDV Seed on additional language phases in the future.
