DTAC, Yara launch first digital community network for farmers in Thailand

Designed to empower Thai farmers, the app leverages Yara Thailand's agricultural knowledge and DTAC's communication technologies, the companies said.

Kaset Go presently allows farmers to ask questions to agriculture experts and gain knowledge from other farmers within the community with similar experiences. It also provides farmers access to key information such as daily crop prices, agricultural news, tips on eight major staples in Thailand: rice, maize, vegetables, durian, mangosteen, longan, citrus and mango. Content is geo-localised to meet the specific needs of farmers in Thailand's major regions and there are sections within to support farmers groups with specific interests such as farm certification, logistics and marketing, the companies said.

The content is supported by experts from the Department of Agriculture Extension (DOAE) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Rak Ban Kerd Foundation (RBK), and Yara Thailand.
Sharad Mehrotra, chief executive officer of Total Access Communication Plc, said: "DTAC has a long history of commitment to empowering Thai farmers with mobile connectivity, be it through information platforms or internet of things solutions. "Over the past 12-plus years, we have collaborated with the industry-leading partners like DOAE, RBK to support and learn more about the farmers. Kaset Go represents our most advanced platform built in partnership with Yara," he said. "Because farming represents such a large part of Thailand's workforce, and smartphone penetration is among the highest in the region, Kaset Go could be a game changer for Thailand's digital transformation," he added.

Since its soft launch in August, Kaset Go has had more than 150,000 downloads and attracted more than 100,000 registered users. As the number of downloads and users is rising exponentially, DTAC and Yara Thailand are already planning Kaset Go's next phase of development, which will include information on 44 more crops and key features such as weather warnings, disease alerts, market price benchmarking, the companies said. There are also plans to extend further to other value-added services such as farm equipment, insurance and finance.

Mehdi Saint-Andre, managing director, Yara (Thailand) Co Ltd and vice president Thailand and Myanmar, said, "Since our foundation in 1905, we strongly believe that knowledge is key to support farmers' productivity and with our extensive network of local agronomists, Yara has been providing sustainable solutions to Thai farmers for 47 years. Since 2017, Yara has been accelerating its digital farming strategy, providing precision farming tools to farmers across the globe, and the partnership to develop Kaset Go marks a milestone in Thailand's agricultural industry as this platform connects farmers to reliable information vetted by experts and validated by the community.
"Kaset Go is expected to become Thailand's biggest online platform for farmers and kickstart digital transformation in Thailand's agricultural industry," he said.
Kaset Go is available on iOS and Android from the App store and Google Play. Find out more at https://kasetgo.com/