Online Farmer

Khula is an app developed by Karidas Tshintsholo (23) and Matthew Piper (24) while studying at the University of Cape Town. It was recently named the MTN App of the Year, winning its developers a trip to Silicon Valley in the US.

Khula means ‘to grow’ in Zulu. The app is intended to help emerging farmers whose volume of produce is too small for the formal markets by combining produce from a number of farmers within an area to fill a large order from a customer.

Support ing smallscale farmers

“We thought that if we could find a way to commercialise all those emerging farmers it would have huge implications for employment and the economic growth of the continent as a whole,” says Tshintsholo.

The app is currently in a beta testing phase with 600 users and will be launched soon.

Farmers using the app can show exactly what crops they currently have available and what they will be harvesting and when. Customers can then either browse the produce or follow their favourite farmers.

According to its developers, the buyers enjoy knowing exactly where their produce comes from and that they are supporting small-scale farmers.

Easy delivery

“We’ve partnered with a delivery and logistics service company, Mospa Logistics, on an Uber-type basis,” says Piper. “It has 30 trucks, but at any given time, 10 are in the parking lot. We’ve created an app that triggers a pick-up when needed. The whole system is designed for a justin-time service for both the farmers and our clients.”

The driver app allows for shared logistics costs among farmers. Local truck owners register on the app and are notified when a delivery job is available.

Khula also creates sales records automatically, which can help the farmers when they apply for finance from a bank to grow their businesses.

For more information, visit facebook.com/khulaapp/.

• Greg Miles is a livestock farmer and Internet marketer. Email him at farmersweekly@caxton.co.za. Subject line: Online farmer.

greG miles