Ama Krushi Transition Insights Report

Full citation:

Precision Development. 2023. Ama Krushi Transition Insights Report. Precision Development.

Links:

https://precisiondev.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/AK-transition-report-BMGF_condensed.pdf

Abstract:

This report provides an overview of insights gained during the transition of Precision Development (PxD)’s digital advisory service ‘Ama Krushi’ to the Government of Odisha, Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment (DAFE). In 2018, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), PxD undertook the development of a service to provide millions of smallholder farmers in Odisha with targeted, relevant and actionable advice through two-way mobile technology. After a three-year period of service development and iteration, PxD completed the transfer of the Ama Krushi service to government ownership, with day-to-day management support provided by Tatwa Technologies, a local firm contracted by the government through a public procurement process. Overall, the transition was a success: the service is entirely government-funded, and government-owned. More importantly, the service not only continues to run uninterrupted, but continues to scale and evolve. Given the novel size and nature of this transition effort, there were challenges and notable lessons learned for PxD, BMGF, DAFE, and other interested stakeholders to reflect upon and apply when designing similar Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects in the future. This transition model offers a promising example to bring innovative, low-cost and scalable services to the government, with a clear, long-term path for program sustainability.