AGRIBUSINESS: How mobile technologies are helping small, rural farmers grow their businesses.

The soil needed salt. And not just a sprinkling, but up to two kilograms, applied in a shallow trench encircling each aging coconut tree where the outer leaves cast their shadow when the sun was overhead. Marcelina Lastimosa learned the technique from an agriculturalist, Joraphel Tingcayao, who shared advice as she collected data on her tablet. Within 30 minutes, Ms. Tingcayao had a complete picture of the farm itself and the farmer’s practices, finances, environmental conditions, and key vulnerabilities. That data will feed in to the FarmerLink program in the Philippines, an ambitious, digitally connected program to help rural coconut farmers overcome the obstacles that keep them poor despite their greatest efforts.continue