Zimbabwe Startup Builds App to Help Small Farmers Boost Yields

Growing up in Dema, Zimbabwe, Isaac Chikutukutu watched his parents combine full-time jobs with farming. What stayed with him was how dramatically the results from the same field could change from one season to the next.

“It used to bother me that one year we would have such a bumper harvest that we ran out of storage, but the next year, on the same field, we would get nothing at all – sometimes a total loss,” he said.

That experience led the software developer and technology entrepreneur, who studied Business Studies and Computer Science at the University of Zimbabwe before pursuing postgraduate studies in Development Finance at Stellenbosch University, to build Divisi, a platform that gives small-scale farmers advice based on the location and conditions of their farms.

What began as a WhatsApp chatbot was released publicly in early August 2026. By early September, Chikutukutu told Bird it had almost 1,000 users.

The adoption has been cross-border. According to usage data Chikutukutu consulted during an interview, the platform’s five leading markets over the preceding 28 days were Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi and Uganda. Zimbabwe, where most of the development focus group was based, was outside the top five.

“Number one is Kenya, number two is Nigeria, number three is South Africa, then Malawi and Uganda,” he said. “I thought Zimbabwe was going to be on top, but it’s not.”

People in Kenya and Tanzania had begun finding and installing the app before its formal launch. “I was seeing people from East Africa already picking it up before we even started saying, ‘This is out for everyone,’” Chikutukutu said.

To recommend crops and guide farmers on production, Divisi uses information about a farmer’s specific location. Chikutukutu says the system is based on the FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) Global Agro-Ecological Zoning framework, combined with Harvard data sources.

“We have about 30 years of climate data going back to 1996, and we use the climate variables, the minimum temperatures, maximum temperatures, rainfall and so forth, and then we match that against the crop profiles”, he says.

Chikutukutu ensures the app’s recommendations are not generated by AI but uses a deterministic system. Once a farmer has set the app on their field, Divisi can also provide customised advice for each season.

“The advice is not AI, the engine is a fully deterministic, and it can be audited to actually so we can interrogate why did you tell this farmer to grow these crops at this time,” he says.

A key part of the app’s design is that it does not require internet connection to function. Farmers need internet for initial set up and can use the app’s features offline but synchronises with the server when connected to the internet. Some of the features that farmers can access offline include farm records, diary and ledger entries, recording crop sales, and receiving notifications on farm guides.

“Most farmers are in rural areas, and sometimes the network might be a challenge,” he said. “Offline, you can access the entire farm diary [and] record everything that’s happening. When it goes online, it just synchronises with the server.”

Chikutukutu says the app is not meant to replace experts or extension officers, but to multiply the impact that they’re already making and make their job easier.

He acknowledges that because the app is still new, there hasn’t been enough time to evaluate whether it has improved farmers’ yields. Divisi has a focus group of 20 farmers who went through the full production cycle during its development.

The app is free to farmers. Chikutukutu abandoned an earlier plan for a paid version because payment systems and access to financial services differ across the continent. “Putting up a paywall would disadvantage the people who need the app the most,” he said. The company instead plans to charge contracting companies, agricultural dealers and other organisations that benefit when farmers produce consistent yields and quality.

Divisi’s development is still an ongoing process based on feedback such as requests to add a chat section where farmers can connect with agronomists remotely.

Chikutukutu’s mother, Basi Tsiga, was the platform’s first user. She has farmed for about 20 years on two acres in Dema, Zimbabwe, growing maize and vegetables. Before trying the app, she relied largely on neighbouring farmers and agricultural consultants.

“When Isaac asked me to try it, I was initially sceptical,” she said. “I thought, ‘Let’s see how a phone can help me,’ because I was tired of constantly travelling to find extension officers.”

Tsiga began using the platform to decide what to plant according to the season and weather. She expanded into beetroot, strawberries and mooli, a long white radish. Chikutukutu said the app recommended mooli because its planting window was open after those for crops the family had initially considered had passed.

“We tried it, and it was very successful,” he said. According to Chikutukutu, a small section planted with mooli can earn more than US$200 over two weeks.
Tsiga says she has also diversified into fish farming and raising free-range chickens, and hired an assistant. “Previously, I handled everything on my own, but now I have an assistant – and I am even looking to hire more helpers,” she said.

Digital agriculture researcher Dr Farai Alice Gwelo of the University of Johannesburg said developers must recognise that small-scale farmers are not a uniform group. Their experience, crops, resources, connectivity and access to expert support differ widely.

“Involving the farmers is so important because they’ll let you know exactly what they need,” she said. “Farmers understand their own situation better than anyone else ever can.”

Technology should build on farmers’ existing knowledge rather than require them to discard it, Gwelo said. Field-specific guidance may be particularly helpful to newcomers, while experienced farmers may use it to complement knowledge accumulated over many seasons.

“The best, shiniest, most useful app will do nothing for a farmer who can’t use it,” Gwelo said. Requiring a smartphone already excludes some farmers, while data costs create another barrier. “If it works offline, then that’s definitely a good step in reducing some of these barriers.”

For Chenai Chanakira, a young broiler farmer in Harare, Zimbabwe, keeping track of her farm records meant managing handwritten records on a notebook.

“I was using a book and managing overlapping pages,” she said. “I kept my records manually.”

Chanakira started farming in September 2025, initially keeping 100 birds per batch. She uses a staggered production system on her farm, keeping different batches at different stages so she can supply her market continuously.

Before Divisi, managing her batches was challenging, her keeping track manually made it difficult to work out her true production costs and profit, “I would mix up records sometimes.”

Chanakira relied on advice about feed supplies from other broiler farmers, and farming groups on WhatsApp, and other social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. But the advice she received was not based on the specific issue on her farm, “The advice was general,” she said. When her birds became sick, she said she would usually call her vet. “Mostly, I usually call my vet.”

Since she started using Divisi, Chanakira has tracking her progress has become more manageable for her. She reports that Divisi has allowed her to record her daily feed, mortality and any medication or vaccinations given per weekly batch, including weekly average body weight per batch.

“The app helps me automatically calculate my feed convention ratio, my mortality percentage for each batch, so it’s a little bit easier.”, she says.
Keeping accurate records is especially important because mistakes can mean a setback for her business.

“For my staggered system, good records are everything. They are very important. If I do anything wrong, I am bound to fall,” she said.

She says having the records at hand in one place means she can keep track of her farm even when she is away.

“I carry my records wherever I am. If I travel, I’m able to track them,” she said.
Being able to keep neat records has gained Chanakira more confidence to expand her batch size. “I increased from to about 125 per batch.”, she says
For her, the value of technology comes down to being able to function as a both a farmer and a business.

“I can farm as a real business,” she said.

Credit: Lerato Pooe, Bird Story Agency.