RuralTICNova
A web + SMS platform for rural farmer communities in Chile
The challenge
Farmers in Chile's O'Higgins and Bío-Bío regions were producing for demanding markets with almost no digital connection to information, to buyers, or to each other. Connectivity was arriving in rural Chile; the habits and skills to use it were not.
What we built
RuralTICNova won CORFO's Rural Connectivity Competition in 2009 as a consortium of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (DICTUC), the Zoltner Consulting Group, and Infante Consulting. The platform combined a social web application with SMS, so farmers could share productive practices, market opportunities, and transport logistics from a telecenter or from the phone in their pocket.
On the ground
The team trained more than 340 farmers and community monitors across Peumo, Pichidegua, and the Laja-Diguillín territory, pairing digital literacy with leadership and small-business skills across six agricultural product lines. The project was documented as a replication model and adapted for use in Peru.
