1. Who we are
farmbetter is a digital agricultural advisory service run by Farmbetter Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 12195926, registered office 301 417 Wick Lane, London E3 2JJ, United Kingdom), and in Kenya by its subsidiary Shambabetter Limited. Farmbetter Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy, and Shambabetter Limited supports our work with farmers and partner organisations in Kenya. Our Data Protection Officer is Daniele Conversa, and you can contact us at info@farmbetter.io.
2. Who this policy covers
This policy covers everyone who uses farmbetter:
- farmers who use our WhatsApp assistant or are registered by an extension agent;
- extension agents who use the farmbetter mobile app;
- staff of partner organisations who use the farmbetter dashboard; and
- visitors to this website.
3. The information we collect
Depending on how you use farmbetter, we may collect:
- Profile details: your name, phone number, email address, gender, date of birth, marital status and, where a partner programme requires it, an identity number.
- Location and farm details: where your farm is, the crops you grow, the livestock you keep and your farming practices.
- Your conversations with our WhatsApp assistant: the messages, voice notes and photos you send, and the replies you receive.
- Questions you send to your extension agent, and their replies.
- Farming innovations you choose to share, including photos and the name you ask us to credit.
- Records kept by extension agents, such as farm visits and training sessions you attended.
- Marketplace orders and payment references. Mobile money payments are handled by the payment provider; we never see or store your mobile money PIN or card details.
- App and device information: the type of device, app version, crash reports and how the apps are used.
- Information you send through this website, such as contact form messages and newsletter sign-ups.
Some of this information, such as your gender and marital status, is sensitive personal data under Kenyan law. We collect it only with your consent, to tailor advice and to report on programmes that support women farmers, and you can ask us to remove it at any time. We do not ask for health information or bank details.
4. How we use your information
We use your information to:
- give you farming advice suited to your location, crops and livestock;
- let you ask questions of your extension agent and receive answers;
- let partner organisations run their farmer programmes and support you;
- process marketplace orders;
- send you reminders and updates you have agreed to receive;
- measure and improve our service, including producing statistics that do not identify you;
- keep our service secure and prevent misuse; and
- meet our legal obligations.
5. Our legal basis
We use your information:
- because you have given consent, for example when you agree to our terms on WhatsApp, share an innovation or sign up for reminders;
- to provide the service you have asked for;
- for our legitimate interests in running, securing and improving farmbetter, where these do not override your rights; and
- where the law requires us to.
You can withdraw your consent at any time.
6. Artificial intelligence
Our WhatsApp assistant uses artificial intelligence, provided through Google Cloud, to answer your questions. It draws on curated agricultural sources, and we store conversations so the assistant can follow up on earlier questions and so we can improve the service. The assistant’s advice is for information only. We do not use automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects on you.
7. Who we share your information with
We never sell your personal information. We share it only as needed to provide farmbetter:
- The partner organisation running your programme and your extension agent, so they can support you. Each organisation can see only the farmers in its own programme, and is responsible for how it uses that information under its agreement with us.
- Service providers who process data on our instructions:
- Google Cloud (hosting, databases, artificial intelligence, speech recognition and speech generation)
- Firebase (app notifications, app analytics and crash reports)
- Meta (the WhatsApp Business Platform)
- Africa’s Talking and Twilio (text messages, including login codes)
- Safaricom (M-Pesa payments)
- Algolia (search within the dashboard)
- Google Maps (maps and locations)
- Google Workspace (email, for messages sent through this website)
- Other farmers and the public, only for farming innovations you choose to share, credited as you ask, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence.
- Authorities, where the law requires us to.
- A buyer or successor, if our business is reorganised, sold or merged, under the same protections.
8. International data transfers
Our main systems are hosted by Google Cloud in India. This website is hosted in the United States, and some of our service providers process data in other countries. This means your personal data may be stored and processed outside the country where you live.
Where we transfer personal data out of your country, we do so in line with the data protection laws that apply to us, including Kenya’s Data Protection Act, 2019 and the Data Protection (General) Regulations, 2021, and the UK GDPR. Where the information is sensitive, such as gender or marital status, we transfer it with your consent. Our safeguards include data processing terms with our providers, including Google’s Cloud Data Processing Addendum, which require them to protect your data and use it only on our instructions, and technical measures such as encryption. Contact info@farmbetter.io for more information about these safeguards.
9. How long we keep your information
We keep your personal information for as long as your account is active. You can ask us to delete it at any time, and we will do so within 14 days of your request, as described on our Data Deletion page. After deletion we keep only a minimal record that your account was closed, records the law requires such as payment records, records of farm visits and training sessions that no longer identify you, and statistics that do not identify you.
10. Your rights
You have the right to:
- be told how your information is used;
- see the information we hold about you and get a copy;
- correct information that is wrong;
- ask us to delete your information;
- object to or restrict how we use it;
- withdraw consent; and
- ask for your information in a format you can take elsewhere.
To use any of these rights, email info@farmbetter.io or ask your extension agent. We respond to requests to see your information within 7 days, and to correct or delete it within 14 days. See our Data Deletion page for how deletion works.
11. Keeping your information safe
We protect personal information with encryption when it is sent and stored, and by limiting who can access it. If a data breach affects your personal information, we will notify the relevant data protection authority within 72 hours where required, and tell you where the breach is likely to put you at risk.
12. Children
farmbetter is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
13. Cookies
This website uses only the cookies needed for it to work, and we do not use advertising cookies. Some pages include videos from YouTube or Vimeo, which may set their own cookies when you play them.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the new version on this page with a new date, and tell you about significant changes.
15. Contact and complaints
For questions or complaints, contact our Data Protection Officer, Daniele Conversa, at info@farmbetter.io. You can also complain to your national data protection authority, such as the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Kenya (odpc.go.ke) or the Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom (ico.org.uk).