Engineering / Mar 2026
Building data systems that actually serve farmers
Practical considerations for registration tools in low-connectivity settings.
By Ivan Rono
Building software for farmers is humbling. Half the time the network is gone, the device is shared, and the user has more important things to do than fight your form. These are practical design considerations for registration and advisory tools.
1. Offline is the default, not a feature
Design every form, sync queue and validation rule assuming the device is offline. When connectivity arrives, sync should be invisible. IndexedDB + a background queue beats any 'pretty online' experience.
2. The extension officer is your real user
Most farmer data is captured by an extension officer on a tablet, not by the farmer directly. Optimise for speed, large tap targets, and resumable sessions. Every extra screen adds work for the person completing a record.
3. Identity is the product
Define how records are identified and duplicates are reviewed before adding more reports. Collect only the personal information the workflow requires, protect access and plan a correction process for mismatched records.
4. Reports beat dashboards
Decision makers want PDFs they can email. Build the dashboard, but ship the export.