Producers Direct is excited to share a major milestone in our mission to empower smallholder farmers: FarmDirect has officially evolved into Mbibo – a Ugandan local-language term meaning a seed meant to be planted, to grow and multiply.
When we launched FarmDirect, our aim was to build a digital solution co-designed with farmers, for farmers. After more than a decade working alongside smallholders across East Africa and Latin America, one challenge was clear: Every day, farmers & buyers generated valuable data but they lacked a trusted platform to turn that data into real economic opportunity.
FarmDirect was created to close that gap. Launched with support from the World Food Program Innovation Accelerator, Milken Institute, Bayer, Livelihood Impact Fund, Acumen and OCP Foundation, the platform has since enabled: $674,769 in cumulative sales revenue to date; 4,600+ farmers have sold produce through the platform; and 55+ agribusinesses sourcing produce monthly.
As the platform grew, so did its potential. Now launching as Mbibo, it has become a powerful intelligence engine that brings together fragmented data from farmers, transporters, and buyers into one trusted source. This makes direct transactions, real-time market insights, and more efficient operations possible.
For Producers Direct, Mbibo is more than a successful platform. It is the first flagship enterprise emerging from the Global Cooperative model – a farmer-owned data infrastructure designed to ensure that value generated from their\ data flows back into the farmer ecosystem.
The Global Cooperative envisions a future in which farmer data is not extracted, but governed collectively and used to power a network of trusted enterprises. Mbibo shows that farmer-owned data systems can support viable businesses while reinforcing farmer agency and accountability – demonstrating that supply chains can be more efficient and more equitable at the same time. It offers a replicable template for how responsible data use can reshape agricultural markets.
As Producers Direct expands the Global Cooperative across regions and sectors, Mbibo demonstrates how a farmer-led digital economy can grow, with the goal of reaching over 150,000 Ugandan farmers by 2029.
Here’s to Mbibo — and to the farmers leading the way.
Learn more: mbibo.com