Product design for social impact : a case study of smallholder farmers in Thailand

Abstract

75% of the worlds poor (<2$/day) are smallholder farmers where they produce 80% of the food in Asia and Africa. Not only are these farmers poor, but they are also food insecure. By 2050, the world will need to produce at least 50% more food to feed 9 billion people. Compounding this problem is climate change, which will cut crop yields by more than 25%. Unless we change how smallholder farmers grow their food, food security will be at risk. These dual-pronged problems of poverty and food insecurity are caused by three main issues in the agricultural value chains: Supply Chain Inefficiencies, Financial Exclusion, and Information Asymmetry. These problems are synergistic and reinforce the vicious cycle of poverty and food insecurity. Growth in agriculture has been shown to be three times more effective in alleviating poverty compared to growth in other sectors. Innovative product development for smallholder farmers can be an integral part to help alleviate these issues and make a significant positive impact on the society. This thesis takes a holistic system level approach to the problems that smallholder farmers in developing country face. Nineteen case studies are presented to help readers learn from what other successful organizations have done from various parts of the world. This thesis narrows down to the context of Thailand to give a specific example and demonstrate to the reader how the frameworks, diffusion strategy, and case studies presented can be applied to their country of choice. The overall goal of this thesis is to provide a product design and development framework with the hope that this paper can help guide readers to develop and launch innovations that can make a difference to the lives of hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers in developing countries.