
About
Farming decisions, made clearer
The problem
Information is not the hard part
Farmers already have access to information. There are weather forecasts, seed labels, farming guides, market prices, advice from other farmers and years of experience.
The difficult part is knowing what that information means for your farm.
- A forecast says rain is coming.
- A seed packet gives growing requirements.
- A market gives a price.
But the farmer still has to work out:
“So what should I do?”
Grow is built to help with that step.
What Grow does
What Grow helps you work out
- 01
Helps you decide what to farm
Tell Grow where you are and about your farming conditions.
It helps identify crops and livestock that may suit your area, and gives you the information needed to compare them.
- 02
Helps you understand what they require
Practical guides covering what a crop or animal actually asks of you:
- Climate
- Soil
- Water
- Feed
- Inputs
- Growing or production time
- Common pests and diseases
- Farming stages
- Expected production
- Basic economics
- 03
Helps you understand the weather
Grow does not just show today’s temperature. It helps you understand what the weather could mean for your work — from coming rain to dry periods, heat, wind and the other conditions that change what a day is good for.
- 04
Helps you plan
Once you find something you want to farm, Grow can help you work through the numbers: what you may need, what it could cost, and what the return could look like.
You can do this without creating a farm or an account.
- 05
Helps you learn from your farm
For farmers who choose to create a farm on Grow, the platform can keep track of activities, expenses, production and seasons.
Over time, that information can help you understand what worked, what did not, and what you could do differently next season.
Grow does not replace the farmer
Grow can provide information, comparisons and recommendations. But it cannot see everything happening on your land.
Your soil may differ from the land around it. Your seed may behave differently. Your market may change. You may have resources or limitations Grow cannot see.
That is why Grow explains the reasoning behind its recommendations and makes its limitations clear. The final decision remains with the farmer.
What Grow will not do
Grow will not make up information to make an answer look complete. If Grow does not have reliable information about a local price, a yield, a watering requirement or another important detail, it will say so.
Its recommendations are based on agricultural, climate, soil and weather information from established sources. That information is useful for making decisions, but it cannot replace seeing the actual field or speaking with a qualified local agricultural professional.
Grow is a tool for information, planning and decision-making. It is not a replacement for professional agronomic, veterinary or financial advice.
Who built Grow
Grow was founded by Knowledge Mhodi around a simple belief: farmers should have access to useful information before they have to make important decisions. The platform is designed to be free and accessible across Africa, with no account required for its core features.
Our sources
Where the answers come from
FAO
agricultural and crop information
NASA POWER
climate information
ISRIC SoilGrids
soil information
Open-Meteo
weather forecasts
OpenStreetMap
places and geographic information
FAOSTAT
agricultural statistics
These sources provide valuable information, but no dataset can perfectly describe every farm. Grow’s job is to bring that information together and make it easier to use.
Photograph credits
Photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and are used under their licences. They are downloaded and served from our own servers rather than linked from someone else’s.
- A bambara groundnut plant growing in red soil — Kkibumba, Public domain
- A barley crop in ear — Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0
- A cashew tree on a plantation — Fatimah Bello, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A chickpea field in leaf — Avinashpothineni, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A cotton crop in leaf — Marco Schmidt, CC BY-SA 2.5
- A cucumber growing on a trellised vine — NPS, Public domain
- A donkey pulling a cart in a village — Moussa Kalapo, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A faba bean crop in flower — David P Howard, CC BY-SA 2.0
- A fall armyworm caterpillar on a leaf — Wee Hong, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A farmer harvesting cabbage grown between rows of maize in Niger — Tawaye, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A farmer holding a cut sorghum panicle in a standing crop — Rik Schuiling / TropCrop-TCS, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A farmer standing among mixed crops on a hillside plot — Adesolive, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A farmer standing in ripening upland rice on a hillside — CIAT, CC BY-SA 2.0
- A field of peas in leaf — Jonathan Clitheroe, CC BY-SA 2.0
- A finger millet field in ear — Kavali Chandrakanth KCK, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A flock of ducks on a farm — Silverije, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A garlic plant growing in a bed — AfroBrazilian, CC BY-SA 3.0
- A goat grazing on rough ground near a farm — Deborah Tjituka, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A groundnut field, the plants closed over between the rows — Ibrahim Achiri, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A guinea fowl foraging on a smallholding — Ssemmanda will, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A jute mallow plant in leaf and flower — Dinesh Valke, CC BY-SA 2.0
- A kola tree in leaf — Michael Hermann, CC BY-SA 3.0
- A lemon tree carrying fruit in a grove — Carsten Niehaus, CC BY-SA 3.0
- A potato crop growing in ridged soil — Richard Law, CC BY-SA 2.0
- A ripe fig on the tree — Stefan Thiesen, CC BY-SA 3.0
- A rubber plantation in Cameroon, trees tapped for latex — PRA, CC BY-SA 3.0
- A shallot field in leaf — AntaraTV, CC BY 3.0
- A shea tree in leaf in Benin — Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A smallholder dairy farmer with a cow in a timber kraal — LishaBora2017, CC BY-SA 4.0
- A spring onion crop in the field — Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us
- A tea plantation in Kiambu County, Kenya — Lebu Ayiga, CC BY 4.0
- A tomato leaf with a late blight lesion — Dwight Sipler from Stow, MA, USA, CC BY 2.0
- A yam field of planted mounds in Togo — Commune de Mô 2, CC BY 4.0
- Almond growing in a field — Jebulon, CC0
- An early amaranth planting in beds — Yahuzaishat, CC0
- An enset farm beside a homestead in Ethiopia — Wac12, CC BY-SA 4.0
- An oat crop in a field — Trevor Littlewood, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Apples ripening on the tree — inkknife_2000 (7.5 million views +), CC BY-SA 2.0
- Arabica coffee growing in a field — Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Aubergine growing in a field — Joydeep, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Banana growing in a field — Ramesh NG, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Bean plants intercropped between rows of maize — AnnaJB, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Black nightshade in leaf and berry — SAplants, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Broiler chickens on deep litter, with feeders and drinkers — Icem4k, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Buffalo grazing beside a rice field — SpartacksCompatriot, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Camels on a smallholding — Alex Sergeev (www.asergeev.com), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Cassava plants growing in rows on a farm — Onisp, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Castor growing in a field — Daniel VILLAFRUELA, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Cocoa pods ripening on the trunk in Côte d Ivoire — Numerik-3325, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Coconut growing in a field — Challiyan at Malayalam Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0
- Coriander growing in a field — Stefan.lefnaer, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Cowpea plants in leaf, covering the ground between rows — Harry Rose, CC BY 2.0
- Dates ripening on the palm before harvest — Skander zarrad, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Domestic geese beside water — Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Farmers harvesting teff by hand in northern Ethiopia — A. Davey, CC BY 2.0
- Fonio growing in a field — Crop Trust, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Free-range chickens sheltering from the midday sun — Shafiq Kayondo, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Garden eggs on the plant — Mr, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Grape growing in a field — DEEPAN RAJA .M, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Greater yam growing in a field — Tauʻolunga, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Green peppercorns on a black pepper vine — Dcrjsr, CC BY 3.0
- Guava growing in a field — Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us
- Herders moving cattle and sheep along a track in Kenya — Jackskon kandie, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Honey bees on a smallholding — Gourav Ghansela, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Horses grazing in a pasture — Anthony Parkes, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Hot pepper growing in a field — Joydeep, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lablab growing in a field — Fanghong, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Leaf mustard growing, its leaves ready to pick — Goldlocki, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lentil growing in a field — IslandVita, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lettuce growing in a field — Abike25, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Linseed growing in a field — Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Maize plants tasselling, with cobs forming — Anitah Pezz, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Mandarins ripening on the tree — SKas, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Mango growing in a field — Bibek shah076, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Moringa growing in a field — Challiyan at Malayalam Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0
- Niger seed growing in a field — AnRo0002, CC0
- Oil palm growing in a field — T. R. Shankar Raman, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Okra plants on a farm — Kenogenic, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Onion growing in a field — Plague, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Oranges ripening on the tree — Auli Raha (অলি রাহা), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Paddy rice growing in a field — Africa Rice Center, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Papaya growing in a field — Wikipawan, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Peaches ripening on the branch — Nirajan pant, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Pearl millet growing in a field — Shikoha Tautiko, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Pigeon pea in flower on the bush — Lucas Lopes, CC BY 4.0
- Pigs on a smallholding — Livestock Industries, CSIRO, CC BY 3.0
- Pineapple plants growing in a field — Obsidian Soul, CC0
- Plantain growing in a field — Kobo Medlyn, CC BY 4.0
- Pomegranate growing in a field — GeorgeTan #1...thanks for millionth support (PASSIVE), Public domain
- Pumpkin growing in a field — Deepak das, CC BY 3.0
- Rabbits in a hutch — Arnoud Joris Maaswinkel, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Robusta coffee growing in a field — Timothy A. Gonsalves, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Roselle growing in a field — Mokkie, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Rows of carrots in a field — Richard Sutcliffe, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Rows of mung bean plants in a field — Lakshmi Narasimha Reddy Jonnala, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Rows of olive trees in a grove — Ken & Nyetta, CC BY 2.0
- Safflower growing in a field — Hiroaki Kaneko, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Sesame growing in a field — Umar2z, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sheep on a smallholding — Photo: ILRI/Stevie Mann, CC BY 2.0
- Sisal growing in fields in northern Tanzania — Joachim Huber, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Soya bean growing in a field — Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Spinach growing in a bed — Cut angles, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sugarcane growing in a field — Sarbjit Bahga, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sunflower growing in a field — T. R. Shankar Raman, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sweet peppers ripening on the plant — NPS, Public domain
- Sweet potato growing in a field — Hafs2233, CC0
- Swiss chard growing in a field — Kolforn (Kolforn), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tannia growing in a field — Consultaplantas, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Taro plants growing in standing water — Vengolis, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tobacco growing in a field — Mayooranathan at Tamil Wikipedia, Public domain
- Tomato plants carrying fruit on an irrigated dry-season farm — Friday musa, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Turkeys on a smallholding — Mercy for Animals, CC BY 2.0
- Village chickens on a smallholding — Jörg Hempel, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
- Walnut growing in a field — Savannainstitute, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Watermelons lying in a field — Terry Platt, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wheat growing in a field — Llorenzi, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Young avocado trees in an orchard — Edrean, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Young ginger shoots coming up through the soil — Starheroine, CC BY-SA 4.0
Our approach
- 01
Useful information.
- 02
Clear reasoning.
- 03
Honest limitations.
- 04
Better decisions.
Try it on your own land
Tell Grow where you farm and it will help you work out what suits it. No account, no cost.