Led a design research project, for Proximity Designs, investigating the best ways to promote a drip irrigation product to farmers and understand the “why” behind low rates of adoption and failed attempts at implementation. Insights helped us improve the product design, its communications and branding and better engage the sales team to support the process of building trust in this new technology. I trained and mentored team members in HCD methodologies.

Good irrigation it’s a challenge for many farmers in Myanmar. Relying on ancient and labor-intensive methods has kept farmers’ productivity low and costs high. As a result, Myanmar has one of the lowest percentages of irrigated farmland in Asia.

A design fellowship with Proximity Designs is what brought me to Myanmar. I came to work with the design team and lead a research project. The aim was to understand how we might improve the design and communications of a drip irrigation product in order to increase adoption, optimize use and grow healthier crops.

This research included traveling to remote areas across the country including the Delta, the Dry Zone and Shan State which presented different crop, climate and soil characteristics. We designed and conducted interviews with agronomists, farmers, agents and dealer shops and observed diverse examples of drip irrigation. Using Human Centred Design (HCD) methodologies such as interactive community workshops, visual storytelling and rapid prototyping we were able to gain deeper insights around the perceptions of the product.

The findings identified three main issues: farmers’ were suspicious of new technologies and lacked trust in the product; communications between the organisation and the agents in the field were weak and disjointed; and there were challenges with farmers’ installation of the product. Some key outcomes of this project were:

• A rebranding and a clear communication message that responded to the questions that made the farmers afraid of the product. This included a new tagline chosen by farmers in a participatory workshop.

• A redesigned instruction manual for easier and effective installations on different plots. This was supported with an instructions video (although this project occurred when most Myanmar farmers didn’t have access to smartphones or electricity, our research demonstrated an opportunity for DVDs,  given that many farmers listed watching films on battery powered portable DVD players as one of their main hobbies!).

• Redesigned physical components of the product to support easier installation

• An engagement manual for agents which included sales strategies, frequently asked questions and reinforced their knowledge about the product.

An important part of my work within Proximity was also to train the design team and other departments within the organization in the HCD approach to help address challenges and generate new ideas.