The features of the simulation mimic the Fantasy Foodbowl universe that we've created with this simple game:

 

The Produce is the equivalent of the football player.

• The Players: the produce we grow or keep. Can be either animals of crops.

• The Team: the all the players featured and listed.

• The Squad comprises of a starting XI, substitutes and an academy lot.

• The Starting XI are determined by performance or popularity for the first season. Afterwards, their place is determined by the points at the end of the season.

• The Substitutes are like-for-like alternative produce either in terms of nutrition or category. They can be part of the squad or even improve to be part of the starting XI.

• The Academy are produce we list but do not simulate their production. Once a produce is listed in one season, it gets featured the next season.

The roles have been created to give everyone an opportunity to participate in Agribusiness so that we can complete the cycle of intervention. All solution providers are welcome.

 

The five roles of Fantasy Foodbowl:

• The farmer takes the role of a manager: their mission is to ensure that whatever they farm is successful. Success is measured by money earned.

• The Extension Officers take the role of referees: their work is to provide technical assistance to the farmer, in person (at their farm). They use FF to meet more farmers and to support them.

• The Service Providers take the role of the Technical Bench they provide products and services to the farmer. They use FF to sell and market their goods and services.

• The Policy Makers take the role of the Leadership Board they are there to provide policy issues that we shall assign to the game to create rules for the farmer to follow.

• The Expert 'Speakers' are the Pundits they give insights that advice on day-to-day, season to season or function/produce specific information to help farmers and other people make good decisions.

Agriculture is the biggest economic activity for most of the countries in Africa. However, it remains agrarian in nature, lacks business sense and is not very popular. So, how do we change that?

 

We have assigned points to key rules to steer behaviour change and have a reward system in place.

• The Rules are based on production factors (land size, capital); resilience (location, type of produce); productivity (business management, expertise and skills. From the time the player signs up for Fantasy Foodbowl, we have ways to guide their decision making and to rate it.

• The Points depend on the produce.

  • Starting Points that one must meet in order to even consider farming that produce. These are recruitment points.

  • Productivity Points that one must meet in order to fulfil the 'business' part of agribusiness. These include records, employment, business operations, e.t.c

  • Production Points that one must meet in order to ensure their produce meets set technical (step by step) requirements. The points go to product quality and are also part of the risk and financing assessment API that a bank or financier can use to determine or validate the performance of the farmer.

• The Reward system is in two-fold. We have created partnerships with key institutions in finance and marketing/trade to use farmer's data to qualify their performance. We also plan to provide weekly rewards each season for various categories.

The offside rule in football is there to prevent the striker from just parking next to the keeper and waiting for balls to be lobbed in so that he/she can score. That is not a game. 

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To prevent cheating, we have installed the following counter measures:

• Deleted but not forgotten: During an active game, past information cannot be changed. 

• Linear progression of time: Once the farmer has 'planted' or begun production, they can only move on a week-by-week basis. Their status indicates their position and this information is validated by any third parties they come across including peers, referees and institutions like banks and Saccos.

• Third Party Access: If one is seeking financing, they can allow their bank or Sacco to review their FF records. These records are then validated by such institutions rather than referees to give it an added layer of credibility. If one gave misleading information, they lose out from financing, marketing or other support.

• Farm visit and Peer-to-peer reviews like football, Fantasy Foodbowl is a social activity. Part of the activities will include market days where others can learn or make a pitch to aggregate for the farmer. The third parties validate information.

For planning purposes, we have created a simulation that is simple, easy to understand and gives value to the farmers and stakeholders - coignisant of our current situation.

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Fantasy Foodbowl will progress as follows:

• FF2018 Season 1: Production  Focused on how to produce and run a farm like a business. Will feature 'from decision making to harvest. 1001 Jobs are aggregator jobs and farm labour.

• FF2019 Season 2: Value Addition Focused on how to handle product after harvesting to maximise returns. Will feature handling, wastage, start-up processors and packaging for sale. 1001 Jobs are season 1 one jobs with quality control and supply chain management.

• FF2020 Season 3: Technology: Focused on how to produce more on the same piece of land - now farmers can afford to buy top quality breeds/seeds, machines, irrigation kits and the like. Technology will focus on increasing outputs to meed demand and cover market deficits. 1001 Jobs will focus on industry and agro-processing jobs and desired skills besides those of season 1 and 2.

• FF2021 - FF2022 Season 4&5: Agribusiness. Focused on the norma of agribusiness as a practice. Investments in farms, produce-based research, resilience research and large scale aggregators and successful farmers. 1001 jobs will focus on jobs in all sectors functions of agribusiness including R&D.