Digital Agrifood Collective publishes learnings on…

A new publication on digital inclusion and commercial viability that captures the 2021 learnings of the Digital Agrifood Collective (DAC) has been published. Based on research by Bopinc and contributions of the DAC members the publication explores the issue of inclusion for mobile-based agrifood services, as well as commercial visibility of such services. Identified by DAC members as two of the core challenges of the current digital revolution in agriculture for Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMICS), the publication captures insights from current literature and the practice of DAC members.

Digital inclusion

The prevalence of digital services in the agrifood domain is growing, but especially in LMICs this growth is uneven, fuelling a divide. This divide particularly affects women, youth and elderly farmers but can also be seen between regions and countries. Digital inclusion is about making digital services accessible, understandable and affordable for as many low-income producers and consumers as possible. That way everyone can benefit from the digital transformation of the agrifood sector, regardless of their age, gender, location, disability, education, and prior experience with digital services.

Commercial viability of agrifood services

Meanwhile, in LMICs many companies still struggle to develop business models that are viable. It is the question if they are able to do so if farmers struggle to afford their services, while we can also ask if we should already expect them to be viable considering the premature state of the digital sector in LMICs. Digital agrifood services are ‘commercially viable’ when they are offered by (for-profit) enterprises that generate revenues from the services. This provides the service providers with a steady income that is needed to sustain and scale-up their activities. It also helps them attract (private) investment. Services that remain largely dependent on donor funds or prize money are not considered commercially viable because their income and sustainability is uncertain.

Learn more by accessing the publication, which comes with a practical tool to assess the commercial viability of businesses in digital agriculture.

About the Digital Agrifood Collective

The DAC is one of the initiatives supported by NFP. Together with Bopinc, NFP has been facilitating this group to exchange learnings and align strategies to make sure that the digital revolution in agriculture benefits the thousands of agribusinesses and millions of low-income producers (and consumers) in Lower and Middle Income Countries.