Agriculture in developed markets is a different ball game with as farmers are well-funded and mechanised, have access to knowledge, financing and tools and markets for their produce unlike their counterparts in Africa.
Mercy Corps AgriFin has embarked on a journey of scaling agriculture in Africa and says there is hope for the African farmer as Agrifin is seeking to remove handcuffs and through its initiatives change the ballgame for small scale producers (SSPs).
TechMoran met up with Sieka Gatabaki, Mercy Corps AgriFin Program Director on what the program is doing for smallholder farmers in Africa and other low income countries.
Who is Sieka Gatabaki?
Sieka: I am the Program Director for Mercy Corps AgriFin directing all programming and strategic partnerships. I have worked for over 16 years as a digital innovations practitioner and a business strategy leader with a passion for helping institutions and individuals benefit from new technologies for deepening access to financial and information services. Currently, I lead work in strategy, product usage and development, channel development and go-to-market execution, providing digital financial and information services to small holder farmers in the Global South.
Previously, I served as the Group Digital Alliances Manager at Airtel Africa, Airtel Money Director at Airtel Kenya and Technical Advisor with IFC, supporting digital financial inclusion across Africa. I have consulted for various organizations, including Vital Wave, Ernest & Young, and Grameen Foundation and I serve on the board of a number of organizations in various sectors. I hold a Bachelor of Commerce from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and I am completing a Masters in Sociology and Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi.
Tell us more about Mercy Corps AgriFin program?
Launched in 2012, AgriFin’s primary target group is un-banked SSPs living below the poverty line. Mercy Corps AgriFin model has been able to scale and iterate with the support of integral funding, private sector, and government partners who value innovation, learning and impact.
Mercy Corps AgriFin programming works with public and private sector partners to design, test and scale digitally enabled products and services for small scale producers (SSPs) to increase their productivity, incomes and resilience by 50% while reaching at least 40% women. AgriFin helps its partners to de-risk innovation, support inclusive service delivery and business models for a sustainable scale.
We believe that in a digitally enabled system, smallholders can gain direct access to a range of inclusive and empowering financial, information and market access services.
We are committed to increasing the visibility of smallholders to the institutions currently serving them, and to deepen the quality of digital solutions that are tailored to their needs. Our innovations empower farmers with access to Climate-smart Tools & Insights, Quality Inputs, Financing + Insurance, Last Mile Logistics and Markets.
We approach bundling in a phased approach which sequentially adds products linked to farmer trust, demand and capabilities, layering in more complex products as farmers become more familiar with accessing the services via mobile or other digital channels.
We also employ farmer-centric research and design methodologies to address farmer needs and preferences, working to promote active adoption of services for smallholders in each country, with a strong and consistent focus on the needs of women and youth.
What digital products and services does Mercy Corps AgriFin provide to smallholders farmers?
We focus in creating inclusive and efficiency food systems by focusing on:
- Digital financial Services
- Digital information
- Advisory
- Market access
- Logistics
- Climate Smart Activities
- Gender, inclusivity
How many small scale producers have you reached so far?
With plans to reach 5 million more small scale producers by 2025, Mercy Corps AgriFin’s the current iteration of the program (AgriFin Digital Farmer II) has reached over 4.6 million SSPs with critical digital services since inception in 2021 and a total of more than 21.5 million since its launch and even being part of the team that provided crucial information to farmers during the COVID 19 pandemic and locust invasion in 2019-2020 in East Africa.
Why digital innovations or tools and not other agricultural services?
We believe that digital innovation can revolutionize the way SSPs feed the world, that’s why, based on years of learning
With access to the right tools, SSPs can build the resilience they need against climate and emergency shocks and continue to feed their communities. We know that government and private sector partners are best suited to deliver those tools, and that technology is a critical accelerator. Our aim is to connect smallholder farmers to digital products and services that increase their productivity and income by 50%, with a 40% target population of Women and Youth.
What are the challenges so far and how did you address them?
Our shared global context is challenging – climate variability and population growth present unprecedented challenges. Yet, our experience tells us that SSPs are determined to beat the odds.
Our private sector and government partners remain committed to smallholder farmers and contribute to a thriving and just food production ecosystem through the development of sustainable services for SSPs. And our funding partners have provided the flexible capital needed for AgriFin to evolve our areas of innovation focus, enabling us to pivot with our partners and stay relevant and responsive to emerging farmer needs.
How unique are your smallholder farmer innovations and what’s the motivation towards SSPs?
AgriFin mobilizes a vast network of partners ensuring that the needs of SSPs inform the design of partner products and services. Equipped with eight years of learning and a vibrant network of partners, the AgriFin model is proven and primed for further expansion. AgriFin is expanding its focus to digital climate-smart agriculture and creating meaningful employment for youth in agriculture and rural economies, working toward a resilient future of farming for SSPs across Africa and beyond.
What specific digital tools and platforms are you using to improve farmer productivity?
Mobile Apps, Interactive voice, SMS, chatbox, peer-to-peer education, climate insights, online markets.
What role do partnerships play to help you develop, scale and deliver viable solutions for smallholder farmers?
AgriFin employs a market facilitation model to drive scalable, commercial product innovation for smallholder farmers. We act as a trusted broker to promote innovation and collaboration amongst partners. Our partners are agricultural ecosystem actors, including mobile network operators, financial institutions, farmer networks, technology innovators, agriculture value chain players, government, and other key market stakeholders. To date, AgriFin has partnered with more than 150 organisations to deliver digitally enabled solutions.
60% of Africa’s population is under the age of 25. How is Mercy Corps AgriFin attracting more youth into agriculture and rural economies?
Digital Systems attract the Youth, in addition to building transparency, to enable access to needed information and financial services. Digital services can capitalize on the growing market of youth in agriculture, AgriFin outlined various segments of youth, that considers their varying needs, priorities, and potentials. Through the segments, stakeholders can deliver persona-based Pathways for Driving Growth and Success for Youth in Agriculture.
AgriFin developed a case, Rural Jobs Landscape Study – Exploring Rural Job Opportunities for Youth in Agriculture as a result. In addition, AgiFin was a partner of the Don’t Lose the Plot program, that sought engage Youth through Edutainment.
What key geographical features make East Africa (Kenya), West Africa (Nigeria) & Horn of Africa (Ethiopia) suitable for these AgriFin model?
Each region poses a challenge in introducing digital solutions. Kenya, digital ecosystem is more mature, is a more digitally savvy market, mainly because of MPESA. In Nigeria, the ecosystem is driven by banks, necessitating a modified approach than that used in Kenya. In Ethiopia, which also shares the federal system like that of Nigeria, the level of digital literacy being low and need to involve the public sector leads to a different approach all together. AgriFin, implements projects in these countries, develops learnings that can be used in other regions that face similar circumstances.
How sustainable is the Mercy Corps AgriFin?
We are determined to scale our impact – deeper in the countries where we work, and wider to new countries where digital ecosystems could readily benefit from our market and partner facilitation model. An independent evaluation of the program asserts that AgriFin was essential in brokering critical business partnerships, generating actionable knowledge, and ultimately laying the foundation for a series of commercial DFS (Digital Financial Services) and DIS (Digital information services) that are being increasingly adopted by SSPs.
Fundamental to this success was AgriFin’s active, ground-level engagement with partners that resulted in new and emerging business relationships, and effective bundled services, very much as the project intended
Apart from digital products and services, how is AgriFin engaging policy makers and government agencies to protect smallholder farmers and improve their productivity?
AgriFIn, does not engage with policy. However, the program deliberately works with organizations, provides needed information, to enable them to develop the policy briefs needed to enable the digital ecosystem.
What’s the future of Mercy Corps AgriFin in Africa?
To determine our pathway to greater scale, we undertook extensive analysis to identify geographies where the model would thrive. We assessed 48 low-middle income countries along five key criteria: (1) Demand, (2) Customer Readiness, (3) Supply, (4) Provider Readiness, and (5) Enabling Environment.
This analysis unearthed incredible insight and enabled us to assess and rate contexts against criteria needed to effectively implement the AgriFin model. Needless to say, there is an ample opportunity to engage and strengthen digital ecosystems across the globe. We do not seek to journey alone. We seek innovation and funding partners who share our bold vision of farmers prospering in an interconnected digital world, empowered by digital solutions and inclusive ecosystems. Together, we will take millions more farmers from subsistence to sustainable.
