150+

partners

3 KEY LEARNING PILLARS

5 CORE AREAS OF INNOVATION

Methodologies Applied

Qualitative

• Key Informant Interviews
• Human centered design
• Persona Creation
• Journey mapping
• Focus Group Discussion

Delivering digitally-enabled data-driven solutions using innovative market-based approaches to smallholder farmers is at the heart of what we do at AgriFin.

By collaborating with a portfolio of implementation partners, we have been able to provide bundled services to improve farmers’ access to inputs, markets and finance.

Using digital platforms, we have streamlined their farming activities, bolstered the agricultural knowledge base, increased their resilience to climate shocks and increased gender inclusion.

Here are some of the key insights from our agile impact studies with some of our strategic partners and farmer-clients.

Farmers receiving bundled services were more likely to report improvements, with no significant difference between male and female farmers in terms of their profiles and the impacts they perceived.

Farmer’s perceived change between 2020 and 2021 (over pandemic period)
35% female respondents | 0.97 relative inclusivity ration implying that partners are reaching poor farmers

First Access
84% first time accessing product/service provided

Alternatives
81% reported no access to a good alternative

Challenges
30% reported challenges

Net Promoter Score
49 on a – 100 to 100 scale

Agricultural Practices
80% reported improvement

DigiFarm’s Impact

A panel survey was conducted on DigiFarm, a platform offering a broad range of bundled services to 1.4 Million farmers in Kenya. Key findings include:

Resilience: DigiFarm provided timely and comprehensive SMS-based advice that increased resilience in dealing with external shocks (75% of respondents).

Learning: DigiFarm improved learning and farm practices, as well as capacity to use technology (90% of respondents).

Income: DigiFarm increased productivity and in turn income (90% of respondents).

Savings: DigiFarm is an increasingly trusted and secure platform, with more users switching to mobile wallets as their primary savings platform.

Since 2016, AgriFin and its partners have applied Human-Centered Design (HCD) to various digital financial services to smallholder farmers in Zambia. So far, these products have achieved:

350+

job creation
for agents

• De-risking investments and facilitating partnerships
• Sharing knowledge and resources
• Augmenting digital platforms and bundling essential services
• Increasing relevance of services to SHFs

Through brokering critical new partnerships and generating actionable evidence, AgriFin laid the foundation for a series of commercial Digital Financial Services (DFS) and Digital Information Services (DIS) that are increasingly adopted by farmers. It has helped define the “conducive environment” necessary for DFS/ DIS development.

AgriFin’s impact can be seen across Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia. This impact has been most visible in Kenya, with higher investment, greater time spent on the ground, and more digital infrastructure to leverage. AgriFin has enhanced tools, platforms and services designed to serve SHFs, and has promoted approaches, such as Human Centered Design (HCD) to better enable the ecosystem to identify and address farmers’ needs. It has successfully secured funding to extend program activities and tackle evolving challenges.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Impact of digital channels on farmer behavior during crises

In 2020, AgriFin mobilized ecosystem partners to rapidly responds to the dual COVID-19 and Desert Locust crises. With additional funding from Cisco and Skoll Foundations, we leveraged digital channels to disseminate information on these emergencies. An impact study in Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria assessed changes in knowledge, attitude and behaviors among select famers. In 6 months, the digital campaign reached over 16 million farmers via TV, SMS, WhatsApp and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) calls.

Channels

Browse the Impact Brief