MCCHE Precision Convergence Webinar Series with Dr Heike Baumüller
Charting the emergence and impacts of digital agricultural platforms in Africa
with Dr Heike Baumüller
Senior Researcher and Coordinator of the Program of Accompanying Research for Agricultural Innovation (PARI) at the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, Germany
Abstract
Digitally-enabled services (D4Ag services) have been proliferating across Africa in recent years to offer markets for inputs and outputs, financial services or information to farmers and other agricultural actors. However, despite the rapid growth in local service providers, the D4Ag services market remains fragmented and only few services have managed to scale. To improve access and reach, D4Ag services are increasingly being offered as part of digital platforms that combine and integrate different types of services. This talk provides an overview of the D4Ag platform economy in Africa, with a focus on Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana which are at the forefront of digitalization in agriculture on the continent. A number of platform case studies will offer insights into the business models behind these platforms and analyse how the business models differ from traditional platform models. The talk will also shed light on the distributional effects of D4Ag platforms by discussing how different supply chain actors are being affected by the emergence of digital agricultural platforms and how platforms are impacting local markets.