Digital Agriculture in LMICs - 29 Aug #26
Farmdar, Lersha form agritech partnerships in Pakistan and Ethiopia, Ghana's Farmerline gets $1.5M, more cost cutting measures for Kenya’s Twiga
20/08/23
Kenya’s Twiga lays off one third of staff, pursues cost cutting measures
In a press release, Kenyan agri B2B e-commerce platform Twiga Foods has announced further measures to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. According to reports quoting the company’s CEO Peter Njonjo, this translates into the company letting go an additional 250 permanent staff, equivalent to 30 percent of its total workforce of 800. The start-up, which in 2021 raised USD 50 million in a Series C round to scale up in Kenya and East Africa, is looking to reduce operational costs by 40 percent. As part of these efforts, in June Twiga laid off 130 independent agents out of an active base of 390 and recently shut down 11 depots. The company is at the same time investing in technology solutions such as Google Clouds for visibility in the value chain and more accurate ordering of food items. In recent months, agri e-commerce platforms such as WayCool (India) and SayurBox (Indonesia) have resorted to staff cuts in a quest to reduce high operational costs. To date, Twiga has raised USD 157 million in funding.
23/08/23
Pakistan’s Farmdar and Bayer partner for data-driven agriculture
Pakistan-based agritech Farmdar, a precision agriculture company, has announced a strategic partnership with the local unit of life sciences multinational Bayer. Through the partnership, Bayer will obtain actionable crop data to enable farmers to take data-driven decisions. The partnership leverages Farmdar’s artificial intelligence and remote sensing capabilities (e.g. data analytics and satellite-aided crop scans) that enable farmers to monitor their land, increase productivity, reduce farming costs, and reduce waste. In Pakistan, Bayer is implementing precision agriculture and agricultural IoT projects within its Crop Science division, which brings to market crop protection products and inputs. According to Crunchbase, Farmdar, which last July expanded internationally to Brazil, has to date raised a total funding amount of USD 1.3 million.
24/08/23
Farmerline gets $1.5M loan from impact investor for expansion
Triodos Investment Management has given a USD 1.5 million loan through its Hivos-Triodos Fund to Ghana-based agritech Farmerline, according to a note by the impact investor. The loan will be used to strengthen Farmerline’s working capital needs as it seeks to expand its reach and provide services to a greater number of smallholder farmers. Founded in 2013, the Ghanaian agritech (which in April launched operations in Cote d’Ivoire) provides farmers with access to quality fertilisers and seeds, education on climate-smart farming practices and connections to international markets. According to the statement, the startup reaches over 300,000 smallholder farmers through its farmer services/training platform. It also reaches farmers in international markets beyond Africa through the licensing of its farm management software Mergdata. The agritech has a B2B2C model, whereby it relies on partnerships in agricultural value chains with agribusinesses, cooperatives, farmer groups as well as government entities and NGOs to reach farmers. Farmerline has to date received raised USD 15.2 million, according to Crunchbase.
28/08/23
Ethiopia’s Lersha partners with government agency to digitise farmer profiles
Ethiopian agritech Lersha has formed a partnership with the Agricultural Transformation Institute (ATI), formerly known as the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), the government agency behind the 8028 Farmer Hotline service. Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU), the two organisations will join forces to create in the next three years digital profiles for 1,050,000 smallholder farmers and provide agro climate advisory and fertiliser recommendations. Lersha is a digital agriculture platform enabling farmers to access inputs, hire mechanisation services, and request dynamic agro-climatic advisory via a mobile app and a call centre. The agritech deploys a network of 5,000+ agents to facilitate transactions with farmers. Founded in 2018, the startup states that it has to date reached 104,000 farmers. It is a grantee of the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience & Adaption.
28/08/23
AGRF 2023 ready to open doors, agritech prizes up for grabs
The thirteenth AGRF Summit, Africa's Food Systems Forum, the main event dedicated to African agriculture, is expected to take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 5-8 September. The event targets 3,000 attendees and will focus on building back better food systems and food sovereignty with youth and women at the centre. As usual, AGRF will host several prizes. These include the VALUE4HER Women Agripreneurs of the Year Awards (WAYA Awards) organised by AGRA to recognise African female agripreneurs who demonstrate innovation and business excellence in agricultural value chains; the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition (USD 100,00) organised by AGRF’s thematic platform Generation Africa, a competition for African agripreneurs aged 18-35; the Pitch AgriHack 2023 organised by NGO Heifer International with Generation Africa, which will award cash grants to young African agritechs. In addition, AGRF will host the Agribusiness Dealroom, a matchmaking platform to facilitate partnerships and investments in African agriculture, which will convene 150 public and private investors.