Digital Agriculture in LMICs - 3 Oct #31
Arya.ag eyes strong financials, Walmart-backed PxD, TechnoServe drive 17% revenue growth for farmers, EdenFarm ends B2B e-commerce out of Jakarta
29/09/23
Walmart Foundation highlights impact of PxD and TechnoServe in India
Walmart Foundation has shared findings from an impact study on the digital agriculture initiatives of its grantees in India, Precision Development (PxD) and TechnServe. Both organisations have been working with Farmer Producing Organizations (FPOs) to develop digital solutions for sustainable farming practices and increased market access in the coffee value chain. Under the Walmart partnership, PxD reaches 70,000 coffee and spice farmers in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, while TechnoServe reaches 10,000 farmers in Andra Pradesh.
The impact study conducted by India-based impact measurement firm Sambodhi shows that participating FPOs have a higher ability to provide inputs, support sale of final produce to more varied markets, and now earn 29% higher revenues on an average than comparable FPOs. According to the study, farmers in Andra Pradesh have reported 17% increase in yield and 17% better revenue from coffee. In 2022, PxD and TechnoServe received respectively a USD 1.5 million and 3.5 million grant under the Walmart Foundation’s People in Supply Chains work stream.
01/10/23
India’s Arya.ag expects strong performance to year-end
India’s Arya.ag, a B2B market linkage platform for farmers and FPOs in the grain value chain, is reportedly expecting to double its profits for this financial year 23/24. The agritech, which servers 660 FPOs, expects that growing e-commerce sales for the sales of grains on its platform will be a key driver for growth in the second half of the year. In addition to providing market linkages, Arya.ag embeds financial services for smallholders owing less than five acres. The loans are provided against the stored commodity in the platform and disbursed via the fintech platform Aryadhan. The company crossed INR 10 billion (USD 120 million) worth of loan disbursal in the financial year 22/23. The amount disbursed is grown over three times since FY 2021. As previously reported by AgrisTechia, Arya.ag is also in the process of moving its loan operations onto the blockchain. Founded in 2013, Arya.ag has so far received USD 65 million in equity capital from investors including Lightrock, Quona, Omnivore and Asia Impact Fund.
02/10/23
Indonesia’s EdenFarm cuts staff, ends B2B e-commerce outside of Jakarta
Indonesian agritech EdenFarm, a B2B e-commerce platform, has laid off 300 staff as it looks to remodel its business, according to reports. The cut concerns over 50% of its 540 employees. The company motivates the move with a need to reach profitability by the end of this year. To do so, EdenFarm is terminating its B2B e-commerce operations outside, of Jakarta and is focusing on manufacturing and distributing its own brand of packaged seasoning TuangTuang. Founded in 2017, EdenFarm was established as a B2B e-commerce platform linking farmers with restaurants, caterers, street vendors, and start-up partners. In February this year, the start-up announced raising USD 13.5 million in a pre-series B round led by Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi (TMI) Ventures, the venture capital arm of mobile operator Telkomsel. However, since the pre-series B round, the company admitted that fundraising was not progressing as swiftly as expected. The company has to date raised USD 32.5 million.
In other news…
27/09/23
UNDP and NABARD join forces for digital public goods in agriculture
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and India’s National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have announced a 5-year technical collaboration to co-create data-driven innovations in agriculture under a digital public infrastructure (DPI) approach. In a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the two organisations have agreed to share open-source data that should benefit product development, knowledge transfer and policy making to support smallholder agriculture.
At the core of the partnership is the objective of enhancing and disseminating collaborative digital public goods such as DiCRA (Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture). DiCRA, which is curated by UNDP, provides open access to geospatial datasets pertinent to climate resilient agriculture. It is currently used to inform public investments in agriculture, and provides intelligence on climate resilience for 50 million hectares of farmland across India. Under the new partnership, NABARD will host and maintain the DiCRA platform and will use its geospatial datasets for policy making, and research and development activities.
28/09/23
AI for climate resilience innovation challenge calls for startups
The innovation challenge "AI for Climate Resilience in Rural Areas" is looking for ethical, AI-driven solutions that support climate sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, and disaster risk reduction and early warning systems. Up for grabs are USD 50,000 equity-free seed funding for three start-ups. In addition, selected startups will receive support from the members of the Moonshots for Development coalition (M4D), which is behind the initiative. M4D is a group of representatives from the innovation arms and labs within international financial institutions and multilateral development banks. Within M4D, the supporters of the innovation challenge include the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), CGIAR’s Accelerate for Impact Platform, The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Lab), the World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator, and the World Bank Technology & Innovation Lab. There is time to apply until 13 October.
02/10/23
Good reads: A closer look at AGRF’s Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR)
The annual Africa Agriculture Status Report (AASR23) is a 218-page report that was launched in September by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) at the Africa's Food Systems Summit 2023 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study, which is titled “Empowering Africa Food Systems for the Future”, highlights that 650 million Africans, equivalent to 50% of the continent’s population, lack economic or physical access to sufficient food. It calls for a concerted response from governments, the private sector, communities, and individuals in empowering Africa’s food systems for the future.
The study recognises the role of digital agriculture, from mobile banking to precision agriculture to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and connect stakeholders throughout all food systems components. It also identifies in innovative finance and efficient cross border trade two key enablers to advance the transformation of African food systems. The authors argue that if the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is fully implemented, it could raise household income by 9% by 2035, while lifting 50 million people out of extreme poverty. The region could also see foreign direct investment increase by between 111% and 159% under the AfCFTA.
Established in 2006 with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, AGRA seeks to transform African agriculture from a subsistence model to strong businesses that improve the livelihoods of the continent's farming households.