Digital agriculture in LMICs - 13 Feb #79
Safaricom adds GenAI tool to digital ag play; Agriarche raises in Nigeria; Digital agri finance partnerships in Pakistan and Malaysia
06/02/25
Safaricom launches FarmerAI chatbot with Opportunity International
Kenyan telco Safaricom has started piloting a GenAI chatbot for smallholder farmers. The tool has been developed in partnership with NGO Opportunity International and will be co-branded. Unlike other agriculture-specific GenAI solutions, which target extension agents, FarmerAI will be directly used by farmers to help them increase yields and access financial services. The chatbot provides localised agricultural insights including information on weather patterns, fertiliser application, pest management and market prices. The tool will be accessible via SMS and WhatsApp, and via DigiFarm, Safaricom’s agritech platform integrating multiple digital agriculture services for smallholders. The chatbot will be piloted until August 2025 with 800 to 1,000 farmers in the potato value chain across several regions of Kenya.
Photo credit: Opportunity International
As of July 2024, Safaricom holds a dominant position in Kenya's mobile market, commanding a 65.9% market share. According to 2022 data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), there are 5.6 million smallholders in the country and the agriculture sector contributes to 22.4% of GDP.
10/02/25
IFC’s $6M investment to boost Africa’s agritech sector
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering a USD 6 million equity investment in the USD 85 million Africa Seed Fund managed by seed and early stage venture capital firm Flat6Labs. The fund targets early-stage startups across North, West, and East Africa, with a strong focus on agritech, addressing the financing gap in the region. The fund aims to support over 160 tech startups, including agritech ventures, by providing capital, mentorship, and business support. With an emphasis on innovation and job creation, this initiative aims to drive sustainable growth, improve infrastructure, and promote financial inclusion across Sub-Saharan Africa.
11/02/25
Agriarche raises $500K for market linkage platform in Nigeria
Nigerian agritech Agriarche has received a USD 500,000 working capital loan from Sahel Capital, through its Social Enterprise Fund for Agriculture in Africa (SEFAA). Agriarche is a female-founded market linkage platform operating via a mobile platform dubbed Kasuwa connecting farmers to buyers. The platform enables farmers, aggregators, food processors and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in the agri value chain to access inputs, storage, logistics, payments and market information. With this investment, Agriarche plans to expand its solution and enhance the connection between farmers and FMCGs.
Kasuwa platform on Google Play. Photo credit: Agriarche
The agritech focuses on ensuring farmers receive fair prices while optimising the supply network for FMCG companies. SEEFA is a USD 24 million impact fund seeded by German state-owned investment and development bank KfW. Established in 2021, SEFAA provides structured debt financing to agribusiness SMEs across 13 sub-Saharan African countries.
11/10/25
BaKhabar Kissan partners with Bank Alfalah for Agri DFS in Pakistan
Pakistan’s agritech BaKhabar Kissan has entered a partnership with local bank Bank Alfalah. The agritech will provide its data driven insights to enable the bank to identify high-potential villages for agricultural investments, assess crop quality and quantity to minimise investment risks, and enhance agricultural lending processes. Established in 2016, BaKhabar Kissan is an agri knowledge platform, which includes market linkages for inputs, drone services and hyperlocal weather information enabled by the agritech’s own weather stations. A range of its digital solutions can be leveraged by financial institutions including digital farm mapping for accurate land assessment, crop classification for better loan portfolio management and harvest monitoring to predict yields and optimise financing.
Photo credit: BaKhabar Kissan
According to its website, BaKhabar Kissan has +15.8 million service users and operates +300 weather stations. As reported by ArisTechia, in June last year Bank Alfalah launched a digital agriculture financing product for smallholder farmers. The product allows farmers to obtain financing for buying livestock and agricultural inputs (equipment). Farmers can access financing at a subsidised rate of 2 percent, enabling them to establish sustainable income streams.
12/11/25
Farmbyte joins forces with fintechs for agri financing in Malaysia
Malaysian agritech FarmByte has partnered with fintech company CGC Digital and Singapore-based SME digital financing platform Funding Societies to bridge financial gaps for farmers through access to capital, farming technologies, and sustainable agricultural practices. FarmByte is contributing to the partnership with agricultural data that can be used for risk assessment. CGC Digital will mitigate risks as a leading credit guarantee provider and enhance its probability of default model with farm-level data. Funding Societies, will provide funding solutions using alternative credit assessments to serve underserved farmers and agribusinesses that may lack traditional collateral. Established in 2021, FarmByte has a suite of digital agriculture services including the FarmByte Farmer App supporting planning, farming, and harvesting, and a market linkages platform connecting farmers with consumers.