Precision Development (PxD), a global nonprofit organisation that supports smallholder farmers, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have published a new report arguing that the biggest constraint in digital agriculture is no longer strategy, but delivery. The study titled From Strategy to Scale: Why Delivery Matters in Digital Agriculture identifies Digital Agriculture Units (DAUs) as the missing institutional link between national digital roadmaps and measurable outcomes for farmers.
Photo credit: Boston Consulting Group
Despite rapid growth in tools such as SMS advisory services, IVR systems, and digital farmer registries, smallholder adoption remains below 15% globally, while public spending on agricultural digital infrastructure represents just 2% of total agricultural expenditure in OECD countries. The report describes a persistent “strategy-to-delivery gap”, where pilots multiply but scale and impact stall.
Drawing on experience from Ethiopia and India’s Odisha state, PxD and BCG show how DAUs embedded within governments translate roadmaps into costed plans, coordinate actors, and track results. In Odisha, the Krishi Samruddhi programme reaches 7.9 million farmers at USD 0.15 per farmer, cutting severe crop losses by 10% and pest losses by 26%.
The authors estimate digital agriculture could unlock up to USD 500 billion annually in additional agricultural GDP, if governments invest in delivery capacity as seriously as vision.