DigiFarm
DigiFarm is an integrated mobile platform that offers farmers convenient, one-stop access to a suite of information and financial services. Our purpose is to leverage technology and partnerships to resolve key challenges in order to make smallholder farmers wealthier in a commercially sustainable way.
Kenya’s smallholder farmers need to operate in a business environment comprising three distinct areas in which they face key issues. Our goal is to enable them to maximise their potential.
In defining our mission, we have tested various solutions and execution models to address the key challenges that farmers face. Significant impact has thus been created for engaged farmers.
Since 2020, our model has evolved from an end-to-end credit model, to an input model with high investment on inputs and less offering on credit and post-harvest management.
Our focus is now on acquiring farmers through our view of production as a service, while developing their capability for end-to-end post-harvest loss management and access to market.
Underlying this focus is our new mission – to accelerate active farmer acquisitions in order to scale new business opportunities. Our methodology is to empower and enable farmers to move from disadvantageous financial and operating conditions, to more flexible, and relevant means of making their businesses streamlined, productive and profitable.
Inherent in our market model are a number of risks which require diligent monitoring, and continual tracking. These include:
- Climate Change resilience – Developing and increasing access to technological and financial innovations to increase smallholder farmer resilience to climate change and pandemics.
- Lack of smallholder farmer credit scoring mechanisms – Lack of farmer data to develop predictable agriculture score card leading to low penetration of credit.
- Poor infrastructure to support village-based farm produce aggregation and logistics to market – Support needed for post harvest management training and equipment. Heave capital outlay to develop aggregation and logistics mode.
- Low and improper consumption of input, lack of product-specific knowledge transfer from manufacturers to downstream farmers.
Our objective in the short- to medium-term is to scale production and infrastructure development in order to offer end-to-end (E2E) farmer engagement. This will be expressed by our ability to deliver the E2E experience in all three stages of agricultural activity, from production, through post-harvest management, to access to market.
To this end we will scale production, advance partnerships and develop infrastructure. This will involve:
Scaling production
- Farmer acquisition and engagement to above 3.5 million in five years
- The commercialisation of remote private extension service providers to drive sustainability
- Precision agriculture capabilities with the leveraging of emerging technologies
Developing partnerships
Platform play to orchestrate service provision by diverse multiple players, including:
- Financial institutions
- Development partners
- Post-harvest and aggregation service providers
- Localised logistics service providers
