Promoting Learning in Agribusiness using New Technologies

TechnoServe, with funding from the Department of International Development (DFID), is working to address the challenges facing the agricultural sector in Nigeria through the use of technology.

Context

Agriculture is the largest sector in the Nigerian economy at 24 percent of GDP and employs roughly two-thirds of the labor force. However, the sector is challenged by poor adoption of agronomic best practices, high cost and low utilization of inputs, limited access to finance and technology, poor infrastructure such as irrigation, storage, roads, and electricity, and inadequate access to markets. The result is low productivity and lost value along the agricultural value chains.

Opportunity

Technology solutions and innovations, ranging from mobile apps connecting farmers and off takers, to weather sensors used for indexed-based insurance to mitigate crop failure risk, have the potential to address some of the challenges facing the sector. However, agricultural technology (“agtech”) has not sufficiently reached agribusinesses

Strategy

TechnoServe, with funding from the Department of International Development (DFID), is working to address the challenges facing the agricultural sector through the use of technology. In three years, the program will build a more competitive agricultural sector in the southern region of Nigeria by improving agtech entrepreneurs’ scalability and improving agribusiness adoption of appropriate technologies.

The program will establish an Agtech Interface Network (AIN) to sustainably build awareness and convene ecosystem stakeholders around agtech. TechnoServe will provide training and advisory services to 200 agribusinesses – increasing revenues by 30 percent on average and increasing technology adoption by 20 percent of those graduating. Three AIN incubator members will receive advisory services to improve their offerings to agtech entrepreneurs. In turn, 60 agtech entrepreneurs will receive incubation services to increase access to finance, improve best practices by 60% on average, and launch their start-ups.

Partners

Department of International Development: The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the UK’s work to end extreme poverty.

British Council: The British Council is a British organization specializing in international cultural and educational opportunities.