IBADAN, NIGERIA — From Lagos to Nairobi, Accra to Kigali, a new buzzword has taken over Africa’s agricultural landscape: AgriTech.
Startups promise to revolutionize farming with apps, drones, and data dashboards. Global investors and donors are pouring in capital, betting that “smart farming” will lift smallholders out of poverty.
But ten years into the digital agriculture boom, the evidence tells a more complex story. While venture capitalists count their returns, millions of farmers still struggle with the same problems: poor access to markets, credit, and reliable infrastructure. The promise of AgriTech, for many, remains a digital mirage.
The Digital Promise: From Hope to Hype
In 2020, Nigeria’s Hello Tractor was hailed as the “Uber for Tractors.” The startup, backed by Heifer International and USAID, claimed to have connected over 50,000 smallholders to affordable mechanization services.
But interviews with farmers in Kwara and Benue States reveal cracks in the story. “They came, took our data, mapped our farms, and told us tractors would come during planting,” recalls Abdulahi Yusuf, a maize farmer in Kaiama. “They came once, then disappeared. The next season, no tractors, no follow-up.”
A 2023 CGAP study found that while digital agriculture solutions have proliferated, less than 25% of farmers continue using these platforms after the first year, citing poor support, unreliable services, and hidden fees.
Follow the Money: Donors, VCs, and Inflated Metrics
The funding ecosystem behind Africa’s AgriTech boom is dazzling. From Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Mastercard Foundation, development institutions have invested heavily in “digitizing agriculture.”
At the same time, venture funds such as TLcom Capital, Acumen, and Y Combinator have backed startups promising high-impact solutions and high growth.
But critics argue that impact metrics are often inflated to attract more funding. A 2024 GSMA AgriTech report noted that most African AgriTech platforms report “registered farmers,” not “active users.” One Kenyan startup claimed to serve 1 million farmers but internal data seen by a former employee suggested only 30,000 had ever used its platform to make a transaction.
“The business model is designed for investors, not for farmers,” says Dr. Tolu Adebajo, an agricultural economist at the University of Ibadan’s Centre for Sustainable Development. “Farmers are the user base, but not the real customer. Donors and investors are.”
Hidden Debts and Digital Dependence
Many digital farming platforms now offer “input credit” or “pay-later” schemes tied to their mobile apps. Farmers receive seeds or fertilizer upfront, with repayment expected after harvest.
But as Chidinma Okorie, a cassava farmer in Imo State, recounts, “The platform’s prices were higher than market prices. When we couldn’t repay on time due to bad weather, they threatened to seize our land.”
A 2023 IFPRI analysis warned that these fintech-style credit models may trap smallholders in hidden cycles of debt. In some cases, farmers have been blacklisted on mobile lending networks for defaulting on loans caused by failed harvests — effectively locking them out of future financing.
What began as a digital inclusion story risks becoming a new form of financial exclusion.
The Data Dilemma: Who Owns the Farmer?
Digital platforms collect vast amounts of data on farmers from land size and soil type to spending patterns and yields. Yet few farmers understand how this data is used or who profits from it.
A 2022 Privacy International investigation found that several AgriTech startups in Africa shared anonymized user data with third-party partners for analytics and investor reporting, often without informed consent.
“Farmers are the new oil wells,” says Grace Eniola, a digital rights advocate with Paradigm Initiative. “Their data fuels valuation growth for startups but they see none of the benefits.”
When Platforms Collapse, Farmers Pay the Price
In 2021, Nigeria’s once-celebrated FarmCrowdy and Thrive Agric both faced backlash after failing to deliver returns to investors and leaving farmers stranded. Thrive Agric’s delays led to online protests under the hashtag #ThriveAgricScam, forcing the company to issue a public apology and restructure its debts.
An investigative report by TechCabal revealed that the startup had oversold farm sponsorship packages to retail investors, while real farmers saw little improvement in income.
“These failures expose how fragile and speculative many AgriTech models are,” says Dr. Adebajo. “It’s agriculture built for capital, not community.”
The Gender and Accessibility Gap
Women, who make up nearly 60% of Africa’s agricultural workforce, are often left out of digital farming programs. A FAO study found that women farmers are 30% less likely to own smartphones or access mobile-based AgriTech tools.
Without deliberate gender inclusion strategies, these platforms risk deepening existing inequalities. “They came to our cooperative, trained the men, and left,” says Aisha Ibrahim, a groundnut farmer in Kano. “We never got the app or the inputs.”
Experts Call for Accountability and Localization
Across the continent, a new wave of researchers and activists is calling for “localization and accountability” in digital agriculture.
The African Digital Rights Network urges greater transparency on data use and equitable benefit sharing. Meanwhile, groups like Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) are warning against “techno-colonialism” — where Western models of innovation are imposed on local farming realities.
“The next phase of AgriTech must be farmer-centered,” says Dr. Adebajo. “We need models that listen to farmers, not just investors.”
The Way Forward: Beyond Apps and Algorithms
Digital technology can still transform African agriculture — but only if it complements, not replaces, grassroots solutions. That means building trust, strengthening cooperatives, ensuring data privacy, and designing platforms that work offline and in local languages.
Until then, the shiny promise of AgriTech will remain, for many farmers, a mirage shimmering on the horizon.
