The African Development Bank (AfDB) has partnered with payment giant Mastercard, committing 300 million USD to the MADE Alliance as part of an agreement to digitize farmer services across Africa. Over three million farmers in East Africa are expected to benefit from the MADE Alliance project. In total, MADE Alliance will provide digital access to 100 million people over the next decade.
Digitizing farmer operations
A new initiative called MADE Alliance aims to mobilize resources to digitize farmer operations across Africa as the transition to the digital economy accelerates. Through an agreement led by the AfDB in partnership with digital payment giant Mastercard, the MADE Alliance program will benefit up to 300,000 farmers in East Africa.
The project was launched on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September by AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina and Jon Huntsman, President of Mastercard for Strategic Growth, among other dignitaries. During its inaugural meeting, the MADE Alliance Steering Committee reviewed the progress made and discussed the challenges African farmers face in terms of digital connectivity.
Smallholder farmers in Africa live in remote areas with unreliable connectivity and limited access to markets, leaving them without a digital footprint and limiting their access to better prices, loans, and innovative agricultural inputs such as climate-resilient seeds.
Facilitating access to essential digital services
To address this challenge, the MADE Alliance aims to provide digital access to essential services for 100 million people and businesses across Africa over the next ten years. In its first phase, the AfDB is committing 300 million USD to bring three million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria into the digital economy through Mastercard’s Community Pass program.
Other key partners in the MADE Alliance include Nairobi-based banking giant Equity Bank Group, Microsoft, Heifer Foundation, and Unconnected.org. Although the MADE Alliance is led by the private sector, it is also embedded within the national policies of its member countries. Farmers will benefit from a digital identity that provides access to a network of digital agricultural agents.
Supporting the AfDB President, Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, emphasized, « Africa is home to 65 % of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land, and we believe agriculture is a key sector for driving Africa’s development ».
Unlocking Africa’s agricultural potential
Agriculture accounts for nearly 60 % of total employment in Africa and over 25 % of African countries’ GDP. Digital connectivity is set to revolutionize the sector and empower smallholder farmers. In this regard, the MADE Alliance places a particular focus on women, as they contribute approximately 60-80 % of the agricultural workforce.
According to Dunford, the MADE Alliance has already launched several programs, including unlocking affordable digital financial services for sunflower producers in Tanzania, providing internet connectivity for agricultural cooperatives, and financing clean energy assets for farmers in Kenya.
By promoting sustainable digital access to essential services, the MADE Alliance can address the needs of Africa’s smallholder farmers. Digital identities serve as gateways to accessing digital services and high-quality inputs. About 99 % of agricultural transactions in Africa are cash-based. The digitization of agriculture and goods distribution will bring enormous efficiencies to the market, reducing waste and fraud across the ecosystem.
The challenge is that most agricultural cooperatives in Africa are not as operationally efficient as in other regions. Africa needs significant investment to educate farmers on how they can leverage digital technologies to access resources.
