By Mesai M

Since 2018, Agrix Tech is a Cameroonian startup revolutionizing agriculture through an AI-driven mobile app. The app uses convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to analyze photos of crops, diagnosing diseases like cassava mosaic virus and banana leaf spot with 95% accuracy in under 10 seconds. It provides treatment recommendations, such as pesticide use or organic remedies, in French, English, and local languages like Bamiléké, addressing Cameroon’s 25% illiteracy rate.

In the same area, local smallholder farmers start using smart phones to check rainfall predictions and pest-detection alerts from a local agritech startup in their small cassava plot.

Cameroon's AgriTech startups are spearheading a transformative movement that creates new opportunities for rural entrepreneurs, enhances food security, and supports sustainable development. By leveraging mobile platforms, IoT technologies, digital marketplaces, and climate-smart innovations, they are not only modernizing agriculture but also empowering farmers and entrepreneurs to take a more active role in the economy.

The foregoing instances are just few of many highlighting burgeoning employment of technology in agriculture across the African continent.   

Digitalization for Agriculture (D4Ag) is becoming a vital driver for transforming Africa’s food systems, which have long faced issues like food insecurity, climate change, and fragmented markets. With the continent having the largest amount of uncultivated arable land worldwide and agriculture making up about one-third of the GDP while employing over 60% of the population, adopting digital solutions is now seen as essential for ensuring sustainability and resilience.

A Burgeoning Digital Ecosystem

The D4Ag sector in Africa is young but rapidly growing. As of 2019, there were at least 390 active D4Ag solutions across the continent, with nearly 60% of those launched in the past three years. This expanding ecosystem has already registered over 33 million smallholder farmers and pastoralists, making up about 13% of all smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa.

Digital solutions are revolutionizing agriculture by focusing on five main areas: advisory services, market linkages, financial access, supply chain management, and macro agricultural intelligence. Advisory services stand out as the most used, with about 68% of users engaging with them. These include AI-driven advisory platforms and specialized chatbots tailored for farmers. For instance, Ethiopia's 80-28 hotline has successfully connected with over 4 million callers, providing vital agricultural guidance. Similarly, Ignitia in Ghana, a Consulting Organization, offers farmers real-time weather updates via SMS, aiding them in making informed decisions.

Market linkages and financial tools are breaking down traditional barriers in agriculture. Platforms like Kenya’s Twiga Foods – a leading Kenyan tech-driven food distribution platform connecting farmers directly to urban retailers - connect farmers directly to retailers, reducing reliance on middlemen and stabilizing incomes. In Nigeria, the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) has transformed access to inputs by using mobile-based systems and e-wallets to deliver subsidized fertilizers and seeds directly to over 15 million subscribers. Kenya’s DigiFarm, a collaborative effort by Safaricom and Vodafone, has issued around 60,000 digital loans, creating new opportunities for financial support.

The sector is also about to adopt more advanced technologies. As of 2019, about 60% of current digital solutions were expected to include innovations like the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, remote sensing, and blockchain technology within three years. These tools aim to significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of farming practices.

The impact of these digital innovations is becoming more evident. Solutions aimed at increasing yield and income show remarkable results: advisory services boost yields by about 20%, market linkages can increase yields by roughly 70%, and digital financial services lead to around a 40% improvement. When multiple services—such as information, inputs, and credit—are combined, the effects are even stronger, with potential yield increases of 50–300% and income gains ranging from 20% to 100%.

Furthermore, digital platforms excel at engaging younger farmers. More than 70% of registered users are under 35, showing a strong attraction for the youth demographic. This engagement is expected to create hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of new jobs, especially for digitally-enabled field agents who support farmer networks.

Considering the overall market potential, the total addressable revenue for D4Ag is estimated at around €2.3 billion. While this is a significant figure, only a small portion of this market has been explored so far, highlighting the great potential for growth and expansion in the coming years.

Policy, Strategic Roadmaps as Accelerators

Recognizing that fragmentation hinders the growth of digital agriculture, governments and development partners are increasingly focusing on cohesive, strategic approaches. One prominent initiative is the African Union’s adoption of the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa, which seeks to expand rural broadband access, improve data governance, and foster partnerships between the public and private sectors.

A key instrument in realizing this vision is the Digital Agriculture Roadmap (DAR), a strategic, actionable, and investment-ready plan crafted by governments to steer the sector’s transformation. The DAR adds value by focusing on high-impact use cases and translating these priorities into financially viable projects that can attract investors and mobilize private sector engagement. For example, Ethiopia successfully developed and launched its Digital Agriculture Roadmap in 2025. The country’s plan aims to reach 30 million farmers, increase farmer incomes by 8% over five years, and unlock over $90 million in dedicated digital agriculture investments, demonstrating a clear commitment to progress.

However, to ensure sustained growth and inclusion, governments must continue developing essential foundational elements. These include establishing reliable physical infrastructure, creating comprehensive national registries—such as farmer and land profiles—and improving data governance standards to facilitate secure, interoperable data sharing across different platforms and actors.

Despite these concerted efforts, significant systemic challenges remain that threaten to impede widespread and inclusive adoption of digital agriculture. Infrastructure deficits are particularly acute; many countries, especially in rural areas, lack reliable electricity and internet connectivity. As of 2021, only about 22% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa was using the Internet, highlighting the scale of this gap.

Additionally, affordability and skills barriers hinder adoption. The high costs of smartphones, devices, and mobile data plans remain prohibitive for many smallholder farmers with low incomes. Moreover, low levels of digital literacy further limit their ability to effectively utilize complex digital tools.

Gender disparities also persist. While women constitute roughly 40–50% of smallholder farmers, they account for only about 25% of registered digital agriculture users. The gender gap in access to mobile technology has been widening, increasing from 20.7% in 2013 to 33% in 2019, which poses a significant challenge to inclusive growth.

Regulatory uncertainty adds another layer of complexity. Inadequate legal frameworks, coupled with concerns over data privacy and security, slow the diffusion and adoption of digital solutions—especially as advanced data platforms become central to the evolving agricultural ecosystem. Overcoming these barriers is crucial for realizing the full potential of digital agriculture and ensuring that its benefits reach all farmers across the continent.

Ultimately, the goal is to shift D4Ag from fragmented, donor-led initiatives to self-sustaining, business-driven solutions that deliver demonstrable impact. To ensure sustainable transformation, policy frameworks must promote inclusivity and capacity development, ensuring that the technology revolution benefits those who form the crucial backbone of Africa’s food security.