March 2021 agricultural “platforms” in a digital era

THE UNDERLYING 
FORCE: MOBILE PHONES 
AND DIGITAL PAYMENTS
Despite this progress, developing a viable 
Platform business model that fits the smallholder 
agricultural market remains difficult. Platforms 
tend to thrive where interactions can happen 
digitally, are largely standardized and unchanging 
across geographic areas, are consistent over 
time, and are high in value. Smallholder farming 
value chains, including production, inputs, 
offtake, processing, and other functions, tend 
to be anything but standard; they rely on the 
unique market and production conditions of each 
geographic location. Certain crops only grow 
in specific areas, and inputs and produce are 
highly crop-specific. This creates hyper-localized 
networks that limit the ability of Platforms to 
scale, since expansion to new areas or value 
chains requires costly customization. Additionally, 
transaction values are low and erratic due to crop 
seasonality and market volatility.
Perhaps most importantly, Platforms tend to 
succeed where the exchange of value does not 
require intensive physical capital or assets. For 
example, social networks and shared economy 
Platforms rely primarily on the underlying 
digital infrastructure. Alternatively, Platforms 
can rely on physical enabling infrastructure. 
Look at successful e-commerce Platforms—such 
as Amazon, Etsy, or Alibaba—which require 
access to warehousing, packing, and shipping 
capabilities. These companies have all brought 
some of these capabilities in-house, but still rely 
heavily on the highly developed logistical and 
delivery infrastructure of third-party providers. 
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In developing economies, where this 
infrastructure tends to be weak, the path to 
viable digital marketplace business models is 
more challenging. Take, for example, Jumia: 
Africa’s largest digital marketplace Platform 
and first unicorn. Despite double-digit customer 
and revenue growth, in fall 2019 Jumia made 
the decision to exit Cameroon, Gabon, and 
Tanzania—all markets with particularly poor 
delivery infrastructure. Expenses were simply
too high to maintain operations. 
These barriers are even greater when it comes 
to serving last-mile smallholder farming 
communities. Produce (especially perishable 
food crops) requires storage solutions that are 
close and affordable enough to be accessed 
by farmers. Sparsely populated areas require 
logistic service providers and networks to enable 
physical exchange of produce and/or services. 
In the absence of third-party service providers, 
Platforms serving smallholder farmers often have 
no choice but to build this enabling infrastructure 
themselves—the cost and maintenance of which 
severely limits the viability of these business 
models. Beyond those barriers, Platforms looking 
to serve smallholder agricultural markets face 
challenges in the broader enabling environment 
in which they operate, including trade policies, 
price and data regulation, and foreign exchange 
management.