March 2021 agricultural “platforms” in a digital era

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Beyond marketplaces 
While product and service marketplaces represent 
the bulk of agriculture-specific Platforms to date, 
there are three other types of Platforms that—
despite not being limited to the sector—play an 
important role in agriculture. 
Communications Platforms
and social networks
Communications Platforms and social networks 
specifically for the agricultural sector are 
rare. However, many pipeline and Platform 
businesses use existing communications and 
social networks (e.g., WhatsApp, Facebook) to 
communicate with farmers or set up community 
forums. Additionally, farmers themselves use 
these networks to communicate peer-to-peer, 
share advice and market info, and connect with 
offtakers and farmer groups. Smallholder farming 
groups on Facebook are popular: The African 
Farmers Community (over 500,000 members) 
and African Farmers Club (over 150,000 
members) are widely used by farmers for sharing 
agricultural practices, market opportunities and 
prices, and recommendations on providers. 
This leveraging of existing Platforms tends to 
be effective because farmers prefer to use social 
media and messaging Platforms that they are 
already familiar with instead of engaging with 
new channels. Social and communications 
networks are also harder to monetize, particularly 
among smallholder farmers who are not often 
willing to pay for advisory services. WeFarm is 
one popular agriculture-specific Platform that 
leverages an existing network (WhatsApp) to 
enable peer-to-peer advice sharing between 
smallholder farmers. The network, which has 
reached over one million farmers in East Africa, 
is now expanding its services by facilitating access 
to agricultural inputs.