Articles

Smallholder farmers produce up to one-third of the world’s food, yet they remain among the most underfinanced actors in the agricultural economy. Across Africa and the Middle East, innovative solutions, from digital IDs and satellite-based credit scoring to AI-powered advisory tools are helping bridge this financial gap, expand market access, and build resilience amid climate stress.

Ahead of World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit Dubai, leaders from Mastercard, FMO Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, Catalyst Fund, and CGIAR shared how emerging technologies and collaborative models are unlocking new opportunities for millions of smallholder farmers.
 

Digitizing value chains to unlock finance and market access

For Mastercard, digital inclusion is the cornerstone of smallholder empowerment.

“Everyone should have access to the digital economy,” says Marie-Rose Mukahirwa, Senior Vice President at Mastercard. Through Mastercard’s Community Pass agricultural value chains are being digitized end-to-end, connecting farmers with buyers, suppliers, and financial institutions, even in low-connectivity regions where traditional digital tools often fail.

Community Pass enables secure offline transactions, digital payments, and the creation of verifiable transaction histories, critical building blocks for unlocking credit and insurance. Mukahirwa explains that digitizing interactions across the ecosystem streamlines procurement for buyers, improves planning for input providers, and gives farmers the transparency and bargaining power needed to secure fairer prices.

In Uganda, farmers using Community Pass have reported significantly improved yields after gaining access to high-quality seeds and fertilizers, along with price increases of up to 30% for their produce thanks to more transparent digital marketplaces. “This resilience and inclusion empower farmers to withstand climate shocks and market disruptions,” she adds.
 

Holistic, last-mile platforms deliver the biggest impact

According to Marius Birkenhager of FMO, the most effective solutions for smallholder farmers are those that recognize how interconnected the challenges are.

“Problems related to access to inputs, markets and financing are often intertwined,” he explains. “Last-mile platforms must address these issues simultaneously or partner with others who can.”

Birkenhager notes that remote sensing and satellite data are now playing a critical role in scaling smallholder engagement. These tools support alternative credit scoring, crop monitoring, agronomic guidance, and sustainability verification, all essential for lowering the cost and risk of serving dispersed farmer populations.

However, he emphasizes that technology alone is not enough. “Digital innovation must be paired with strong on-the-ground extension work to ensure adoption and trust,” he explains, underscoring the need for farmer-facing organizations that can contextualize data and translate insights into actionable decisions.
 

Startups driving affordable, scalable Agri-Finance

Early-stage innovators are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for smallholder financing.

“Some of the most impactful models we see integrate climate resilience, digital advisory, and financial inclusion,” says Maxime Bayen, Operating Partner at Catalyst Fund.

Examples include:

• MazaoHub (Tanzania): AI-powered precision farming + “Uber for Extension” reaching tens of thousands of farmers.
• AgroSupply (Uganda): A savings-led model helping farmers pre-pay for climate-resilient inputs.
• Oko Finance (West Africa): Bundling satellite-based crop insurance with agri-input credit, already insuring 2,500+ farmers in Côte d’Ivoire and Mali.
• Zebra Cropbank (Nigeria): Digitizing post-harvest storage and testing crop-backed lending.

These solutions demonstrate how fintech, insurance, and AI can converge to reduce risk for farmers and lenders alike, creating new pathways to affordability and growth.
 

Technology co-designed with farmers drives higher adoption

For Gianpiero Menza, Senior Manager at CGIAR, the key to financing adoption lies not just in what technology is deployed, but how it is developed.

“The most effective agritech solutions are those co-designed with farmers,” he says. This includes digital advisory platforms, mobile-based financial services, and low-cost mechanization, all designed around real smallholder workflows.

CGIAR’s research shows that engaging “ambassador farmers” to demonstrate technologies in their own communities significantly accelerates uptake. “These approaches tangibly improve livelihoods by boosting productivity, reducing losses, and strengthening resilience against climate and price shocks,” Menza adds.

He also points to evidence from North Africa, where blended digital finance and agritech pilots in Morocco and Egypt have increased yields by up to 27% and nearly doubled farmer incomes by improving both access to credit and agronomic decision-making.

Success Stories: From dairy digitization in Egypt to food-waste reduction in East Africa

Rather than external case studies, the clearest examples come directly from the speakers themselves:

Mastercard: Cooperative digitization in Kenya and Tanzania

Through the MADE Alliance, Mastercard, Microsoft, and regional partners are transforming farmer cooperatives into digitally connected hubs. These cooperatives now deliver digital training, youth engagement programs, and improved access to markets, enabling farmers to tap into financial services, advisory tools, and new revenue streams.

Catalyst Fund: Insurance and Market access across West and East Africa

Bayen highlights Oko Finance’s work in West Africa, where satellite-based crop insurance has provided protection and unlocked credit for more than 2,500 farmers. In Kenya, he points to Farm to Feed, a model that links farmers to buyers while reducing food waste and increasing income through new market channels.

CGIAR: Dairy Digitization in Egypt

Menza shares the example of Milkup, a livestock platform enabling small and mid-sized dairy farms to boost productivity and profitability. Farms using Milkup have recorded a 75% increase in milk production, a 90% increase in income per unit of feed, and a 15% reduction in calving intervals, demonstrating how data-driven decision-making directly affects financial outcomes.

These stories illustrate how digital tools, better data, and integrated service models can deliver measurable, financially meaningful improvements for smallholder farmers across multiple regions.

Toward a more inclusive agricultural finance system

From AI-driven advisory to digital identities, satellite-based credit scoring, and controlled-environment production, smallholder financing is entering a transformative chapter. But speakers agree: the future relies on coordination and ecosystem building, not isolated initiatives.

Public-private alliances, farmer-centred design, and scalable digital platforms are proving that empowering smallholder farmers is not just a development goal, it is a strategic pathway to food security, climate resilience, and economic growth across the Middle East and Africa.

As leaders gather at World Agri-Tech Dubai, the message is clear:
financing innovation is most powerful when it is inclusive, data-driven, and built for the last mile.

Sources:

https://ourworldindata.org/smallholder-food-production
https://isfadvisors.co/global-report-smallholder-finance