A focus brief on alignment between digital technology providers and small-scale farming

Johannes Mössinger and Timm Tennigkeit

Key Messages

Promoting and steering the digital transformation in climate and development co-operation projects provides opportunities for small-scale farming in the agrifood system: Digital technologies can decrease information asymmetry and lower transaction costs, which could lead to rapid adoption of climate-smart agriculture and improved access to value chains or markets for ecosystem services.

User-centered software design helps to develop the most suitable technologies for small-scale farmers in their specific farming context. The triple ‘D’ can be used to characterize the context: digital literacy, digital access, and decent internet.

Digital platforms combining digital services (e.g. knowledge sharing + social interaction + business models) are most promising, but they require a supportive institutional framework and capacity development of end-users. Such digital platforms can bundle virtual marketplaces, online extension services or e-government services.

Climate and development projects can support a digital transformation for small-scale farmers in agrifood systems by identifying appropriate digital technologies and intervention areas at farm, community and value chain levels.

Advisory and financial services, input and output markets and machinery rental services are promising areas for supporting (rural) entrepreneurs, in particular youth and women, to transform climate-smart business cases along the agrifood value chain. For example, digital technologies can enable education as a COVID-19 response measure or support rural financial institutions to make use of remote sensing technology to deliver green recovery loans.

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