Digitalizing the informal agricultural sector in Mauritania
Lack of access to market for Small Scale Producers (SSP) makes the whole cycle of inequality exponentially worse with the COVID-19 pandemic. The economic cost of food loss due to lack of proper supply chain mechanisms is terrifying.
Inclusive agricultural transformation posits that the agricultural sector will play a pivotal role in advancing economic growth in Mauritania. The modernization of farming systems is a key element. Modernizing agriculture will require more efficient and diversified agricultural production and a transition from predominantly subsistence farming to small-scale producer (SSP) entrepreneurship, to enable access to market, improvements in quality, quantity, and diversity of food production. Additionally, SSPs will need improved connectivity to inputs, finance, and markets.
The Accelerator Lab in Mauritania tested a digital Agri-Bank platform that helps to facilitate the grouping of Small-Scale Producers (SSP) products into a bigger production scale for market supply.
Small-scale crop and livestock producers in Mauritania face many challenges and barriers to becoming sustainable farm entrepreneurs. These include lack of access to markets, lack of timely and relevant advisory information, limited access to tailored finance and insurance products or social safety nets, few entrepreneurial decision support tools, and lack of access to commercial markets and options for selling. Equally challenged are the value chain stakeholders who rely on inefficient and analog systems to service farmers. Progress in agricultural modernization is threatened as climate change is increasing weather variability and farmers’ ability to predict, adapt and absorb risk. As recent events have shown with COVID-19, the poor are extremely vulnerable to compounding shocks.
The Agri-Bank digital platform in Mauritania drives agricultural transactions in combination with the service and buyer’s partnership network.
The Platform
This innovative digital solution has a potential to scale, integrate and bundle SSP products in to one big product for market. The solution addresses challenges facing small scale crop and livestock producer entrepreneurs in agricultural input supply, finance, market access, and decision support tools.
Features of the platform
· A user-friendly platform that generates market opportunity for SSP and industry buyers.
· The platform will facilitate post offer and bidding service. Buyer, post bids for the agricultural crop they are looking to buy, and sellers post offers for agricultural products they are willing to sell.
· For the first six months of operation, the platform will not charge the buyers, they will only pay delivery fees. This will help them to build confidence in local products produced by SSP.
· After the first six months, both buyer and seller pay a small fee to Agri-Bank once a transaction is made. This resource will be used to give loans to those who want to expend their SSP.
· Agri-Bank will accommodate payments between buyer and seller, product quality check options, and end-to-end logistic services.
Hadina RIMTEC is in-charge of the platform to coordinate subscriptions from big buyers such as supermarkets, hotels etc. This gives the opportunity to SSP to consolidate their different small productions into one big sale. It is evident that when selling in small quantities it is not as sustainable for big buyers as in one big quantity. SSP would have the opportunity to create a bigger market from their small farms and supply collectively to meet market demand. This also contributes to market data and demand dynamics, which would help to inform SSP which crops to grow, and which crops sell most.
The app was tested for over two months with small scale producers and Accelerator Lab is now working on the scaling up face.
“This platform is helping us to sell our products faster and use the money to take care of our family and produce more. Before, our vegetables use to perish because we can’t take them to the city centers where we can sell them” — Amina a Small Scale Tomato Producer
The goal of AgriBank is to regenerate human and environmental health, rather than simply to make money. This approach is better for the farmers, who have a safe, pleasant, and rich work environment. And it’s better for us — all of us.
I. Link to the play store version : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smpnt.agribank
II. Link to the App store version https://apps.apple.com/mr/app/agribank/id1587879509
III. Link to the web version https://agribank6829e.web.app/login
