Datos atípicos y diagramas de caja

Rwanda has supported remarkable growth in D4Ag by investing in large- scale digital hardware and systems. The

government has digitised its national identity card system, land titles, platforms to access government services (Irembo), and social registry (Ubedehe). Rwandans’ participation in these programmes has increased familiarity with digital technologies, priming them to use digital

solutions in agriculture. Physical infrastructure has also contributed to this enabling

environment. For example, the government has prioritised the installation of fiberoptic network connections in all districts.422

CTA’s ICT4Ag international conference in Kigali

CTA hosted an international conference in Kigali, Rwanda, in November 2013, that focussed on the use of ICT in agriculture. Over 400 people attended, ‘to explore the possibilities that ICT can provide in agriculture and to develop new solutions that can improve the day-to-day operations of Africa’s millions of farmers’.423 _{The conference}

included a number of sessions on ICT4Ag-related topics, a hackathon, and a “plug and play day” – during which numerous digitally-enabled solutions for agriculture were presented to attendees.424 _{This conference set the}

stage for the ICT4Ag sector in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to grow and attract international attention.425

The subsequent advancements have now equipped Rwanda to move from ICT4Ag to D4Ag and to transition from government reliance to sustainability.

To attract D4Ag investment, the government has begun to consolidate Rwanda’s fragmented agriculture sector, but this may only help larger farmers.

The government has consolidated farms based on agro-climatic positioning, which has significantly increased the average farm size (previously it was just 0.2 hectares). It also organised farmers into cooperatives and sub-national markets. For example, 350,000 farmers were divided into 300 districts, each of which has a designated coffee aggregator who purchases coffee. D4Ag enterprises tend to reach farmers via such aggregators so these government-led steps make Rwanda a more attractive country for D4Ag activity and allow D4Ag firms to serve larger groups of aligned farmers who have shared paths to market. We have yet to see clear evidence of the impact of this consolidation on farmer productivity, but some experts assert that it tends to help only farms that are above average in size.426

Donors and NGOs have also supported efforts to scale-up D4Ag in Rwanda.

FAO chose to pilot their new initiative, Agricultural Services and Digital Inclusion in Africa, in Rwanda and has developed four smallholder farmer-focused digital products and services to launch in 2019. One Acre Fund created and is beginning to trial a digital enrolment system that runs on USSD. This application is intended to increase adoption by allowing farmers to self-enroll with limited assistance from a field officer. This could dramatically increase the field officer’s management capacity from an average of 300 farmers to as many as 2,500 farmers. One Acre Fund also collaborated with the Rwandan government in farmer mobilisation and registration in the Smart Nkunganire System, ‘a supply chain management system built by BK TecHouse Ltd in collaboration with Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board to digitalise the end-to-end value chain of the agro-input subsidy programme’.427

In response to this ecosystem-building, a few D4Ag firms have located operations in Rwanda but private investment remains low. N-Frnds records farmer

transactions to incentivise soft loans from banks, charging the bank for each loan obtained by leveraging its data. Kumwe developed internal digital tools to track market transactions and optimise transportation from farm to market. Both Kumwe and N-Frnds are generating healthy revenues and running sustainable businesses, but they need capital and broader markets to scale. Private investors, namely, venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) firms, have not yet demonstrated much interest in this space. On the other hand, Charis Unmanned Aerial Solutions (UAS) Ltd., a youth-led startup incorporated in 2014 and now employing 15 youth, offers drone-based services to various industries, including agriculture, and is growing fast. It now provides services to private sector and government agencies in Rwanda, opened a satellite office in Côte d’Ivoire, and also executes contracts in neighbouring countries. The company attracted foreign investment which allowed further expansion.

populations are less digitally savvy; and their agricultural sectors are fragmented. The result is that many companies are hesitant to expand into these neighbouring geographies (Uganda and Zambia perhaps more so than Tanzania).

To help its D4Ag firms, Rwanda should look to coordinate its D4Ag policy with other countries in the region.

Regional integration has served Rwanda’s economic growth well in the past decade. Rwanda now has an opportunity to promote digital technology as part of this regional integration, and given their sharp dependence on agriculture, D4Ag should be a central component.

Lessons

uThe Rwanda example highlights that

active government investment in the broader enabling environment has strong impacts on innovator interest in building D4Ag businesses in country. Strong, public declarations of commitment to building out ICT infrastructure and PPP models can stimulate investor demand, as well.

uD4Ag players operating in small countries will likely need to expand across borders to reach financially sustainable scale. That likely requires more regional cooperation.

uThe consolidation of farms helps attract D4Ag investment but may increase the productivity of large farms only, rather than smaller farms and more marginalised groups.

Rwanda has pledged to address the need for greater investment from the private sector. It introduced tax exemptions

on ICT and agriculture imports, access to land that favours agribusinesses, and access to extensive data about farmers. In late 2018, the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Rwanda Development Board announced the creation of a ‘one stop centre’ for investors committed to increasing annual investment in agriculture to €80 million.428 _{Toward the}

same end, the government also strengthened its focus on the expansion of innovation and skill building in Rwanda. Knowledge Lab (kLab) is an ‘open technology hub’ that supports entrepreneurs with mentorship, networks, and more.429 _{In 2014, CTA collaborated with kLab}

and others on the Rwanda National ICT4Ag Hackathon.430 _{Carnegie Melon, Andela}

University, and African Leadership University have talent centres in Rwanda that build needed local skills. Additionally, the

€90 million Rwanda Innovation Fund plans to “support between 20 and 25 ICT companies, of which at least 10 will grow into $50 million worth of corporation in 10 years.” 431 _The

government will contribute 30% of the capital needed for this fund.432

To become viable, Rwanda’s D4Ag firms may need to expand into new countries with less receptive markets. Rwanda’s

small size makes it difficult for firms operating there to hit the scale needed to become profitable. The natural response is to expand into nearby countries. Uganda, Zambia, and Tanzania are likely targets, but these markets are likely to present new barriers to overcome – they are mostly cash-based economies; their governments are less pro-D4Ag; their

The analysis of the G5 countries (Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Mauritania) was not done with the same level of detail as the Senegal case study. Nevertheless, the intention is to give a flavour of the specific challenges in these countries based on desk study, interviews, and responses to a survey. The Sahel countries face unique challenges to D4Ag scale-up, making them different from neighbouring countries.433 _Solutions,

however, could make a large impact in the region, and a few early movers have provided precedents to potential entrants, even under difficult conditions.

Key D4Ag statistics:

Total users of solutions headquartered in Sahel434 _{5.7 million}

Number of solutions 28 (headquartered); 92 (with a presence)

Most common primary use case of solutions Advisory services. Snapshot of D4Ag solutions:

SAHEL