Digital Farmer Services in Nigeria: The Farmer Perspective
Roughly 500 million farms of less than two hectares are responsible for producing a third of the world’s food supply. These farms are often in remote areas, in fragmented supply chains and disconnected from markets. They are also among the most vulnerable to increasingly frequent climate shocks. Digital solutions offer the promise of transforming how these farms operate. Mobile technologies, farmers can access critical information and services, and connect with other market actors, without the time and logistics associated with in-person interactions.
This ecosystem has relied largely on supply-side metrics like number of ‘solution providers’, ‘registered farmers’ or ‘ app downloads’ to understand its scale, growth and impact. While this data is valuable, it provides limited insight into the reach of these services and the actual value they bring to farmers.
To address this gap, the Gates Foundation, Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, and 60 Decibels partnered to develop a farmer- centric and replicable methodology for generating population-level insights on Digital Farmer Services (DFS). 60 Decibels piloted this methodology in Kenya and Nigeria, two leading markets for digital agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa which collectively account for 45% of digital agricultural solutions in the region.
This report presents insights gathered by the Nigeria National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) team from 1,374 farmers across Nigeria during the 2023-24 agricultural season.
