By Lenah Bosibori
NAIROBI, Kenya — Digital services are helping smallholder farmers access finance, farming advice, markets and weather information. However, as development funding tightens, sustaining these services beyond donor-funded projects is becoming increasingly important.
The challenge will take centre stage at the 10th AgriFin Learning Event (ALE 10), scheduled for 27 October 2026 in Nairobi.
Hosted by Prosper Global AgriFin, formerly Mercy Corps AgriFin, the conference will bring together investors, financial institutions, agricultural technology companies, digital platforms and development partners. They will examine how digital agriculture can move beyond pilot projects to become financially sustainable while remaining accessible to farmers.
Prosper Global AgriFin works with these partners and governments to expand smallholder farmers’ access to digital financial and agricultural services. Since 2012, its programmes and partnerships have reached more than 18 million farmers across Africa and Asia.
Since 2019, AgriFin has worked with nearly 200 institutions, companies, platforms and governments. Its work has demonstrated how combining digital financial services with farming advice can help improve productivity, incomes and farmers’ ability to cope with shocks, particularly among low-income women and young people.
However, reaching farmers is only the beginning. Keeping useful services available requires evidence that they work, strong partnerships, customer demand, suitable funding and businesses that can cover their costs over time.
Under the theme “Leveraging Evidence for Connected, Scalable and Inclusive Digital Agriculture,” ALE 10 will explore how the sector can meet these needs.
Discussions will cover investment, business models and partnerships that connect farmers to finance, inputs, markets and weather information. Participants will also examine the growing role of data, artificial intelligence, digital payments and online safety.
The event marks a decade of learning in digital agriculture and the close of the Gates Foundation-funded AgriFin Digital Farmer II (ADF II) programme phase. It comes as the sector faces growing pressure to show how development-funded solutions can become viable businesses and deliver lasting benefits.
Moving beyond pilot projects
A central question at the conference will be which digital agriculture businesses can succeed commercially and what support they need to get there.
The recently launched Agtech Investment in Emerging Markets report provides evidence to guide these discussions. Commissioned through AgriFin’s AgBase programme and developed by Briter and ISF Advisors, it tracks US$4.39 billion in agricultural technology funding across 17 emerging markets between 2023 and the third quarter of 2025.
The report covers more than 900 deals, 700 funded companies and 900 funders.
It found that investment had stabilized following the market slowdown after 2022, although recovery remained uneven. Businesses in different markets face different funding conditions, levels of commercial development and opportunities for growth.
The question is therefore no longer simply whether agricultural technology companies can attract investment. It is whether their business models suit their markets, what kind of funding they need and what will help them grow sustainably.
The analysis draws on AgBase, Briter’s data and intelligence platform for agricultural and food technology. It tracks investments, funders, deals and market trends across more than 70 markets, with information on over 1,500 capital providers and 3,500 ventures.
At ALE 10, participants will examine how this evidence can guide partnerships and unlock funding for agricultural technology companies and small and medium-sized agricultural businesses.
They will discuss how to match financing to a company’s needs and stage of growth. They will also consider how development funding can help test solutions, build evidence, reduce investment barriers and open markets without leaving businesses dependent on grants.
The aim is not just to attract more money, but to use it effectively so that businesses can continue serving farmers.
Connecting services around farmers
For a smallholder farmer, a loan alone may not be enough. Farmers also need quality inputs, practical advice, reliable weather information, buyers, and ways to manage risks.
Yet these services are often offered separately, leaving farmers to deal with several providers and disconnected information systems.
The next phase of digital agriculture will depend partly on how well these services work together around farmers’ needs.
Better connections can help financial institutions make informed decisions, allow agricultural businesses to serve customers more efficiently and improve farmers’ access to useful information and opportunities.
ALE 10 will explore how technology providers, financial institutions, governments and development partners can work together to improve these connections.
Weather and climate services will also be part of the discussion. These tools can help farmers plan production, manage risks and make decisions as weather conditions become less predictable.
Keeping them available to large numbers of farmers, however, requires long-term funding models that recognize both their commercial potential and their wider public benefits.
The goal is to move beyond separate applications towards connected services that are easier to access, inclusive and financially sustainable.
Making data and AI useful and safe
As digital agriculture grows, using data effectively and responsibly is becoming more important.
Trusted data systems can improve information sharing and decision-making in agricultural finance. Reliable digital payment systems can make transactions easier and help more farmers and agricultural businesses access financial services.
ALE 10 will offer masterclasses on trusted data systems for agricultural finance, sustainable agricultural payment systems, and digital safety and security.
An artificial intelligence showcase will highlight emerging applications. A farmers’ experience centre and a marketplace exhibition featuring more than 15 exhibitors will give participants a chance to explore practical technologies and services.
These activities will connect discussions about funding and partnerships with the tools shaping agricultural services.
They will also highlight the need to protect digital systems, handle data responsibly and develop solutions that meet the needs of farmers and the businesses serving them.
The test is whether emerging technologies can move beyond experimentation to solve practical problems, improve services and create lasting value.
Under the AgriFin Digital Farmer II programme, 7.6 million farmers were registered, exceeding the target of five million.
These figures show how widely digital services can reach. But they also raise important questions about what happens after registration.
Do farmers continue using the services? Do the services meet their needs? Can the businesses and institutions providing them keep operating?
ALE 10 will provide a platform to examine these questions, share lessons and identify practical next steps. The programme will close with reflections on key lessons and commitments aimed at turning discussions into action.
For agricultural technology companies, the task is to develop useful solutions with a clear path to financial sustainability. Investors need to match funding to business models and stages of growth.
Financial institutions and technology providers must connect their services more effectively. Development partners, meanwhile, can use funding and technical support to build evidence, reduce barriers and strengthen markets.
As digital agriculture enters its next phase, the challenge is no longer only to show what technology can achieve. It is to build the partnerships, businesses and financing systems that will keep useful services available to farmers long after individual projects end.
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