What sort of digitalisation do family farmers need?

Call to action 25 November 2025
Digitalising the agricultural sector is a major challenge for countries in West Africa, backed by growing public and private investment and by a real craze for mobile phones and associated services. However, despite a multiplicity of agricultural apps developed by tech and agritech start-ups, they have not been widely adopted by producers. The latest issue of Perspective analyses the obstacles to and levers for a digital transition that is still a long way from fulfilling all its promises.
In West Africa, telephones are virtually the only digital tool used. 20% of people do not have one, 60% have a simple phone and 20% have a smartphone 漏 Jugaad, T. Cytrynowicz

In West Africa, telephones are virtually the only digital tool used. 20% of people do not have one, 60% have a simple phone and 20% have a smartphone © Jugaad, T. Cytrynowicz

While public policy sees digital technology as a lever for modernising value chains—optimising production, traceability, financial inclusion—, recent research has highlighted the divide between the ambitions expressed and the reality on the ground. In West Africa, although there are specialised apps funded by international partners, those apps are often under-used. The culprit is economic models relying on a willingness to pay that does not exist, over-complex or unsuitable tools, and unsustainable maintenance requirements.

This issue of Perspective retraces the results of the Fracture numérique (Digital divide) project conducted in Benin, Ivory Coast and Senegal, in three contrasting value chains (market gardening, cocoa and dairy). Analyses showed that it is not necessarily the most sophisticated digital tools that best meet producers' true requirements.

Mobile phones: a central tool, simple uses anchored in reality

The study highlighted the importance of mobile phones, which are already widely used for day-to-day tasks such as calls, mobile money, instant messaging, and organising production and marketing. Producers prefer:

  • simple tools,
  • in line with their usual habits,
  • accessible even without a permanent connection
  • and requiring little in the way of training.

Instant messaging groups, for instance, prove to be longer-lasting, more inclusive and more useful than special apps that call for specific training.

schéma usage téléphone agriculteurs afrique de l'ouest

Like elsewhere, inequalities persist: men, young people and the better-off have better access and digital skills. These "digital divides" directly influence the appropriation of tools and must be taken into account in any public or private digitalisation project.

More realistic, targeted digital solutions

The authors of this issue call for a rethink of the current approach. Rather than striving to impose standard high-tech models, they recommend:

  • strengthening rural digital infrastructures,
  • building on tools people already know how to use,
  • developing simple solutions for producers, 
  • and more advanced tools for other value chain stakeholders (businesses, advice services, collectors, etc),
  • while considering digital technology as a societal lever, rather than as an innovation that should rapidly be self-funding.

The challenge is to support agroecological transitions, facilitate the circulation of information and structure value chains, rather than developing new apps producers do not want.

See also