Smart Together: Advancing targeted digital financing and group management dynamics for inclusive agricultural productivity and prosperity in Nigeria

Smallholder farmers face significant barriers, including financial exclusion and limited access to timely, affordable, and quality farm inputs due to bureaucratic middlemen. This proposal seeks to leverage digital solutions to explore how smallholder farmers can by pass middlemen in the agricultural supply chain. The i-agribroom app, developed as part of this project, integrates digital identification systems (NIN/BVN) with financing services and a group management model to enable smallholder farmers to collectively access farm inputs more efficiently. The app is designed to reduce transaction costs, bypass middlemen, and enhance farmers’ output market competitiveness. This project proposes a randomized control trial to assess its impact on smallholder farmers' welfare and productivity. Beyond the findings of the RCT, this project hopes to contribute to policy discussions on digital technology in agriculture and the scaling of digital financial services for rural development.