AgriConnect: How the World Bank Group’s New Initiative Is Set to Accelerate Digital Transformation for Africa’s Smallholder Farmers

By Editor | February 18, 2026

Ajay Banga - President, World Bank Group

Smallholder farmers feed Africa — yet most remain trapped in subsistence cycles. With 500 million small-scale producers responsible for 80% of the continent’s food, the gap between potential and reality is massive: low yields, high post-harvest losses, limited finance, and weak market links.

In October 2025, the World Bank Group launched AgriConnect — a bold, coordinated initiative designed to change that equation. AgriConnect aims to transform smallholder farming from subsistence to surplus by building stronger cooperatives, better market connections, improved access to finance, and — crucially — digital tools that put real-time information and services directly into farmers’ hands.

For South African smallholders and emerging farmers, who still face a 60% productivity gap compared to commercial operations, AgriConnect offers a timely blueprint and potential pathway for scaled digital transformation.

What Exactly Is AgriConnect?

AgriConnect is not another standalone project — it is a platform and operating model that brings together the entire World Bank Group (World Bank, IFC, MIGA), partner institutions (IFAD, AfDB, IDB, FAO), governments, private sector, and farmer organisations.

Key commitments announced at launch:

• Double World Bank Group annual investment in agribusiness to $9 billion by 2030.

• Mobilise an additional $5 billion per year from partners.

• Focus on moving smallholders from subsistence to commercially viable agribusinesses.

• Prioritise three interconnected pillars: Farms (productivity & resilience), Firms (agribusiness growth), and Finance (de-risking capital).

The initiative has already begun rolling out country compacts. Senegal became the first in February 2026, targeting grains, horticulture, and livestock.

How AgriConnect Specifically Targets Digital Transformation for Small Farmers

Digitalisation is described by the World Bank as “the glue that holds the system together.” Here’s how the initiative directly benefits smallholder farmers through digital means:

1. AI-Powered Advisory Tools on Basic Phones

   
   

   AgriConnect supports scalable, low-bandwidth solutions such as smartphone or feature-phone apps that diagnose crop diseases from a photo, recommend fertiliser adjustments, deliver weather alerts, and prompt timely action. These tools are being rolled out in partnership with tech companies (including a highlighted collaboration with Google) to reach farmers who have never used a smartphone before.

2. Digital Finance & Insurance

   
   

   By combining satellite data, mobile money records, and AI credit scoring, AgriConnect aims to de-risk lending and insurance for smallholders who traditionally have no collateral. This means faster, cheaper access to seeds, fertiliser, and payout protection against drought or pests — without the usual mountains of paperwork.

3. Digital Market Linkages & Traceability

   
   

   The initiative promotes digital marketplaces and traceability systems that connect small farmers directly to buyers, reducing middlemen and post-harvest losses. Blockchain and simple SMS-based platforms will help farmers prove quality and origin — opening doors to premium markets and AfCFTA trade opportunities.

4. Digital Public Infrastructure

   
   

   AgriConnect emphasises shared digital public goods: open weather data, soil maps, pest databases, and farmer registries. These public assets lower the cost for private innovators to build useful tools and ensure smallholders are not locked out by proprietary platforms.

5. Skills & Last-Mile Delivery

The programme invests in training and community-level digital champions so that even farmers with low literacy can benefit from voice-based or visual interfaces in local languages.

Why This Matters for South African Smallholders

Although AgriConnect’s first country compact is in Senegal, the model is designed for rapid replication across Africa. South Africa’s smallholder and emerging farmers stand to benefit through:

• Knowledge transfer and best-practice sharing via AU and SADC channels.

• Potential future country or regional compacts that align with South Africa’s National Agri-Tech Strategy and DALRRD’s digital innovation hubs.

• Increased availability of proven, low-cost digital tools (many already piloted in East and West Africa) that can be adapted locally.

• Greater access to blended finance and de-risked capital for AgriTech startups serving South African smallholders.

  
  

For the millions of South African farmers still on the wrong side of the digital divide, AgriConnect reinforces the urgency of expanding rural broadband, subsidising entry-level devices, and developing local-language, offline-first solutions.

The Bottom Line

AgriConnect is one of the most ambitious attempts yet to move beyond isolated pilots and create a coordinated ecosystem where digital transformation actually reaches the smallest farms.

It won’t solve every problem overnight, but by focusing on digital public infrastructure, de-risked finance, and scalable, low-bandwidth tools, it directly tackles the barriers that have kept most smallholders on the margins of the digital revolution.

For South Africa, the message from AgriConnect is clear: the technology exists, the funding momentum is building, and the time to close the digital divide in agriculture is now.

Farmers and AgriTech players — watch this space. Country compacts are coming, and the tools being refined under AgriConnect could soon make digital farming truly accessible to every South African smallholder.