Agriculture at the Heart of Development
According to Maiga, agriculture employs up to 80 percent of Africa’s workforce and contributes as much as 40 percent of GDP in some countries. He stressed that no job creation strategy can succeed without improving agriculture.
“If you want to create jobs in Africa, the biggest employer in Africa is agriculture,” he said.
The Promise of AgTech
While finance and manufacturing have already been transformed by technology, agriculture has lagged behind. AgTech seeks to close that gap. These companies function like fintechs but tailored to farming, providing services that reduce risk, lower costs, and improve yields. They not only connect farmers to credit but also to agronomic advice, inputs, insurance, mechanisation, and new markets.
In his words, AgTech acts as “an ERP behind every farmer,” digitising and coordinating farming activities.
“Technology has transformed every sector that it was injected into. You look at finance 50 years ago, and more recently the whole fintech revolution. But for some reason, agriculture has remained out of that movement. What we’re trying to do is to inject technology in agriculture to make it efficient and productive as much as technology has done for other sectors.”
– Aliou Maiga, Regional Industry Director for the Financial Institutions Group in Africa, IFC
Real-World Impact: Morocco and Nigeria
Maiga shared how the IFC has piloted projects with AgTech firms. In Morocco, a partnership with Sowit and Al Amana microfinance institution began on 500 hectares and quickly expanded to 20,000. Farmers saw yields rise by 30 percent, while incomes grew by over 50 percent due to better crop quality.
In Nigeria, companies like Babban Gona are already offering integrated solutions, from input provision to market access and profit-sharing. Importantly, most AgTech firms rely on a hybrid approach, with local agents embedded in farming communities to complement the digital platforms.
Barriers: Mindset and Risk Perception
Despite success stories, Maiga said that agriculture is still viewed with caution by policymakers and banks. Most prefer to finance post-harvest activities, avoiding the risks of pre-harvest lending. However, he argued that once AgTech reduces risks, banks quickly see the benefits. IFC supports this process by piloting models and sharing risk while capacity is built.
“But what I’m saying is that sometimes innovation comes from changing fields. It comes from people from outside looking at a sector. But they have to work together. So the first biggest challenge is to get to a point where the incumbents who run and manage the sector understand the need to introduce some kind of innovation into how it is done. That is the first step; it is really about mindset and how to change that.”
– Aliou Maiga, Regional Industry Director for the Financial Institutions Group in Africa, IFC
Data as a Catalyst for Transformation
Digitisation, according to Maiga, brings visibility across the value chain, making farmers more investable and helping governments design better policies. Mobile coverage in Africa now averages around 70 percent, and local AgTech agents extend this reach to rural areas. The real barrier is not infrastructure but scaling workable solutions.
Scaling and the Road Ahead
The IFC aims to reach 5 million farmers by 2030, focusing first on rice, wheat, and maize. Maiga called this target “very small,” noting the much larger opportunity across Africa. He also pointed to the role of AI, where simple photos of crops can now be analysed to detect disease or fertiliser needs, reducing the skills barrier for smallholders.
With shrinking donor aid and global banks retreating, Maiga argued that Africa must build its own financial resilience. AgTech, he concluded, offers one of the clearest paths to self-reliance and growth.
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