2021

FOOD SYSTEMS
SUMMIT

Digital Marketplace Playbook

23 SEPTEMBER 2021
Introduction
Our Digital Marketplace Playbook presents a framework for leveraging digital
and data innovation with supporting cases from emerging markets

A digitally enabled, data driven,

The digital marketplace playbook aims to
sustainable food system can
Guarantee food security, food safety Map key leverage points for data and digital
and inclusion innovation in the food system

Provide high potential for economic growth and Highlight the digital and data solutions driving
value creation innovation across the food system

Share recommendations for governments around

Engage and support small holder farmers
the world on how best to enable inclusive
innovation across the food system
Recognize and apply consumer protection and
engagement principles

Connect farmers with consumers in innovative

and ethical ways

The following presentation will explore transparent, inclusive, sustainable scale models that enable all actors, from
small scale producers to consumers, to build more efficient, climate-smart markets for healthy and nutritious food

3
Our current food systems are not sustainable

The emissions associated with

pre- and post-production
activities in the global food 690 million people were
system are estimated to be undernourished in 2019
21–37% of total net
anthropogenic GHG emissions

Most of the global working More than 10 million lives

poor work in agriculture are lost annually due to
unhealthy eating patterns

Sustainable food systems should focus on ensuring affordable

and healthy food to all people while respecting planetary and social boundaries
Source: UN Food The True Cost and True Price of Food 4
We need local and global partnerships to ensure safe, inclusive, green, eco-
socially progressive food production and consumption

Transforming the approach to food systems Defining a sustainable food system

• In some regions of the world, particularly ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Sub-Saharan Africa, inadequate food Profits & Profitability
production is still the major Jobs/Incomes
cause of food and nutrition insecurity Tax revenues
Food supply
• This focus on food production leads to the
neglect of other areas for the root causes
of the food system’s underperformance Inclusive Green
growth growth ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSUMER
IMPACTS
IMPACTS
Carbon footprint
Food loss & waste
Water footprint
Access & Affordability SFS
• Food systems now encompass the entire Water and soil health
Food safety & quality
range of actors and their interlinked value- Nutrition & Health
Animal & plant health

adding activities involved in the production, Safe & Toxicity

Online protection Eco-social
sustainable Biodiversity
aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption
progress
consumption and disposal of food products
• This requires integrated actions taken by all
SOCIAL IMPACT
stakeholders at local, national, regional, and
Workers rights & safety
global levels and by both public and private Animal welfare
actors Equitable food consumption
(gender, youth, indigenous people)
• Data across food systems acts as a key Cultural tradition
enabler for many actors involved in the
production and consumption of food

Source: FAO, Sustainable food systems – Concept & framework, 2018 (Adapted) 5
Food systems face a wide range of challenges and complex interactions that
impact food security and nutrition
RECYCLING OF FOOD WASTE & FOOD PREPARATION MATERIALS

PLANTING & HARVESTING &

Limited recovery of and
Lack of investment in recycling
INPUT SOURCING
FARMING AGGREGATING
valuable compounds from
of residual waste
organic waste
Lack of access to Soil degradation High PHLs
affordable quality farm due to poor
Limited recycling inputs Climate variability storage
of food waste
Poor
Improper use of chemi- Poor inclusivity of
mechanisms to
cals and unsustainable Smallholder
ensure
farming practices farmers
traceability

PURCHASING & STORING PREPARING & CONSUMING Poor crop planning Lack of access to new

Challenges in (macro & micro-level) technologies to boost productivity

Limited consumer education on

Lack of business systems
(CRMs) that analyse consumer’s
developing Limited consumer voice and ability to impact production
nutritious foods to eat
feedback
sustainable food
Lack of knowledge about impacts of
consuming foods produced with
systems
improper chemicals PROCESSING PACKAGING & LABELLING

High energy and water Slow adoption of recyclable and

inefficiencies functional packaging
DISTRIBUTING & SELLING DIRECTLY TO CONSUMERS
TRANSPORTING & SELLING TO RETAILERS*
Lack of transparency of ingredients
Pollution (GHGs; water)
Limited linkages to off-takers Fragmented distribution and in processed food
and end-consumers supply chain infrastructure

Lack of investment in
Post-Harvest loss
emerging markets

High pollution due to existing

Poor traceability of products
transportation methods

6
Digital solutions are becoming critical enablers of the sustainable food system
but major gaps remain
RECYCLING OF FOOD WASTE & FOOD PREPARATION MATERIALS

PLANTING & HARVESTING &

INPUT SOURCING
IoT for waste reduction Smart bins FARMING AGGREGATING

**Macro Crop Planning Farming-as-a-

@ National & State levels Service (FaaS)
Data matching portions with Redistribution of unwanted
consumption data food
**Smart farming with Digital Sharing
satellite/sensor data Platforms

Digital Financial
Intelligent Crop Planning
Services
PURCHASING & STORING PREPARING & CONSUMING

Digital input
Gamification of sustainability Climate smart digital advisory services marketplaces
Consumption planning apps
purchasing

Digital consumer information Smart food in-

tools ventory appliances

Data driven consumer feedback loops

PROCESSING PACKAGING & LABELLING
Smart appliances for food AI generated
recalls recipes
Leveraging blockchain for
Quality control
Traceability
DISTRIBUTING & SELLING DIRECTLY TO CONSUMERS
TRANSPORTING & SELLING TO RETAILERS*
eWarehousing

Hyper-local Connect Digital Food Digital collective

(Farmer 2 Consumer) Marketplaces buying

Smart Logistics
Demand AI-generated
(Domestic & Export
prediction dynamic pricing
markets)

Note: The asterix marks areas where there is government involvement 7

The large volumes of data being collected are helping to drive transparency,
efficiency and inclusivity in food systems

• Data is collected on platforms that can aggregates multiple agricultural datasets. This
also includes digital registries can establish legal rights and basis for collateral, driving
investment, food security and inclusivity
Agricultural • Insights from datasets such as soil health records, crop yields, weather, and remote
Da
ta Data sensing can inform better farming practices in the agricultural sector
• These data sets and registries can enable emerging technology innovations and
sta
nd
policy decision making, and create proof of ownership to access credit and facilitate
ar

value chain activities that increase productivity and revenue

ds

• Data is collected on the carbon, energy and waste footprint of agricultural production
Sustainability and across the supply chain. Rich data sets can help producers measure, manage and
Data reduce their environmental impact and can be communicated to consumers to
incentivise sustainable purchasing

• Data is collected from different dimensions, including domestic food waste and, the
Consumer more commonly used, supply chain and transactions
preferences • Insights generated through AI algorithms can help uncover hidden behaviour
patterns which can redefine consumer preference and better predict demand.
data Consumers can also be incentivized to modify their behaviours in exchange for cost
savings, rewards, or improved purchasing experiences

• Data is collected on food safety and quality, manufacturing capacity, production

volumes, sales, and supporting the communications and logistics needs of food supply
Supply Chain
chains
Data
• This can help achieve supply chain efficiencies and reduce waste at all stages by
enabling efficiency in production processes, warehousing and distribution

Waste • Food consumption data can be used to design solutions (e.g., size of food portions
Data standards are critical for all types of data collected to supplied for takeout) to tackle food waste and save costs for both sides.
Management
ensure transparency and efficiency in data sharing across the • AI algorithms leverage data on expiry dates to provide dynamic pricing on perishable
Data products can reduce waste whilst boosting revenues.
food system.

8
Globally, government and businesses are innovating to incorporate data and
digital in their food systems

1. LATAM 2. AFRICA 3. ASIA

Agribazaar,
Mercado Red de Ethiopian DigiFarm, Twiga Taobao, Simply Fresh,
Libre Alimentos ATA Foods, ATO Pinduoduo IDEA

We engaged with stakeholders across emerging and developed markets to identify companies we could derive lessons from for
policymakers, entrepreneurs and potential investors. We found that LATAM, Africa and Asia are beginning to explore ways of
establishing inclusive business models with tangible impact on food systems. The case studies spotlighted help readers to
understand the role that government played in supporting or enabling this business model.
9
Data & Digital Solutions driving
innovation in food systems
CASE STUDY DEEP DIVES
The LATAM story

11
Latin America has recently taken interest in the potential contribution of the
ethical use of big data and Artificial Intelligence for economic development

Government-led or supported schemes and incentives

Country-specific initiatives Latin America

• 2018: The government evaluated an AI Platform in • 2020: The Digital Agenda for Latin America and the IMPACT ON ENABLING
sourcing Aquaculture sector information with the Caribbean (eLAC, 2020) was written to catalyse regional
cooperation on digital issues and achieve an inclusive ENVIRONMENT FOR DATA AND
aim of formally incorporating the platform into the
relevant ministry digital transformation DIGITAL INNOVATIONS
• 2020: Rapid growth of e-commerce in Latin America,
• 2019: The government started developing the with agricultural e-commerce and hyperlocal supply ü Incentivizing private sector actors to
Artificial Intelligence National Plan to foster chains increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic which invest in infrastructure and digital
favourable conditions for AI development and
2007 -
2014 expanded access to essential food supplies, perishable solutions for the unconnected
adoption in different sectors produce and semi-prepared and prepared foods population
• 2019: The government held the first congress of
Big Data in Agricultural Innovation*, engaging with ü Promoting regional cooperation and
different actors to explore the potential for the collaboration with private sector actors
modernization of agriculture and international organizations to
2020 encourage cross-regional initiatives in
areas such as AI
• 2020: The Digital Economy Partnership
Agreement with New Zealand and Singapore was ü Instituting data protection frameworks
signed; this will promote digital inclusion, inclusive to protect consumers as data and
trade and support for SMEs digital innovations pick up pace
• 2021: The Personal Data Protection Law was
2015 –
passed, covering data subject rights, data security
2019
requirements and a fining scheme
• 2021: The government started working on the
National Artificial Intelligence Policy; the policy
will address socioeconomic opportunities of AI and
ethical impacts of its use

Sources: Invest Chile, Chile to have a National Artificial Intelligence Policy, 2021; New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade, The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement is a new initiative with Chile and
Singapore, 2021; OECD, IBM Watson AI Pilot, 2020; OECD, Artificial Intelligence National Plan, 2021; FAO, Food systems and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2020; iapp, El Salvador
passes Personal Data Protection Law. 2021; FAO, FAO and El Salvador's Government hold the first congress of Big Data in Agricultural Innovation, accessed 2021; Seeking Alpha, MercadoLibre: A Tale Of
Two Markets, 2020; FAO, Food systems and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2020
Notes: * The IBM AI Platform; **Held in collaboration with FAO 12
LATAM demonstrates that existing e-commerce platforms can play a role in
creating sustainable food systems in partnership with by food manufacturers

Lessons Learnt

Digital

• Innovative use of data and digital technology can involve private companies in delivering social good. Simultaneously tackling
challenges of food waste and food insecurity, whilst facilitating and incentivizing cooperation between the private and
charitable sectors and the huge capacity for growth of models that don’t depend on consumer purchasing power

Data
• Innovative use of data can help to streamlining supply chain infrastructure, bringing large numbers of suppliers and consumers
into a single network, and massively increasing efficiency as a result. Despite having drastically different models and objectives,
both have been successful by acting as the intermediary in a network of suppliers and consumers. Consolidating supply chain
logistics into this single network can reduce costs for the benefit of all

Enabling
Environment
• Existing e-commerce platforms are well positioned to leverage their distribution networks for food delivery - by providing a set
of cross-cutting services for consumers and suppliers alike (e.g., logistics, payment, and credit services, among others) they can
break down various barriers to growth and play a key role in driving the expansion of digital engagement in Latin America

Source: Dalberg Analysis 13

Red de Alimentos established a network of companies and social partners,
delivering food that would have been wasted to vulnerable consumers
• Millions of tonnes of food are thrown away each year in Chile, with more than half of this
wastage coming at the manufacturing and retail stages, as still-edible food is destroyed after Impact achieved
going unsold.
• Since 2010, food bank Red de Alimentos has worked with private companies and social
260,000
organisations to deliver food and other essential products that would have been wasted to vulnerable consumers
Overview

schools, hospitals, and vulnerable families. reached in 2020

• This network now spans 245 companies and 462 social organisations nationwide, and the launch
of a virtual network in 2018 has harnessed data and digital technologies to further streamline 17,000
this value chain, connecting participants directly and facilitating the sharing of transport and tonnes of CO2 saved in 2020
storage infrastructure.
• This virtual network was developed with support from a range of tech companies and major 11,000
retailers, including Google, Walmart, and many more. tonnes of food rescued in
2020
Local food
banks
1,400
service hubs nationwide
managing logistics
Schools

Key success factors

Hospitals
Manufacturers and Virtual Support Network 1400 Service Hubs Distribution
retailers set aside connecting manage storage and
Physical infrastructure
food that would manufacturers, retailers, logistics
otherwise be wasted; and social organisations; Charities
inform the social automation using data to Social movements
organisations what is make that connection as
available efficient as possible
Partnerships
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Red de Alimentos aligned with the Ministry of Social Development to deliver
emergency food parcels to 125,000 families in Chile. The passing of a tax reform in February 2020 incentivising the Digital connections
delivery of products that would otherwise have been wasted also allowed Red de Alimentos to expand its operations.

Sources: FAO, Red de Alimentos 14

Mercado Libre is leading the expansion of e-commerce, logistics, and
financial services in Latin America, with a growing focus on food

• Founded in Argentina in 1999, Mercado Libre is now the largest e-commerce platform in Latin Impact achieved
America, across18 countries,
• Mercado Libre has also branched out into other services, including logistics (assisting sellers with 132 Mn
delivery and warehousing) and payments (providing an integrated digital payments platform,
Overview

initially exclusively for its own marketplace, but increasingly for third parties too) unique active users
• Food had previously represented only a small section of the products sold via Mercado Libre, but
since 2019 its ‘Supermercado Libre’ service in partners has been rolled out in Argentina, Brazil, 57,5 Mn
and Mexico, providing an online supermarket able to deliver food rapidly to consumers.
new users in 2020
• They have also established and advanced data platform which leverages Tableau and Alation to
create a seamless process of data discovery and analysis with the goal of enabling all its 7,500+ 400%
employees with self-service analytics
Increase in sales of groceries
in 2020
Mercado Libre Business Model Analytics ecosystem
STORAGE 86%
Sellers pay commissions on successful Sellers pay set-up and maintenance fees Ownership of the e-
transactions, equal to a percentage of on storefronts powered by us commerce market in
value sold (or GMV)
LATAM
DATA PROCESSING
Key success factors

Sellers pay commission on Established data

Sellers pay for shipping
integrated into their product
successful transactions, equal architecture
to a percentage of value sold
offerings
(or GMV)
Digital payments
infrastructure
DATA DISCOVERY Partnerships
Display banners link directly to client websites, charging on a
CPM basis (cost per impression). Clients bid for keywords, paying
on a CPC basis (cost per click)

15
The Africa Story
In Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia are driving data and digital innovation with a
strong government focus on including small holder farmers

Government-led or supported schemes and incentives

Country-specific initiatives East Africa
2008: The EAC published a legal framework for cyber IMPACT ON ENABLING
• 2007: Mobile money services are started by
security, with provisions on privacy and data protection ENVIRONMENT FOR DATA AND
2014: The EAC makes a commitment to fast-track the
Telcos; light regulation on mobile money by the
2007 - 2014 creation of an ONA (One Network Area, to improve DIGITAL INNOVATIONS
Kenyan government at the onset of MPESA
cross-border communication which stimulates growth in
the regional uptake of digital and ICT
ü Incentivizing private sector investment
in the AgTech start-up ecosystem
• 2019: The Agriculture Sector Transformation and • 2019: The EAC commences a plan to establish an
Growth Strategy (ASTGS) 2019-2029 is launched Information Access Centre (IAC) to boost digital ü Increasing availability of open
and data and digital is identified as an enabler to government in the region government data and data protection
achieve 100% food security best practices, for data analytics that
• 2019: The Ministry of Agriculture requested supports agriculture focused
KALRO to develop the digital food balance sheet innovation
• 2020: The Agricultural Transformation Office
(ATO) led a Unified Agriculture Data Platform to
ü Promoting centralized research in the
support food availability, accessibility and
sector and coordinating information
affordability
• 2020: KALRO continues developing a national sharing in the ecosystem by
agricultural data hub to build a long-term government
information resource for Kenya's agriculture 2019 - 2021
sector ü Connecting ecosystem actors and
• 2020: The government unveils the Digital Ethiopia laying the groundwork for further
2025 strategy to leverage digitally enabled collaboration on innovative digital
pathways for inclusive national prosperity; the projects
strategy highlights building a Digital Agriculture
platform and supporting and incentivizing Ag-tech
entrepreneurship as the means to unleash value in
agriculture
• 2021: State-owned Ethio Telecom launches
Ethiopia’s first mobile wallet

Sources: Global Government Forum, New digital centre planned for East Africa, 2019; World Bank, A Single Digital Market for
East Africa, 2018; PMO, Digital Ethiopia 2025, 2020; Dalberg analysis 2021 17
East Africa demonstrates that collaboration across public and public sector is
a critical enabler for data and digital innovation in food insecure markets

Lessons Learnt

Digital • Digital platforms can be inclusive and scalable for smallholder farmers, generating the data needed to enable critical services
including access to finance, inputs, learning and markets
• Digital innovation can inform food systems of relevant needs in real-time, by responding to production needs as they occur to
lower market risks and promote investment
• Smart food markets can be inclusive for both farmers and consumers, providing voice and engagement that can make markets
more responsive, safe, healthy and affordable
• Digital innovations supporting access to markets are still nascent and require trials and strategic support

Data
• Twiga’s “Farm to Fork” model leverages data across the food system to reduce food waste, increase efficiency and production,
lower prices and drive inclusive food system engagement by farmers and consumers
• The ATO is leveraging data generated by private sector actors to drive development of a national agricultural data platform to
respond to shocks and drive food security

Enabling
Environment
• Transforming the access to agriculture data needs better coordination and lesson sharing across . This helps to embed a data
driven approach and build a culture of data production and use
• Transforming access to agriculture data needs more and improved financing, especially through domestic government funding.
This is a key ingredient to allow prioritized investment in foundational/core systems to allow building of innovative solutions

Source: Dalberg Analysis 18

Ten years of ATA programming has led to consolidating 17 digital data sets
into one data hub to drive strategy, innovation and impact for smallholder
farmers
• Despite rapid network growth and gradual regulatory change in Ethiopia, digital services remain nascent and
Impact achieved
SHFs have low access to these services
• The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) supports partners to identify and integrate
solutions to address systemic bottlenecks in agriculture. 5,6 Mn
Overview

• ATA developed a digital strategy which set out to leverage ATA’s data for impact farmers reached by 8028 IVR
• A Data Hub was developed as part of the strategy. The first version was able to centralize and consolidate solution
existing ATA data sources to provide data insights, deliver enhanced advisory services to farmers and enable
improved agent support. 31,000
• ATA’s vision for the Data Hub is to consolidate all data within the ATA into a single location, leverage FPCs supported by ATA,
consolidated data across all ATA initiatives, and expand access to the Data Hub to partners consisting of 3.45 M farmers.
Land cultivated: 2.7 M hectares
The Data Hub is now being Macro D4Ag Impacts
Other Ag Transformation Drivers
leveraged to: Food & nutrition
Ag GDP growth Social inclusion Jobs
Environmental Agricultural policies
9 Mn
security sustainability
• Provide insights for Input and off-taker markets Farmers supported in Locust
policymaking, program design Nat’l D4Ag Non-digital infrastructure response leveraging ATA data
and implementation, Smallholder Farmer D4Ag Impacts Adoption Regional integration
correlating across data sets to
Yields Income
Addressing climate Gender
Youth employment
Formal > 11,0001
create significantly greater change inclusion employment
insights
Data supports
decision-
jobs created through agri
D4Ag making collaboration
• Support precision agriculture D4Ag Ecosystem Reach & USE

services to improve farmers D4Ag Solution Use Cases

decision making, productivity Advisory services Market linkage Supply chain management Financial access Macro agriculture intelligence Key success factors
and income across agricultural
clusters D4Ag Infrastructure
Ad data (e.g., farmer registries, transactions, soil, weather, remote sensing) See High expertise in digital
• Help farmers build, protect detail in solutions
and leverage economic D4Ag software & analytics D4Ag hardware (e.g., diagnostics, sensors) Fig 4
identities and access financing Strong reputation of
Enabling Environment
ATA
• Allow public and private Business ecosystem Investment/finance ecosystem Incubation ecosystem Doing business environment Human capital
sector to plug in to the Amount of existing data
Digital enablers Digital payments Digital ID Digital literacy Digital and data policies
platform, access data and and farmer reach
connect with farmers Connectivity Digital payments

The Government of Ethiopia is the key player in the ecosystem, primarily driving productivity gains and operating Africa’s largest extension system.

Source: Dalberg Analysis, Mercy Corps Analysis, FAO, Evaluation of the Agency’s impact on agricultural growth and poverty
reduction, 2020. Note: the official statistic may be higher than 11,000 jobs created. 19
Twiga Foods has increased food security by leveraging digital data from
urban retailers and producers to create more access to nutritious food

• Agricultural supply chain inefficiencies and fragmented markets contribute to high food prices and 5,2 Impact achieved
million tonnes of food waste per year in Kenya
• In 2014, Twiga Foods was launched to contribute towards food security and increased access to nutritious 9,000
Overview

food by:
– Providing farmers with higher returns for their produce urban food retailers supplied
– Supplying consumers with affordable high-quality produce through an efficient, safe, transparent and daily*
formal marketplace
• Working with CIAT, Twiga developed two data applications to increase supply of nutritious food in urban 83%
slums
post-harvest loss reduction
Payment to farmers within 24
hours 17,000
Agents bid to Vendors place farmers reached
deliver produce Payment
orders via platform;
made on
from farmers delivery done by
delivery by
Corporate 30%
Notification leased or own
Delivery by vendors average income increase for
from farmers trucks
Twiga trucks farmers
when harvests
reduces waste
are ready
Key success factors

Farmers and Collection Warehouse Distribution Urban food retailers Consumers Infrastructure
vendors centres registered on the investment
Consumer data
registered Quality assessment Twiga warehouses platform and order food
from retailers
on Twiga of produce by operate at highest needed by phone for
improves product Quality control
Foods Twiga Foods staff quality standards to delivery, accessing
pricing and access
platform sent to support ensure food safety working capital through
to nutritious food
farmers and reduce lows credit scoring Partnerships
for consumers

The Government of Kenya actively supported Twiga Foods as a model to drive food security. Their backing was critical in helping Twiga secure Consumer data
USD 10M investment from International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2018c

Note: *33,000 monthly

Sources: UNEP, Food Waste Index Report, 2021; Dalberg Analysis
Safaricom’s DigiFarm platform has pioneered inclusive services for 1.4 million
smallholders with finance, inputs, learning and market access

Impact achieved
• In 2015, SHFs accounted for over 85% of agricultural output nationally, however they struggled to access
affordable quality inputs for farming, and lacked technology to boost agricultural productivity resulting in
most farmers earning less that USD2,50 per day 48% women
Overview

• In 2017, DigiFarm was launched as a bundled services platform supporting AgTech innovators that would female farmers active
to leverage digital and data to scale inclusive finance, enable access to improved inputs, farmer learning,
critical services and market access for smallholders
• The platform, developed with Mezzanine, is supported by Mercy Corps as an innovation partner, backed by 67, 514
Gates & MasterCard Foundations, showing value of development agencies to drive inclusive solutions input loans leveraging data

• Customised package based on soil testing, value chain & potential yield 96%
Inputs
• Link between farmers to local distributors
engagement on digital learning
Finance partners – input Input partners – content
E-subsidy • Access to subsidies provided by the Ministry of Agriculture through the platform
loans leveraging credit high quality input
scoring algorithms provision
Inputs & Credit
• Pre-planting loans for inputs and farm labour costs 2,346 MT
• Cash loans for harvest and transportation of produce
produced across 5 value
Skills development Field partners - Learning & • Digital learning content & call centre with agriculture experts chains*
partners - learning onboarding, farmer information • In-person extension services to help maximise yields
content on platform activation, DVA
and call centre management and Insurance
• Agri-insurance coverage on full yield for farmers Key success factors
service extension services • Minimises weather-related risks

Aggregation • Aggregation of crops to specific locations and times

Farmer knowledge
& delivery • Delivery services from aggregation to buyer and tractor renting services
Market access partners Insurance partners Partnerships
– assured buyers – provide crop Enterprise • Access to products and services available on the platform to organisations that have direct
from the start insurance product contact with farmers Mobile money
of the season penetration
Market • Links farmers to specific buyers
access • Contract model guarantees the purchase at an agreed price point Donor & technical
support
DigiFarm has enabled the Ministry of Agriculture to provide e-subsidies to farmers, leveraging private sector innovation to provide government
support to smallholders, lowering the costs of subsidy distribution. KALRO and DigiFarm also partner to provide satellite driven weather and
Brand presence & trust
agricultural advisory services

Sources: UNEP, Food Waste Index Report, 2021; Dalberg Analysis; *Note: the 5 value chains include maize, sorghum,
sunflower, soya, green grams 21
The Kenya Agricultural Transformation Office is leading a Unified Agriculture
Data Platform to support food availability and stable prices

Data sources Data aggregation Data access

Data Data lake (for data storage) Data access Use case 3:
integration layer Food balance sheet
Batch Working with Microsoft to
Use case 4: early warning develop the Agriculture
system for food price inflation Digital Transformation
Roadmap
Use case 5: agricultural land
optimization model
Real-Time
Cloud based Data
Use case 1 : E-incentives
Architecture and
scheme
Capacity Enhancement

Use case 2: Customised

e-extension

Use case 6: Visualised

dashboard

Use case 7: Joint-access

platform

Examples of cloud providers

Source: ATO, Digitization and Coordination of Kenya’s Agriculture Sector Data, 2021 22
The Agricultural Transformation Office uses data from the Kenya Unified
Agricultural Data Platform to coordinate outcomes across multiple players

Impact achieved
• In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an existing food insecurity crisis in Kenya; with the
immediacy of lockdown protocols also meant limiting the regular flow of and access to food.
• A team of data experts comprising government and non-government volunteers came together to co-create 23,1634
Overview

data driven solutions that enabled the Ministry of Agriculture to have access to reliable and accurate data respondents surveyed
on the availability of food staples in all the 47 counties.
• A total of 26,134 respondents were reached during the survey over the two months. The data was collected
and aggregated in a Food Staples Dashboard, which provides analytics by staple, quantity, price and the 185
location and geographic distribution of the produce. issues directed to the hotline
were resolved
Government Agencies &
Development Partners Private Sector players Ministry of Agriculture was
Associations
able to develop guidelines on
food availability and food prices
that were rolled out across the
country.

Key success factors

Existing mechanisms
from MoALFC

Partnerships

The Food Security War Room (FSWR) within ATO has coordinated ~50 critical stakeholders nationally to ensure that there was availability, accessibility and affordability of food,
and support to farmers during the crisis. Finally, FSWR worked with stakeholders to Maintain agricultural output and value addition (e.g., support operations of large farms and
processors, and limit disruptions to markets including for export)

Source: ATO, Digitization and Coordination of Kenya’s Agriculture Sector Data, 2021 23
The Asia Story

24
Over the past decade in Asia, China and India have enacted several schemes
and incentives to promote digital and data innovation for agriculture

Government-led or supported schemes and incentives

China India
• 2009: Version 1 of Taobao villages is • 2006: Agriculture MMP is launched, pushing GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTION
launched; subsequent versions were for the use of ICT from production to post- TO AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
accompanied by local governments support in harvest activities FOR DATA AND DIGITAL
providing internet and other tailored support • 2010-11: National e-Governance Plan for
to villagers, and subsidies for specialized e- Agriculture is launched, aiming to achieve rapid ü Incentivising private sector
commerce service providers and firms 2009 - 2014 development through ICT use for farmers’ investment in building more
• 2014: The Rural E-commerce Demonstration timely access to information efficient food supply chains
Program is launched with the aim of reducing
poverty and the modernizing rural areas by ü Enabling public-private data
promoting e-commerce sharing to enhance availability of
good quality and reliable data to
• 2019: Digital Agriculture and Rural • 2017: The importance of AI in agriculture is facilitate development of AI-based
Development Plan (2019-2025) is released to established solutions
promote the digital transformation of 2015 – 2019
agricultural production ü Transforming rural internet
infrastructure to increase reach of
digital agricultural solutions to
• 2020: Push from the Chinese central • 2020: The Government of Telangana defines boost productivity
government for more experiments using AI, vision for AI-led innovation
big data, drones and autonomous agricultural • 2021: Ministry of Agriculture announces IDEA
machinery 2020 – 2021 – a framework to establish a comprehensive
digital ecosystem for the agriculture sector

Sources: World Bank Blogs, E-commerce for poverty alleviation in rural China, 2019; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,
Development Plan for Digital Agriculture and Rural Areas, 2019; Xinhua, Yearender: Intelligent technologies drive China's
agriculture modernization, 2021; PIB, National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture, 2021; WEF, AI4AI, 2021; Department of
Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, Consultation Paper on IDEA, 2021 25
Asia demonstrates that consumer buy-in and physical infrastructure (ICT,
logistics) are the backbone for scaling digital marketplaces

Lessons Learnt

Digital
• Digital platforms can build consumer trust and elevate usage by both farmers and consumers, improving market linkages
between the two groups
• Offering a more socially engaging consumer experience, which integrates behavioural insights into the user experience –
maintains consumer engagement, especially through ‘window shopping’ and social engagement
• Ensuring that there is sufficient human capital to apply and monitor digital innovation is crucial in precision agriculture

Data
• Consumer data can enable food suppliers to accurately meet consumer needs (and support farmers to understand required
production volumes and quality demanded) which lowers costs further at the midstream and downstream and gives the
opportunity to innovate and invest in new fulfilment modes of consumers
• There is a need to focus on data protection law to ensure digital security and privacy, especially for SHFs

Enabling • Government can play a critical role in building consumer trust through enabling logistics providers to ensure agricultural
Environment produce could still be transported
• Existing physical infrastructure, policies such as ensuring low payment fees and a framework to improve agri-value chains (cold
chain and logistics) is important enabling environment for digital innovations to scale
• It is important to establish mechanisms for effective engagement of farmers in the decision-making and in defining value

Source: Dalberg Analysis 26

Agribazaar delivers price transparency, traceability of crops and distribution
efficiency for small holder farmers through an online platform
• India’s agricultural sector is hindered by poor supply chain infrastructure, fragmented distribution
Impact achieved
and limited linkages to off-takers and end-consumers which result in ~ USD 1,427 loss in
revenue for farmers due to post-harvest losses
155,000
Overview

• In 2016, Agribazaar was launched as an online marketplace connecting farmers to market; they
have since evolved to an online platform offering pre- and post- harvest services through a users
range of alliance partners1
USD 2,342 –
• Agribazaar utilises Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, big data, Internet of Things, and
drones in providing a range of services, including real time advisory services and digital financial 3,010
annual income opportunity
services for village youth
Crop advisory
Farmers
USD 1 B
transactions facilitated via
Services provided by our alliance partners

Input sales Remote sensing AgriPay since 2017

Traders
Buy/sell 1.5 – 2.5%
reduction in agri-trade
Data analytics Banks
Warehousing commissions

Testing Enterprise
Key success factors
Logistics Smart contracts
Free services for
Government
farmers
Financing

International
Secure payment
Insurance Investment in R&D
gateway
trade
Customer acquisition
In 2021, Agribazaar signed an MOU with the Union Agriculture Ministry to develop and implement a digital agriculture marketing
platform with solutions in the field of crop identification and estimation using remote sensing technology, advisory
Partnerships
services to farmers, post-harvest intelligence, market connect and providing financial access to the farmers.
Sources: Economic Times, Indian farmers face Rs 93,000 cr post-harvest loss, 2020; Outlook, Agribazaar inks pact with govt to
promote digital agriculture in rural India, 2021; Compendium on Emerging Technologies for Agriculture; YOURSTORY, This
agritech startup aims to empower India’s 126M small farmers with technology and data, 2021; Dalberg analysis 2021
27
Simply Fresh delivers food safety and traceability in the food value chain
with the aid of sustainable farming practices and AI

• Conventional farming in India usually employs techniques, inputs and equipment that are relatively Impact achieved
inefficient, often resulting in lower yields
• Launched in 2013, Simply Fresh operates 140- acre and 9-acre precision farms, that have 140+
Overview

contributed towards food security and safety by supplying fresh produce to market year-round
value chains
that is safe and free from pesticides, herbicides and contamination and is produced using
sustainable farming practices 90% lower
• Using a proprietary software (Farm in A Box) that integrates AI-assisted technology and analytics, electricity & water
Simply Fresh harvests high quality produce for further processing or consumption consumption than
• They also assign QR codes on produce packaging enabling traceability from farmer to consumer traditional practices

Climate engineering – AI - RO-processed Hydroponics - Nutrient 15-20 times

Greenhouse roofing water in just the right dosage is determined by
introduces sunlight in a amount to ensure analysing a large amount
Corporates more yield than traditional
steady manner purity of data practices

Retail outlets 5 cities

India presence

Nutraceutical
companies Key success factors

Seed selection - Germination - Nursery - Based Harvesting – Processing Distribution

Seeds are Seeds are on the phase of AI-assisted and Hotels Investment
audited & the placed in an harvest, plants technology and packaging
contaminated enclosure and are moved analytics are based on
lot is rejected treated with fog manually or applied customer
Intrinsic R&D
& optimum automatically requirements
Exports
temperature between phases

Automation
The Government of Telangana has been at the forefront of enabling a conducive innovation ecosystem in agriculture by
enabling digital agriculture initiatives, including the AI4AI pilots in five districts of the State focusing on intelligent crop
Quality assurance
planning and sowing, smart farming, farmgate –to-fork, and data-driven agriculture.

Sources: Simplyfresh.Co.In; Financial Express, Simply Fresh: The start-up grows a full line of medicinal plants leveraging AI,
2020; Dalberg analysis 2021 28
IDEA is a unifying platform for digital agriculture, being developed by the
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
• Most farmers in India are small and marginal farmers with limited access to advanced technologies or formal
credit that can help improve output and fetch better prices.
IDEA – India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture
Overview

• seeks to ‘transform farming’ by leveraging the power of data and digital technologies
• enables creation of secure, interoperable and innovative solutions by the public and private sectors, across
the agriculture value chain.
• supports objectives like food and nutritional security, optimal use of natural resources, enhancing
productivity and profitability of farming, and effective risk management.

1. What are the building blocks of IDEA? 3. Potential Challenges

• CORE building blocks, that include registries, directories, • Quality of land records and digitization
master data, consent manager, security and privacy
• COMMON building blocks, like real-time price ? •
•
Protection of personal data & privacy
Ensuring that the benefits of technology are distributed
information, direct transfer of benefits to farmer, weather equitably
prediction & advisories, digital markets

2. What are the proposed benefits? 4. Recommendations

• Enablement of farmers to take informed decisions • Establish mechanisms for effective engagement of
farmers in the decision-making and in defining value
• Improved access to formal credit & insurance
• Focus on data protection law to ensure digital security
• Better quality of inputs, advisories and logistics and privacy
• Realtime price discovery and smooth connect to markets • Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast

Sources: UNEP, Food Waste Index Report, 2021; Dalberg Analysis 29

Alibaba Group’s digital ecosystem serves rural farmers and consumers
through Taobao’s e-commerce platform and value added services for farmers

• Launched in 2003, Taobao Marketplace provided the space for urban consumers to get access to large Impact achieved
listing of products and services, and connect with other consumers, brands and retailers
• However, considering the growing urban-rural divide and with 40% of China’s population in rural areas, the 100 Mn
Overview

Alibaba Group and the government launched the Rural Taobao program in 2014
mobile monthly active users
• Rural Taobao helps farmers earn more by selling agricultural produce directly to urban consumers. Rural
as at May 2021
Taobao also serves the rural consumer by providing them with access to the variety of goods and services
available to urban consumers at equal prices 3.387 Tn Yuan
• Leveraging Alibaba’s existing digital technologies and on-the-ground network, Rural Taobao also improves
Gross Merchandise Value in
farmers’ productivity by providing advisory services, linkages to farm inputs, and financial products
2020
Input
linkage Payments
2 Bn
Form inputs
listings of products and
Mechanisation inputs
(e.g.tractors, tilling) (e.g. seed, fertiliser, pesticides) services
Agri-insurance
Alibaba AI & big 58.2%
data engine for
agriculture advice Advisory & domestic e-commerce
Financial market share
information Credit product
access
Taobao rural store
services
advisory services Urban-rural Crowd Key success factors
Supply chain funding & offline
management SHF Group lending
Investment
Credit scoring
Market
Supply chain Form product linkages Form produce Infrastructure
management/last Sales(C2C,
Sales (B2C)
mile logistics livestreams)
User experience
Local governments have supported the growth of Taobao villages* by providing infrastructure support, e-commerce
training, and finance. More recently, local governments provide subsidies for specialized e-commerce service providers
Government support
and firms to build an e-commerce ecosystem with e-platform companies.
Sources: World Bank Blogs, E-commerce for poverty alleviation in rural China, 2019; TheStar, How Alibaba’s Taobao solved the trust problem in China and changed the way people shop, 2018; TONG, Taobao: China’s Super
Ecommerce App, 2021; CTA and Dalberg ,The digitalisation of African Agriculture Report, 2019; Dalberg Analysis 2021 .Notes: *A Taobao village is a village with a large number of online merchants that do business mainly through
Taobao.com, depend on the Taobao ecommerce ecosystem, and achieve economy of scale and synergy. 30
Pinduoduo has redefined agri-food e-commerce at the same time as
empowering farmers and consumers through digital platforms
• Launched in 2015, Pinduoduo leveraged the rise in mobile internet and e-wallets to reinvent the
marketplace model and plug a gap in using e-commerce for fresh produce. Impact achieved
• They provide a direct sale platform for farmers to consumers – building on the strong Chinese 788mm
infrastructure and logistics. And as supply and demand became more digitized with growing sales
Overview

volumes, Pinduoduo worked with farmers so that they could grow and market more efficiently active buyers in 2020
and improve quality of products, making the whole supply chain more efficient and reducing (35% YoY growth)
waste 100,000
• By aggregating consumers’ demand, Pinduoduo enabled farmers to sell in large volumes directly to new farmers
consumers across China, allowing consumers to enjoy lower-than-retail prices while farmers grew (young entrepreneurs)
their incomes trained since 2015
Team Purchase Model- Interaction between users to aggregate demand and cut costs 586K
agri-merchants as f 2019
Step 3 (141% YoY growth)
Invite friends on
Step 2 social networks Step 4 270 billion Yuan
Initiate a new Confirm team $42 billion in agriculture-
team purchase Step 3 formation related GMV, up from 136
Step 1 Wait for billion yuan in 2019
Visit Pinduoduo formation of team
platform Product
Review
shipment Key success factors
Step 2 Step 3
Join an existing Confirm team
team purchase formation Investment in
Consumer 1
Individual Team
technology and RnD
purchase purchase
Fresh and low-priced agricultural products Consumer 2
¥36.8 ¥29.9
Mobile penetration
Farmers Consumer 3 (existing apps),
Large, predictable and aggregated demand for agricultural products Consumer … accessibility and
connection
The Chinese government supported the development of factors that allowed agri-food e-commerce to take off– existing Farmer knowledge
physical infrastructure, policies such as ensuring low payment fees and a framework to improve agri VC (cold chain and Consumer
logistics). engagement
Sources: AgFunderNews, Pinduoduo overtook Alibaba. Now it's focused on foodtech to hit profitability, 2021; Singapore
Management University, Pinduoduo: Driving E-Commerce in Rural China to Improve Farmers’ Livelihoods, 2020;
Pindoudou, Pinduoduo: Empowering farmers with an e-commerce platform , 2021 31
Mainstreaming Digital Marketplaces
THE WAY FORWARD
The 30 business models and 12 global case studies reviewed, identified
innovative approaches for mainstreaming inclusive data & digital marketplaces
Digital • Digital platforms can be inclusive and empowering for farmers and consumers, providing safe and straightforward access to
markets, as well as generating data to support productivity, sustainability, and traceability throughout food systems
• Smart food markets can help enable innovative supply chain models that provide farmers and consumers with greater
agency, facilitating more direct pathways for supplying safe, healthy, and sustainable food at a fair price for all
• E-commerce and online trading platforms are well positioned to provide cross-cutting financial and logistical services to
consumers and suppliers alike, although adequate protections must be built into the design of all such services
• Innovative digital solutions leveraging IoT, and AI hold significant potential to promote climate-smart farming practices and
reduce food waste at all stages of the supply chain, but require considerable further investment

Data • Multiple stakeholders must work together to build relevant agricultural data sets to support sustainable food systems, by
coordinating data harmonization, collection and sharing efforts with informed consent of consumers and farmers
• On-going lesson sharing to embed a data-driven approach is crucial to ensuring that all data collection and usage is
beneficial for national and global food systems, as well as the people within them
• Consumer data can enable food suppliers to effectively meet demand for healthy, safe, and sustainable food,
while innovative approaches to data management and stewardship are needed to ensure this is done fairly and equitably

Ecosystem • Governments have a crucial role to play in connecting sustainable and inclusive supply chain models with public and private
Enablers investment, as well as creating an enabling environment to encourage data and digital innovation that centres the needs of
people and planet
• More capital is required for start-ups and for foundational/core ICT systems that enable innovative applications and services
(especially for advanced data analytics at a national level)
• Instituting data protection frameworks for consumers, and clear agriculture policies that incorporate food safety, nutrition,
and sustainability, will significantly strengthen data and digital innovation as a force for good

33
Across the case studies, three opportunities emerge as a starting point for
encouraging data-driven, interconnected, digital innovation for sustainable
and inclusive food systems
1 2 3
DIGITAL PLATFORMS FOR INNOVATION HUBS FOR DIGITAL
COLLABORATIVE DATA
FOOD MARKETS AND AND DATA BREAKTHROUGHS
MANAGEMENT
SUPPLY CHAINS IN FOOD SYSTEMS
Digital platforms can host and integrate Collaborative data management can build National and/or regional innovation hubs can
technologies, products and services for the data-collection, integration and sharing embed and partner with players in government,
benefit of farmers and consumers, developing capabilities within government institutions to private sector and funders, to provide insight and
sustainable supply chains for safe and healthy host agriculture and food data for public good, practical support. Innovation hubs can help all
food. These platforms must be inclusive, while enabling private sector for scale. These stakeholders to build inclusive and sustainable
providing market access for all, with proper can be established with innovative approaches food systems solutions that take farmer and
safeguards in place to data stewardship and standards can ensure consumer needs into account
consumers and farmers are protected

DAPs can promote private sector investment Collaborative data management can facilitate Innovation hubs can facilitate technical and
into digital platforms that maximize the collaboration across multiple stakeholders, financial support to inclusive and sustainable
benefit of innovation for consumers and small streamline data sharing at national/regional solutions, and enable local entrepreneurs to
holder farmers, supported by marketplace level, while governments can act to ensure learn and test both new and existing digital
and data standards that data is used for the public good markets

Examples of digital platforms include Examples data sharing platforms include Potential ecosystem partners could include

34
Digital Agriculture Platforms can help engage and enable partners across the
agriculture ecosystem to maximize the scale and impact of digital innovations
1
PUBLIC SECTOR SUPPORT
DIGITAL AGRICULTURAL PLATFORMS
• Promote the development of digital applications and services to
connect farmers and consumers more directly (B2B platforms, farmer
Where strong digital infrastructure, and private to online retail network, grassroots local connects, group buying apps)
sector innovation exists, DAPs can drive • Improve digital literacy skills of small holder farmers and consumers
who stand to benefit
adoption of digital applications and services for
• Crowd-in investment as part of a longer-term strategy to build
sustainable food systems. ecosystem partners

Digital Agricultural Platforms can also: PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT

• Provide access and donors to secure funding
when needed for start-ups • Leverage private sector skills and capital in scaling up the design and
• Create access to low-cost digital products for development of responsible and customized technologies, solutions,
farmers and consumers and digital support services
• Promote the establishment of fair digital payments infrastructure to
• Establish sustainable farming practices that
lower and improve efficiencies in financial transactions
improve agricultural productivity, address
climate risk and the PHL risk
• Reduce waste by creating direct to consumer ENABLING PARTNER SUPPORT
linkages that boost farmer profits and stabilize • Provide funding for developing digital agricultural platforms, especially
food prices in early stages where final offering may not yet be commercially viable
• Deliver price transparent markets, and reduce • Play a leading role in DAP partners to define partnership
for farmers and consumers arrangements and understand overall benefit of establishing platforms
• Enhance traceability for safe and nutritious • Support DAP partners to maintain the growth and management of
foods for consumers innovative digital solutions and infrastructure to support food systems
• Provide data-driven feedback to adjust policies transformation
on for sustainable food systems transformation

Source: MercyCorps, Digital Agricultural Platforms: Blueprints Executive Summary, 2021 35

Collaborative data management can help drive product innovation, climate-
smart approaches, transparency, efficiency and inclusivity
2
PUBLIC SECTOR SUPPORT
COLLABORATIVE DATA MANAGEMENT
• Establish data protection guidelines and data sharing schemes, which
promote data privacy and ensure that consumers and small holder
farmers have informed consent
Where clear national strategies underpinned by • License data from consumer organizations' product testing back to
agricultural data analysis for sustainable food producers, in order to enhance design quality and safety
systems collaborative data management can • Build data-capabilities and infrastructure within government or quasi-
government institutions to host agriculture and food data for public
embed a culture of real-time data collection,
integration and sharing.
PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT
Agricultural Data Centres can also:
• Promote and foster collaboration with public • Support governments to establish internal technical teams such as
software engineers and data analysts
sector entities and private firms through open
• Provide agricultural data that would support governments data
data-sharing for agriculture
collection and data sharing efforts
• Pioneer the digitization of agricultural data
and research in line with government
priorities ENABLING PARTNER SUPPORT
• Promote evidence-based policymaking in • Aggregate data from players (both private and public) to drive
agriculture sector to resource allocation informed decision making and sectoral collaboration throughout the
towards local food production, nutrition agriculture value chain and ecosystem
outcomes & food security • Provide funding support to national hubs established by the
• Build the data required to promote and government (in collaboration with private sector actors)
support digital applications and services for • Support governments to establish, monitor and evaluate impact of
consumer food waste management and innovation hub’s resources and capabilities on local solutions
reduction in emerging markets

36
Innovation hubs can spotlight local innovations, act as a conduit of capital, and
create an enabling environment to support and test new solutions
3
INNOVATION HUBS FOR DIGITAL AND DATA PUBLIC SECTOR SUPPORT
BREAKTHROUGHS IN FOOD SYSTEMS • Establish and coordinate government ministries to effectively support
innovation hubs and make it easy for entrepreneurs to access
resources
• Develop policies (e.g., regulatory sandboxes) and incentives (e.g.,
Where there is strong collaboration between challenge funds, subsidies, tax incentives) that will promote the
public sector and other ecosystem actors, development localized solutions for sustainable food systems
innovation hubs can align regional/national
strategies for achieving sustainable food systems
with local innovation. PRIVATE SECTOR SUPPORT
• Identify and establish new business partnerships from innovation hubs
Innovation Hubs can also: • Consider providing suitable guarantees to enable identified innovation
hub business partners to access growth capital at financial institutions
• Act as a focal point for financial institutions to • Allocate financial capital, and technical resources to local innovation
crowd in investment providing entrepreneurs hubs
with the capital to alleviate cashflow
constraints as they scale up
• Provide established networks and relationships ENABLING PARTNER SUPPORT
to build outreach to potential partners and • Donors, technical assistance providers and development partners (e.g.,
policy makers CIAT, Mercy Corps, Dalberg) should provide financial resources and
• Provide information and data from the field to advisory services to local players in digital and data innovation for
inform their decision making and product agricultural food systems
development

37
Annex
Spotlight: Innovation Hubs for Digital and Data breakthroughs in food
systems

World Food Program Innovation Accelerator World Economic Forum Food Innovation Hubs
• In 2020, WFP established new Innovation Hubs in Kenya and • 6 Food Innovation Hubs are currently in development in India,
Jordan. These hubs aim to localize their offering by identifying, Colombia, Europe, Vietnam, Kenya and Zambia
piloting and scaling innovations for zero hunger in Eastern • A Global Coordinating Secretariat is hosted in The Netherlands
Africa. to catalyze, support and scale the portfolio and to coordinate
• In Kenya, the WFP Innovation Hub for Eastern Africa secured and share learnings across the emerging network of Food
US$ 3.2 million in funding from the Danish Ministry of Foreign
Overview

Innovation Hubs
Affairs
• The hub launched two innovation programmes — a Bootcamp • The Hubs will leverage technology and broader innovations to
and a Sprint Programme — in collaboration with the strengthen a local innovation ecosystem.
Accelerator and established a partnership with the Hult Prize • All hubs are country-led, multistakeholder, pre-competitive
to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and neutral partnerships focused on scaling and adopting of
market-based solutions.

Access to capital The Hult Prize is an annual, year-long

competition that crowd-sources ideas from students and awards US $1 Digital Inclusion Improving access to technology for farmers,
million in seed funding to the global winner with a focus on food for especially women, through the local innovations that are supported
good.
Benefits

Circular Food Systems Innovation Developing end to

Technical Assistance 6 local innovations are selected to end value chain from farm to fork by using maximum possible
attend the bootcamp and pitch event. This is a week-long programme, innovation opportunities to drive large scale progress on Future 50
where selected entrepreneurs will work with global experts to (among Foods ingredientsfor brands increase and some have seen loyalty rates
others) refine their growth strategies, value proposition as well as increase by 25%-to 60%.
operating and business model
Source: WFP, Innovation Accelerator Annual Report, 2020; WFP, Innovation Hub for Eastern Africa, 2021; WEF, Food
Innovation Hub – Strengthening Local Innovation Ecosystems for Food Systems Transformation (Innovation with a Purpose),
2021 39
Spotlight: Food Waste Management

Wasteless (Europe) Algramo (Chile)

• 85% of retail food waste is caused by the disposal of products that • 40% of plastic in the world is used for packaging, often with a use
have gone past their expiration date. Food waste is the estimated phase of hours and a lifespan of hundreds of years. In Chile,
cause of 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. impoverished consumers are forced to buy smaller products which
• Wasteless uses AI to continuously adjust prices throughout the day can add 30-50% more to the cost on a per-unit basis, due to the high
depending on sales and 42 other parameters including expiry date, cost of packaging.
current date and time, costs, inventory, promotions, special events, • Algramo co-develops smart reusable packaging distribution systems
Overview

competitors and complementary items. The company’s machine into their platform technology so global FMCG brands can reduce
learning technology can be integrated into point-of-sale, inventory packaging waste and minimize product costs.
systems and electronic price tags used by retailers. • Consumers receive product refills ‘by the gram’ in convenient
• Markdowns incentivise consumers to buy products close to their locations, either via vending machines or electric tricycle delivery.
”best-before” date, reducing overall waste and increasing retailers’ The platform links radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagged
revenues. reusable containers with internet of things (IoT) dispensers, allowing
consumers to access products at the lowest price point.

Waste reduced by 32.7% overall in a pilot with a Spanish retailer. Cost of Unilever’s laundry detergent 30% lower than in store.
Revenues were boosted by 6.3% in the Madrid trial, with Margins for brands increase and some have seen loyalty rates
Benefits

Wasteless estimating retailers’ net margins will increase by 3%. increase by 25%-to 60%.
Consumers’ desire to shop more sustainably is being met, along Scaling Algramo’s distribution system, with many products and in
with fair pricing that reflects the likelihood of products going to waste. many markets, has potential to catalyse reusable packaging systems on
a globally significant scale.

Sources: Wasteless; EIT Food, ‘Wasteless’; World Economic Forum, ‘Waste less, sell more - how one startup is using AI to transform food retail’; Ubuntoo Solutions, Algramo; World Economic Forum, Contribution: Algramo.
40
Secondary Use Cases

41
There are other leading innovations across the food value chain that offer
insight into models that could transform food systems

Agricultural Production
Company Name Link to reference model Description Country
Sustainability Data Consultancy that helps food businesses measure, manage and reduce their footprint, including a
Carbon Trust Global
Climate smart digital advisory services cloud-based reporting system, carbon foot printing software and sustainability data analytics

Sustainability Data An online greenhouse gas, water and biodiversity calculator which is free to use for individual
Cool Farm Tool Global
Climate smart digital advisory services farmers that want to identify hotspots and test alternative management scenarios.

A blockchain platform providing supply chain data and transparency for a wide range of food
IBM Food Trust Supply Chain Data Global
industry partners globally

Digital agri-convergence platform that services ecosystem stakeholders through its information
Kalgudi Farming-as-a-Service (Faas) India
and advisory services, inputs and outputs marketplaces, and consumer store

Kenya Agricultural Corporate body formed by the Kenyan Government to coordinate agricultural research in Kenya.
Livestock Research Agricultural Data Created the Food Balance Sheet as part of its strategy to become the central data hub for Kenya
Organization (KALRO) Kenya’s agricultural information

A network providing small dairy farmers with sensors to monitor cows’ rumination and
Margarita Smart farming with satellite/sensor data movements. AI and data analytics is used to make recommendations to improve animal welfare Mexico
and productivity.

Interactive mobile phone platform that provides up to date information to farmers, helps farmers
M-shamba Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS) Kenya
efficiently manage their farms, and connects farmers and traders to potential markets

Mobile commerce solution for rural Africa that combines mobile technology and last mile agent
TruTrade Digital financial services networks to connect agri-input suppliers, financial service providers and commodity buyers to Kenya
smallholder farmers

42
There are other leading innovations across the food value chain that offer
insight into models that could transform food systems

Food manufacturing
Sustainability data
Company Name Link to reference model Description Country

A blockchain platform providing supply chain data and transparency for a wide range of food
IBM Food Trust Supply Chain Data Global
industry partners globally.

Le Marque du An initiative allowing consumers to lead the design of food products, which they can then
Consumer-led food product design France
Consomateur purchase through the online platform.

43
There are other leading innovations across the food value chain that offer
insight into models that could transform food systems

Access to market
Company Name Link to reference model Description Country

BioFerias Network of healthy food markets that buy from local producers and distribute to retailers and
Hyper-local connect Peru
Agroecológicas consumers

A digital platform set up by CDC (a Consumers International member organization), with

Consumo lo que
Digital Collective Buying government support, to allow consumers to buy directly from small- and medium-scale El Salvador
produzco
producers.

Search tool set up by IDEC (a Consumers International member organization) to connect

Feiras Organicas Digital food marketplace Brazil
consumers with opportunities to buy organic food direct from producers

Interactive mobile phone platform that provides up to date information to farmers, helps farmers
M-shamba Hyper-local Connect Kenya
efficiently their farms, and connects farmers and traders to potential markets

A scheme run by Consumers International a member that leverages digital to facilitate the
MGP Distribution Digital Collective Buying India
purchasing and delivery of food to 2,500 of local buying groups.

Ethical consumption platform/app that lets restaurants and individual consumers buy direct from
MUCHO Digital food marketplace Colombia
producers. Also seeks to promote better understanding of the food production process

Fresh produce supply chain company which connects food producers directly with retailers,
Ninjacart Digital food marketplace India
restaurants, and service providers using in-house applications that drive end to end operations

Mobile commerce solution for rural Africa that combines mobile technology and last mile agent
TruTrade Digital food marketplace networks to connect agri-input suppliers, financial service providers and commodity buyers to Kenya
smallholder farmers

Unión de Trabajadores Digital collective buying Producers’ union that have set up a system for collective/community purchasing of produce Argentina
de la Tierra

44
There are other leading innovations across the food value chain that offer
insight into models that could transform food systems

Food consumption
Sustainability data
Company Name Link to reference model Description Country

Meal planning app that allows consumers to build a healthy and balanced menu, and delivers the
ComoQuiero Consumption planning apps Chile
ingredients directly

Gamification of sustainability purchasing ; A mobile app that uses allows consumers to trace the carbon footprint of their food shopping,
Evocco UK, Ireland
Digital consumer information tools while collecting data to incentivize changes earlier in the value chain

45
Glossary of Terms
Digital Innovations

Term Description
Macro Crop Planning @ Leveraging AI and remote sensing in providing advisories on sowing windows, analysing sowing areas, tracking sowing progress,
National & State levels providing advisories on crop varieties.

Access to technology and data on a subscription or pay-per-use basis, including farm management solutions, production assistance,
Farming-as-a-Service (FaaS)
and access to markets, in order to boost productivity and efficiency.

Smart farming with Use of sensors, satellites, and other farm assets to generate and transmit data about a specific crop, animal or practice in order to
satellite/sensor data optimise production processes and growth conditions while minimising costs and saving resources.

Digital Sharing Platforms Digital platforms that enable exchange of resources with farmers, including physical resources and information.

Leveraging technology and data to improve decisions on what crops to grow and ensure that this is done in the right soil at the right
Intelligent Crop Planning
time.

Financial services accessed and delivered through digital channels, such as digital payments, savings, credit, and agricultural
Digital Financial Services insurance, which increase financial access and equip smallholder farmers to improve yields and incomes and invest in the longer-
term growth of their farms.

Digitally delivered information on topics such as agronomic best practices, pests, and weather, that are beyond generalised best
Climate smart digital advisory
practices but recommendations that sustainably increase productivity, resilience, reduce/remove greenhouse gases, and enhance the
services
achievement of national food security and development goals.

Digital Input Marketplaces Platforms which sell inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, crop protection chemicals to farmers.

Sources: GSMA, Digital Agriculture Maps, 2020; CTA & Dalberg, The Digitalisation Of African Agriculture Report, 2019; WEF,
Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation, 2021 47
Digital Innovations

Term Description
Using blockchain to trace crops as they moves through the supply chain, providing buyers with the means to ascertain the veracity of
Leveraging blockchain for
specific “single origin” varieties of produce, or trace back the origin of produce in the event of food-safety risk events, or make
Traceability
assertions about following sustainable production and sourcing practices.

Quality control Measures to ensure that food meets standards of quality, safety, and nutritional value.

Enhancement of warehousing processes and facilities using IoT and AI enabled systems, e.g., Solar-powered on-farm cold room with
eWarehousing
IoT, Warehouse management SaaS, and Blockchain-powered warehouse receipt financing.

Hyper-local Connect (Farmer 2

Hyperlocal retail platforms facilitating direct sales between farmers and consumers.
Consumer)

Digital Food Marketplaces Digital marketplaces that connect smallholder farmers to potential buyers.

Digital collective buying Purchasing of products and services on digital platforms at significantly lower prices when purchasing as a group.

Smart Logistics (Domestic & Effective use of data and software through automating scheduling, routing, dispatching and billing based upon trip requests,
Export markets) customer locations and vehicle availability, to optimise distribution of goods to consumers.

Demand prediction Technology and data driven approach to accurately determine consumer demand and reduce wastage.

AI-generated dynamic pricing Using AI to optimize pricing and incentivize consumers to purchase products that would otherwise go to waste.

Sources: GSMA, Digital Agriculture Maps, 2020; CTA & Dalberg, The Digitalisation Of African Agriculture Report, 2019; WEF,
Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation, 2021 48
Digital Innovations

Term Description
Consumption planning apps Mobile apps helping consumers eat healthily and sustainably through personalised meal plans, grocery lists and purchase records.

Gamification of sustainability
Tools and applications which incentivise sustainable shopping through rewards and the creation of positive habit loops.
purchasing

Smart food inventory IoT appliances such as fridges and storage cameras, which provide consumers with a real-time food inventory, help with food
appliances organisations and provide alerts of food recalls.

Data driven consumer feedback

Data-driven approach to capturing feedback data from consumers to feed into product design.
loops

AI generated recipes Using Artificial Intelligence to generate cooking recipes which substitute meat for alternatives.

IoT for waste reduction Smart food containers, smart cameras and smart fridges which monitor food freshness, allowing consumers to minimise waste.

Smart bins Smart bins which automate waste classification and collect real-time fill level data to streamline waste collection.

Data matching portions with Services such as takeout platforms leveraging the growth in consumer food consumption and waste data to match portion size with
consumption data consumer needs.

Redistribution of unwanted
Digital platforms enabling restaurants, bakeries, canteens and other suppliers to sell their surplus food to nearby consumers.
food

Sources: GSMA, Digital Agriculture Maps, 2020; CTA & Dalberg, The Digitalisation Of African Agriculture Report, 2019; WEF,
Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation, 2021 49
End of Full Report