The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Mastercard are cochairing an initiative, Mobilising Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance Africa, which aims to provide digital access to critical services for 100 million people and businesses in Africa over the next 10 years.
In the first phase of its $300 million commitment to the Alliance’s initial five years of programming, the African Development Bank aims to bring three million farmers in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania into the digital economy via Mastercard Community Pass.
Community Pass gives farmers a digital credential to access a network of digital agricultural agents. Alliance members include Equity Bank Group, Microsoft, Heifer International, Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, Unconnected.org, Yara, Kenya National Farmers’ Federation, Shell Foundation, and CRDB Bank.
The Alliance also utilises financial support from the U.S. Agency for International Development. During the World Food Day, African Development Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Dr. Beth Dunford, commended on the posisibilities digitalization brings to Africa’s farmers and food systems.
Why speaking on MADE Alliance Africa choose to focus on the digitisation of agriculture for smallholder farmers and women as its first initiative, and why do you think the African agriculture sector holds so much potential, Dunford said:
“Africa is home to 65 per cent of the planet’s remaining uncultivated, arable land, and we believe that agriculture is a critical sector to drive Africa’s development.
“Agriculture accounts for nearly 60 per cent of total employment in Africa and accounts for more than 25 per cent of GDP in its low-income countries. Across the continent, there’s no agriculture without women.