From Awareness to Action: How EzyAgric's Digital Platform Boosted Farmer Engagement and Tackled Counterfeit Inputs

Digital platforms revolutionize agriculture by resolving supply chain inefficiencies, improving agronomic information dissemination and promoting inclusivity. They provide real-time e-extension and input availability, enabling precise decision-making and boosting productivity. Additionally, these platforms enhance transparency, traceability and profitability by directly linking farmers with input and output markets, especially in fragmented agricultural systems.

This study examined the efficacy of the EzyAgric digital platform in assisting Ugandan farmers to mitigate counterfeit agro-inputs. EzyAgric was selected for its high impact potential, notwithstanding low user engagement. It was identified from 32 digital platforms offering innovative cross-value chain services in Uganda’s agricultural sector through a scoping study conducted under the CGIAR Rethinking Food Markets Initiative‘s work package 3. A collaborative partnership was established with EzyAgric to devise and implement strategies aimed at enhancing farmers’ awareness of the platform to increase their engagement. The awareness-raising strategies focused on EzyAgric’s agri-shop feature, which streamlines agro-input supply chains and addresses counterfeit issues.

Data collection for the intervention was conducted at two levels: population-level data from the EzyAgric database, encompassing orders, input quantities and values, and farmers accessing e-extension was captured before and during the intervention periods. The second level comprised a randomized controlled trial (RCT) which provided data over two waves: a baseline in September 2023 and a follow-up in September 2024. The inclusion of both real-world data and experimental methods strengthened the study’s ability to measure the effects of the intervention.

The intervention enhanced farmer engagement across various key metrics including orders, transaction volume, and interaction with agronomic information. This outcome suggests the efficacy of awareness-raising strategies such as promoting the agri-shop feature in increasing the platform’s adoption by farmers. Continuous efforts are needed to maintain and improve user engagement, particularly among farmers yet to adopt digital agricultural solutions.