Income growth and urbanization are driving changes in agrifood value chains in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), expanding business opportunities for individuals and firms involved in moving food from rural to urban areas. This value chain midstream is a promising entry point for efforts to expand digital finance, offering benefits not just to firms adopting new applications but across food systems.
Digital finance—including online payments, banking, loan processing, and other services accessible by mobile phone or computer—can improve the efficiency, transparency, and resiliency of intermediary agrifood firms. These innovations also help both producers and consumers. Smallholder farmers benefit from reduced transaction costs, receiving higher prices; at the same time, more efficient, transparent, and resilient links up and down the value chain can result in lower prices for consumers.