Supporting Agricultural Entrepreneurs in West Africa

Summary

In 2025, myAgro committed to support 250,000 smallholder farmers—at least 60% of whom are women—across Mali, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire by 2027 through access to climate-smart input packages and training in regenerative agriculture practices. The commitment seeks to address persistent barriers to farmer productivity, income stability, and climate resilience and build partnerships with governments and agricultural research institutions in West Africa. Using a mobile layaway model, myAgro will deliver seeds, fertilizer, poultry, and training to help farmers grow food year-round and navigate climate shocks. The organization aims to help farmers generate $50-150 of additional income per year and achieve 50-100% yield improvements. In addition to smallholder farmers, the project is expected to directly impact 2,000 Community Ambassadors providing outreach and support to farmers and indirectly benefit 1.8 million individuals through improved food security and increased household income.

Approach

MyAgro committed to providing access to climate-smart input packages and training on regenerative agricultural practices to 250,000 smallholder farmers—at least 60% of whom are women—across Mali, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire. MyAgro measures success by the increases in yield and income that are seen by smallholder farmers who purchase packages of high-quality inputs and training. MyAgro’s model is designed to help farmers generate $50-$ 150 of additional net income per year and see a 50-100% increase in yields (in the case of drought, $25-$ 50 income and a 25-50% yield increase) . In 2024, myAgro farmers earned $89 more than control farmers and grew 206% more food.

MyAgro’s mobile layaway platform enables farmers to save in small increments to purchase these packages, which are delivered before the planting season. This includes year-round products that diversify their food and income sources, such as poultry. MyAgro scaling its poultry program—as it is moved from a pilot stage to myAgro’s primary business—will benefit farmers by giving access to dual-purpose chicks that can be raised for nutrient-dense meat and eggs. These poultry products are climate-resilient and can be consumed or sold throughout the year, stabilizing nutrition and income for families even during the lean season.

With its accessible payment model, diverse products, and last-mile approach, myAgro is designed to serve rural small-scale producers who are often excluded from existing agricultural financing and services. By building government partnerships in these West African countries, myAgro will be able to grow the number of smallholder farmers it serves. Additionally, myAgro will collaborate with agricultural research institutions (such as the Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute [ISRA] in Senegal and L’Institut d’Economie Rurale [IER] in Mali) to provide farmers with products that will maximize productivity, climate resilience, and biodiversity.

Action Plan

The annual deliverables for myAgro’s commitment are as follows:

In 2025, myAgro aims to 1) serve 250,000 farmers–60% women– across Mali, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire with climate-smart input packages and training on regenerative agricultural practices; 2) collect $6.7 million in layaway payments from farmers, an average of $26.70/farmer; 3) expand myAgro poultry to serve 50,000 farmers in Senegal – increasing income diversity, climate resilience, and inclusion for women and landless farmers; and 4) support farmers to generate $50-150 of additional net income and 50-100% yields (in case of drought, $25-50/impact and 25-50% yield increase) .

In 2026, myAgro aims to 1) serve 182,500 farmers–60% women–across Mali, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire with climate-smart input packages and training on regenerative agricultural practices; 2) collect $4.7 million in layaway payments from farmers, an average of $26/farmer; 3) expand myAgro poultry to serve 70,000 farmers in Senegal – increasing income diversity, climate resilience, and inclusion for women and landless farmers; and 4) support farmers to generate $50-150 of additional net income and 50-100% yields (in case of drought, $25-50/impact and 25-50% yield increase) .

In 2027, myAgro aims to 1) serve 250,000 farmers–60% women–across Mali, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire with climate-smart input packages and training; 2) collect $6.7 million in layaway payments from farmers, an average of $27/farmer; 3) further scale myAgro poultry in Senegal to serve 90,000 farmers – increasing income diversity, climate resilience, and inclusion for women and landless farmers; and support farmers to generate $50-150 of additional net income and 50-100% yields (in case of drought, $25-50/impact and 25-50% yield increase) .
Farmers generate $50-150 of additional net income and 50-100% yields (in case of drought, $25-50/impact and 25-50% yield increase) .

Background

Small-scale producers grow an estimated 35% of the world’s food (FAO, 2021) , yet they comprise the largest group living on less than $ 2 per day (World Bank, 2016) . In West Africa, most rural people are small-scale food producers (World Bank 2022) . They are on the front lines of the climate crisis, as temperatures in the Sahel region are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average (IPCC 2014) . With Sub-Saharan Africa’s population growing faster than anywhere else in the world (UN) , climate challenges such as higher temperatures, more variable rainy seasons, and frequent droughts are making farming increasingly difficult (Brookings, 2019) .
Despite these challenges, most small-scale producers lack access to the tools, services, or support that they need to build climate resilience. Most small-scale producers 1) don’t have secure financial tools where they can save seasonal earnings to reinvest in their farms; 2) lack local access to quality seeds and fertilizers; 3) lack access to training on adaptive and climate-resilient farming methods; and 4) depend on one rainy reason per year for their harvests, with no other source of income. These challenges disproportionately impact women, who produce 60-80% of locally grown food in Sub-Saharan Africa, but face gender barriers to accessing land, achieving financial autonomy, and exercising decision-making power (FAO) .
As a result, farmers remain in a cycle of poverty and are at high risk of food insecurity. In 2023, food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa reached a 10-year high, with 94 million people on the brink of severe hunger (WFP 2023) . Connecting smallholders – especially women – with the tools they need to increase their productivity and income in the face of climate risks is central to both addressing the immediate hunger crisis and building long-term resilience among communities in West Africa.

Progress Update

Partnership Opportunities

MyAgro is seeking the following:

Strategic partnerships with (1) locally based research institutes with whom they can collaborate to identify, pilot, and scale new seed varieties and agronomic practices that increase farmer climate resilience while generating better impact in terms of yield and income, and (2) government entities with whom they can partner to reach new farmer segments, advance national food security goals, and contribute to lasting systems change for smallholders.

Financial resources, including (1) connections to funders, especially government and multilateral funders that can provide multi-year commitments, which will help build stability as the organization continues to scale its model, and (2) connections to working capital actors in the social impact space. MyAgro’s working capital facility enables them to purchase seeds and fertilizer when prices are most favorable for farmers, and then execute timely last-mile delivery just before the rainy season begins each year; myAgro repays loans each year, with interest, using the layaway revenue collected from farmers over the year.,MyAgro operates a mobile layaway platform, currently trusted by more than 280,000 farmers in West Africa, and has experience leveraging this platform to distribute direct emergency relief to farmers in Mali. MyAgro has expertise in building rural value chains for high-quality farm inputs, training smallholder farmers on climate-resilient practices, running research trials (e.g. seed varieties, fertilizer reduction methods, and agroecological farming techniques) , and building government partnerships as a social enterprise. MyAgro has established social capital within farming communities in West Africa, with over 1,200 full-time operational field staff and more than 4,300 frontline sales ambassadors who reside in the communities we serve.