During the epidemic, start-ups delivering agricultural and food products did well with the diasporas as new customers.

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Buy in Paris, New York or Dubai enough to feed his family in Lomé. For the Togolese e-agribusiness company, the practice was both new and life-saving during the months when the new coronavirus slowed down the march of the world. Traditionally focused on export markets, this online trading platform for agricultural products, founded in 2016, took a turn when the borders closed. The dilemma was simple: let the merchandise rot or reinvent itself. "So we came up with a new way of selling produce," explains Edeh Dona Etchri, Managing Director, who then launched ABusiness, a delivery service for rice, corn, oil and other food for individuals. In addition to the fact that the loss of goods could be limited, “the formula allowed us to limit contacts in markets which are contagion zones”, specifies Edeh Dona Etchri.

To help transactions, a chatbot – an agent who dialogues with the user – is added to the WhatsApp messaging application, a preferred channel because it is already present on mobiles. As the formula has met with success, Edeh Dona Etchri plans to recruit new employees and make deliveries more reliable through partnerships with motorcycle driver companies. He hopes to increase his clientele (1,063 clients for 3,680 transactions to date) and boost his monthly turnover by 3 million CFA (4,500 euros).

For Andrew Mude, who leads the Agricultural Research, Production and Sustainable Development Division of the African Development Bank (AfDB), “Covid-19 has accelerated the use of digital and mobile technologies in the agricultural sector”. The Kenyan economist also recalls that in recent years, “we had already observed a growth in online and mobile markets for agricultural inputs (seeds, fertilizers, etc.) and outputs (raw products, food deliveries, etc.). ) sent directly to consumers”. A phenomenon which has therefore accelerated further since the Covid-19 is still threatening economies and food security.

Half the crops lost

While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts a 3.2% recession in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020, e-commerce therefore appears to be one of the solutions to avoid the sinking of the agricultural sector. But, for Olukemi Afun-Ogidan, coordinator of the AfDB's digital agriculture program, there is still real room for improvement in this sector since, in her view, Africa's agricultural potential is not yet fully exploited. Indeed, according to the latest work of the consulting firm BearingPoint, the shortcomings of the agricultural commodity marketing networks cause the loss of more than half of the harvests. On the continent, 65% of the working population works in agriculture, but this sector still contributes only 36% to the overall GDP of the 54 countries.

For the specialist, “it is necessary to produce food more efficiently, to reduce waste at all stages of the agricultural value chain, […] to allow farmers to access markets and achieve fair incomes”. This requires adaptation to “the new normal of social distancing, which has created an opportunity for digital solutions adapted to the agricultural sector”, recalls Ms. Afun-Ogidan.

The diasporas were the first to seize this opportunity to benefit their families by having food delivered to them. In Togo, it represents 5% of ABusiness customers. “We had orders from the United States, Brazil, Germany, Ivory Coast, France, Edeh Dona Etchri list. They were sometimes in total confinement and could no longer go out to transfer money. Our service came at just the right time”, he rejoices.

In Liberia, the diaspora also sent food via Cookshop, a delivery platform for meals and agricultural products collected from farms. Today one in ten orders comes from abroad. A pioneer, Charles Dorme Cooper launched this start-up in 2013 to support local producers, whose "offer is large and very often at a competitive price". At the height of the coronavirus epidemic, the company always delivered, even if it admits to having suffered “from restrictions of movement in the capital and the closure of certain sellers”.

From week to week, its number of users grew and orders soared, from 1,500 in early January to 2,500 per month by April. From the start of the health crisis, Cookshop also worked with the Ministry of Health to deliver meals to hospital staff, "to nurses who do Covid tests at the airport, to isolated people in quarantine or to police officers in service during curfew.

Today, the entrepreneur is confident and plans to expand into the sub-region within two years. Same prospects for Bringo Fresh in Uganda. This start-up specializing in the online commerce of fruits and vegetables, including organic products collected from small local farms, delivers its cardboard boxes to the doorsteps of the middle class of Kampala, supplies restaurants, hotels and food manufacturers. The company now has 614 customers, up from 208 in December 2019, and total cumulative revenue since the end of 2019 has reached $31,000, up from just $9,600 nine months ago. .

Triple revenue

Bringo Fresh Managing Director David Matsiko is hopeful that the diaspora market will grow, and is preparing for it by betting on "a franchise model, to expand to other parts of Uganda and other other countries", adds the man who aims to export African organic products all over the world. In the coming months, the company will also help farmers organize themselves into a cooperative, to simplify transactions. A must when African agriculture is mainly run by smallholders who face problems of storage and transport of crops, which still lead to many losses.

Because for Andrew Mude, of the AfDB, "digital technologies can also help e-commerce innovators to predict production and harvest times in order to position and coordinate logistics to simplify storage and delivery to consumers" . Innovations to follow if we are to believe Abraham Sarfo, expert with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). If agriculture manages to metamorphose into a real industry, he recalls, the World Bank predicts that it will be able to weigh more than a billion dollars. Triple the income it generates today.

Still, the economic model of online commerce is far from being consolidated on the continent. Thus, in September 2019, the start-up Afrimarket went out of business. Based in Paris, this e-commerce specialist in West Africa had failed to raise enough funds for its development. Industry leader Jumia, meanwhile, is still on the path to profitability, having been the first African unicorn to float on Wall Street in April 2019. The company has since faced class action from investors. believing to have been deceived and to whom she will have to pay 5 million dollars to stop the lawsuits.