AgriTask
Location
Rwanda
Sector
Agriculture
Type of Investment
Risk Capital
Project Stage
Test & Transition
Length of Investment
2022+
Website
Investment Overview
AgriTask offers a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform which optimises decision making across agricultural supply chains from the farm up.
The Development Challenge
Agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to end extreme poverty, boost shared prosperity, and feed a global population projected to be 9.7 billion by 2050. Smallholder farmers face challenges related to a lack of access to finance, insurance and markets, adverse negative impacts from climate change and an agricultural knowledge gap. These culminate in smallholder farmers suffering from poor productivity and farm output, which jeopardises global food supply chains.
The Innovation
AgriTask offers a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that optimises decision making across agricultural supply chains, by helping food and beverage companies build resilient and sustainable supply chains, starting right from the source; smallholder farmers in low income markets.
Our Investment
AgriTask will use GIF’s investment of $3 million to deepen operations in its growth markets (Africa and Southeast Asia), continue to develop its platform and proprietary content which will leverage big data for market insights, expand its business development function, and build out on-the-ground partnerships.
Theory of Change
Although smallholder farmers are not the direct clients of AgriTask, the products that meet the needs of the food and beverage companies are designed around farmers. They directly benefit through increased agricultural productivity and optimisation of resource use, improved small farm profitability and financial resilience, increased product traceability, increased access to contract farming and improved contract arrangements.
Why we invested
Agritask’s platform is highly scalable, with the potential to reach millions of farmers across several climate vulnerable regions.
Unlike other agricultural models in the GIF portfolio, Agritask works with large food and beverage companies - the ultimate buyers of smallholder farmer produce. The Agritask platform has been built with the farmer at the core of the platform, designed to ensure that farmers receive the best agronomic knowledge and support to improve productivity and yields - a win/win for Agritask’s clients who in parallel can build sustainable and secure supply chains.
AgriTask aligns with GIF’s investment focuses on climate action, protection and nature regeneration, and raising living standards of smallholder farmers.
AgriTask in numbers
GIF investment
Projected global population by 2050; a challenge for global food supply chains
Innovating for Climate Resilience
GIF has invested $3 million in Agritask, which unlocks the design of insurance products that can protect smallholder farmers upon the occurrence of extreme weather events, allowing them to undertake more productive activities through the uptake of new technology. The software platform registers and maps small farms, obtains field and high-resolution weather data, and correlates it with plot-level productivity. This empowers agricultural companies to build climate resilience in the supply chain, by dynamically assessing risks, designing targeted insurance products, and providing agronomic advice to suppliers.