Adoption of e-commerce in Agribusiness: Challenges and Opportunities - Agribusiness Education and Research International

Adoption of e-commerce in Agribusiness: Challenges and Opportunities

Digital technology is crucial in supporting economic growth, particularly in terms of job creation and labor market structure in the agribusiness industry. As a result, there is an urgent need to conduct empirical research of the possible implications of digitalization in the agribusiness sector, notably on e-payments and e-commerce for agro transactions.

E-commerce in the agricultural input industry is still in its infancy. However, there is enormous untapped market potential in the industry, driven by increased smartphone penetration, improved internet infrastructure, the availability of several digital payment systems, and a youthful developing middle class. E-commerce offers a significant opportunity to streamline the agricultural value chain, decrease multiple intermediaries and transaction costs, promote transparency and accountability, and gain access to new markets. E-commerce growth is an emerging opportunity in the agribusiness sector because it has the potential to provide considerable social and economic benefits, improve farmer livelihoods, boost productivity, and improve digital and financial inclusion in rural areas.

Despite strong initiatives and the progressive improvement of these supporting digital infrastructures, the growth of affordable technologies, tools, and increased device ownership, particularly of smartphones, adoption of digital financial services and e-commerce has been extremely limited among the surveyed AIS.

Strengthen the enabling regulatory environment by shortening the business registration and licensing processes. These reforms will inspire additional players in the industry and promote a level playing field for all actors, including formal and informal firms, to compete fairly in the marketplace.

Improve access to quality digital infrastructure in rural regions by investing in rural digital infrastructure development and focusing on establishing a robust e-commerce ecosystem to create new business opportunities in the agriculture sector.

Focus on acquiring digital skills and increasing digital literacy. A digital literacy framework that incorporates an inclusive literacy model should be established to meet the entire spectrum of digital literacy development in the agriculture industry.

Create an agriculture e-commerce framework. Agriculture e-commerce frameworks should be built, with an emphasis on restructuring agricultural output, promoting trade exchange platforms, and increasing marketplaces and sales via the internet.

Invest in viable services that have an impact: Donors/societies/investors should invest in agro e-commerce businesses and start-ups, which have the potential to deliver both social and economic consequences. Furthermore, they should engage private sector actors, particularly apps, to work directly with AIS and farmers because they have skills, expertise, and resources in the field.

Invest more in incubators and acceleration programs: More funding and promotion of incubators and acceleration programs should be developed to motivate current entrepreneurs and innovators in the field.

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