Training
Digital knowledge products and market intelligence
Packaging expertise as guides, courses, templates or market information.
Opportunity to investigateNon-farm-based
- The problem
- The opportunity
- The customer
- The solution
- How money can flow
- What is required
- Start small
- Scale
The problem
Reliable, practical agricultural information is scattered or hard to access.
The opportunity
Create trustworthy, easy-to-use information products.
The customer
- Farmers
- Traders
- Processors
- Students
The solution
Guides, templates, short courses and updates.
Who pays?
Individual buyers, subscribers, or organisations.
How money can flow
Sales or subscriptions; credibility and accuracy are essential.
What is required
- Expertise
- Reliable sources
- Basic production tools
- Distribution channel
Skills needed
- Writing or teaching
- Research
- Marketing
Major challenges
- Low willingness to pay
- Keeping information accurate
- Reaching customers
How to start small
Create one focused guide or checklist and test demand.
How it could scale
Add products, updates and partnerships.
Descriptors
- Starting complexity
- Medium
- Capital intensity
- Low
- Skill requirement
- Specialized
- Infrastructure
- Minimal
Descriptive categories, not profitability rankings.
Regulatory considerations
Data and consumer rules may apply; information must be accurate and sourced.
Rules differ by country. Confirm with the relevant national authority.
The customers, routes to market, business models and many practical tips on this page are suggestions, not findings. Know something better? Suggest an improvement →
What the sources say
Source-backed observations about this kind of business in Africa. They describe conditions and challenges, not income or results.
- In a northern Ghana study, most smallholders used basic phones rather than smartphones and internet access was limited. Digital products should therefore work on simple devices, for example through voice and SMS.
- Low literacy and limited digital skills hold back use of digital services. Interest is often higher than actual sustained use, and engagement can fade over time.
- Low digital skills limit use of advanced tools. Farmers in the northern Ghana study mostly reached services through phone calls and field agents, which need little digital skill.
- Participation in one Ghanaian study dropped when services moved from free, subsidised provision to paid models, so long-term financial sustainability needs careful planning. Development organisations drove much of the digitalisation there.
- A review of South African smallholder digitalisation points to poor infrastructure, high costs and limited training as barriers. It sees promise in low-data mobile tools, SMS advisory services and innovation hubs offering training and extension support.
- Women, older people and rural communities face additional barriers to using digital tools, so content and delivery should be designed to include them.
Sources and further reading
Links open in a new tab.
- Is agricultural digitization a reality among smallholder farmers in Africa? Unpacking farmers' lived realities of engagement with digital tools and services in rural Northern Ghana — Agriculture & Food Security (Springer Nature)
- Digital agriculture and smallholder farming in South Africa: challenges and opportunities — Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
The sections above are a general outline and practical suggestions, not findings from these sources. Check local rules with official sources before you act.
Not financial advice and not a promise of income. Try the planning calculator with your own figures.