At the 10th AgriFin Learning Event (ALE2026) in Nairobi, agricultural and financial leaders warned that digital tools used by smallholder farmers could stall without sustainable funding models.

Prosper Global AgriFin, the programme organiser, said it has reached more than 8.5 million farmers with digital information services, surpassing its original target of five million, and that women account for 41 % of those users.

The digital services cited include weather alerts, market‑price updates, credit information and platforms that connect farmers with buyers, which many smallholders rely on for daily decisions.

Speakers noted that fragmented rural markets, high per‑farmer acquisition costs and limited private‑sector interest—due to erratic weather and thin infrastructure—pose a commercial challenge for scaling these services.

Participants called for blended finance, domestic resource mobilisation and stronger public‑private partnerships as the most viable path to keep the services running after donor money ends.

Melaku Yirga, vice‑president for Africa at Prosper Global, said years of testing have identified what works in digital agriculture and that the focus must now shift to durability.

Programme director Sieka Gatabaki highlighted that mobile technology can widen farmers’ access to information and finance, provided adoption and practical value remain central to scaling efforts.

The forum underscored growing pressure on development finance to the Global South, urging African countries to move away from short‑term donor‑dependent projects toward financing models that can sustain proven services beyond grant cycles.