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M-Farm: The Digital Agriculture Marketplace in Kenya

A Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Team (SMART) Project

Yifan Liu , Yichen Shi , Shayna Krasnoff 3
2
1

Team Leader: Lin Fu 4

Faculty Advisor: Ralph Christy 5

PAIN POINTS IN M-FARM'S

M-Farm Overview SUPPLY CHAIN OFFERING

Lack of stable market Provide a mobile service

and digital marketplace
and fair prices among

to connect buyers and

M-Farm, founded in 2011, is one of the leading digital agricultural marketplaces in Kenya. Since small farmers farmers

resuming operations in 2019 after a two-year suspension, they are exploring new directions and

seeking venture capital. The objective of this project is to identify strategic options for the

Informal nature of Vertical integration in
company’s expansion. M-Farm has been: supply chain to control

aggregation among

the movement of

many levels of brokers
• Committed to improving efficiency in the agricultural supply chain. produce

• Building a solid network of 40,000 farmer users.

• Exploring the B2B market. Lack of control for Quality control through

buyers over sourcing M-FARM vertical
• Standardizing distribution of produce to wholesalers. integration to ensure

and consistency
quality and reliability

Research Methods

• Informational interviews with

Linda (CEO of M-Farm) and

experts from other B2B digital

agriculture platforms

• Literature review

• Secondary data analysis

Analysis & Findings

COVID-19 Impacts: Strengths

Regular Services Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) Commitment •Focus on wholesale market moving large quantities is unique

• Increased licensing requirements for • Schools shut down under COVID-19 •Offer platform to cooperatives, they can strengthen

transport between counties and across requirements themselves

borders • Project stalled until April 2021 •Experience working with government

• Increase in feeds prices drives egg and • Prioritize human and financial Weaknesses

poultry prices up resources

•Resources focused on MoA, success completely dependent on

•Suspension of regular services, all funds • Rising cost in labor and operations schools open

for MoA commitment for trainings

•Lack of clear strategic plan for future

Conclusions: Strategic Options

New Service New Market Existing Market

• Hotels
• For Farmers • Vertical integration in supply chain

• Government institutions
-Provision of farm inputs with cooperative societies

• Cafeteria in universities
-Technology advisory & support • Strategic partnerships with

• Hospitals
-Provision of household goods universities, agricultural institutions,

• Large events’ food vendor local governments, etc.

• Small and middle size
• For Buyers • Introduce advanced agricultural

restaurants
-Traceability of products techniques and offer timely market

• Individuals with a large
-Processed/semi-processed food intelligence to farmers

quantity of demand

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our great appreciation to Dr. Lin Fu, our team leader, for her professional

guidance and valuable support and to Dr. Ralph Christy and Dr. Ndunge Kiiti for their useful and

constructive suggestions during the planning and development of this research work. Special

thanks to Mr. Viral Dodhia (Twiga Foods), Professor Grace Kabuye (Educator), Mr. Dongyu Liu

(Meicai Co.) for providing insightful information on the industry.

Affiliations

1,2 Cornell Institute for Public Affairs

3 SC Johnson Graduate School of Management

4,5 Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management