In Ghana and Nigeria, agriculturalistsÕ practices are changing as through posts, shares, photos, and videos, they build and exchange knowledge, offer mutual support, and invent new markets and marketing channels. This study builds on previous research on social agriculture in Kenya and Senegal to describe the way people use social media platforms and their role in the agricultural value chain. ItÕs not just farmers. The roles of suppliers of inputs (e.g., fertilizers), aggregators and marketers of produce, and producers and consumers are also being transformed, introducing new opportunities as well as new challenges. This research provides eleven key insights from extensive multi-method research in Ghana and Nigeria conducted in 2022 and 2023. It also includes specific and actionable recommendations for policymakers, development actors, and technology companies to support young people practicing social agriculture to achieve more inclusive, sustainable livelihoods.
The first set of recommendations is based on supporting social agricultural ÒinfluencersÓ to share what works, for example, success pathways and specific opportunities along a productÕs value chain, information about value chain types and structures, and the potential of video and audio to overcome barriers to participating in social agriculture. But these recommendations come with a caution: misinformation proliferates on platforms without any editorial or content verification mechanisms, so influencers must be supported to mitigate the risk of sharing potentially harmful content, for example, through expert support and partnerships with established agricultural extension services.
The second set of recommendations focuses on overcoming barriers to social agriculture, barriers that are common to many forms of social commerce. These recommendations focus on efforts to strengthen and scale trust, such as investing to scale informal identification verification and escrow services and managing the addictive nature of social platforms.
The third set of recommendations emphasizes strengthening social institutions and physical infrastructure. These include efforts to mitigate the precarious nature of social agriculture through strengthening cooperation and establishing cooperatives. Strengthening social agriculture also requires addressing its dependencies on physical infrastructure such as roads and logistics, as well as acknowledging the importance of private digital platforms.