New BCG-PxD report shows how Digital Agriculture Units can help governments turn digital strategies into real farmer impact
Digital agriculture could unlock up to USD 500 billion in additional agricultural GDP each year across low- and middle-income countries, if proven solutions can successfully scale beyond pilots. The From Strategy to Scale: Why Delivery Matters in Digital Agriculture report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in collaboration with Precision Development (PxD) explores how Digital Agriculture Units (DAUs) are helping governments close the gap between strategy and delivery.
The report finds that while many countries have developed ambitious digital agriculture strategies, too few have invested in the institutional delivery capacity needed to translate plans into tangible outcomes for farmers. DAUs, comprising of dedicated teams embedded within governments or national programmes, are emerging as a critical solution to this challenge.
Smallholder agriculture underpins livelihoods and food security across low- and middle-income countries. Simple digital tools such as SMS-based advisory platforms, interactive voice response systems, and mobile-enabled farmer registries are helping address persistent challenges faced by farmers and often form the foundation of broader digital ecosystems. As these mature, advanced technologies like AI-driven weather insights and digital credit scoring drive further precision and personalisation.
In East Africa, for example, Virtual Agronomist demonstrates this potential, delivering digital advisory services at roughly one-tenth the cost of traditional extension while increasing farmer yields by up to 1.4-1.9 times for crops such as maize, rice, sunflower, and sorghum.
Yet uptake of digital solutions remains low. Globally, adoption of digital agriculture tools among smallholder farmers remains under 15%, reflecting significant underfunding. Between 2019 and 2021, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries invested only USD 17 billion, just 2% of agricultural spending in digital infrastructure. As a result, promising pilots fail to scale leaving smallholder farmers, especially women and marginalised groups, behind. Dedicated delivery capacity, such as DAUs, is essential to close this gap.
“Across countries, we see the same persistent gap between strategy and delivery; not because plans are weak, but because dedicated delivery capacity is missing. To turn ambition into real impact, we need teams that can coordinate actors, align incentives, troubleshoot implementation, and drive results. That’s exactly what Digital Agriculture Units are designed to do,” said Zoë Karl-Waithaka, Managing Director and Partner at BCG, Nairobi.
Building on experience from agriculture and other sectors, the report finds that well-designed DAUs typically perform four core functions: Investment-oriented planning, stakeholder coordination, delivery support, and accountability and visibility.
While DAUs share a common mandate, their effectiveness depends entirely on how they are designed. The right institutional home, a clear mandate, and a sustainable resourcing model are critical. When these elements are tailored to a country’s context from the start, DAUs can deliver on their mandate with clarity, authority, and lasting impact.
Design for delivery
The report outlines five key dimensions across which design choices can be made when establishing a DAU:
- Institutional anchoring: Where the DAU sits within government shapes its authority and how it integrates into the wider ecosystem. Placement in the Agriculture Ministry supports sector alignment early on but may face capacity limits. Anchoring in a central body or as an independent unit can provide stronger oversight, more cross‑sector reach and faster delivery. For example, in Ethiopia and India, DAUs sit within Agriculture Ministries and report to senior leaders, enabling cross‑agency collaboration and reforms in digital registries, extension platforms and public data systems. In Benin, governance instead runs through a minister‑led Steering Committee supported by a Technical Committee that brings together government and civil society.
- Reporting line: Direct reporting to senior political leaders gives DAUs authority to coordinate, shape decisions and maintain momentum, especially early when reforms are sensitive or fast‑moving and require quick wins. Reporting may later shift to technical ministries, but maintaining high-level visibility helps sustain alignment.
- Delivery mandate: DAUs can serve as coordinators, implementers, or follow a hybrid model. Where strong delivery partners exist, they focus on standards, alignment and investment coordination. Where ownership of key digital public goods is limited, they may lead delivery for initiatives such as registries or public advisory platforms. Over time, most DAUs evolve into hybrid models. In Benin, Ethiopia and India, DAUs primarily coordinate stakeholders, set standards and oversee shared digital public goods like farmer registries and data systems, while delivery functions remain with ministries or partners.
- Jurisdictional scope: National DAUs often set vision and standards, and manage shared platforms, but federal or devolved systems require strong sub‑national engagement through embedded teams or coordinated delivery. Their remit should include private‑sector engagement, using advisory forums, public private partnerships (PPPs) and co‑investment platforms to unlock innovation, mobilise capabilities and accelerate scale. Ethiopia has established a DAU at the national level, while India illustrates a dual approach of both national and sub-national jurisdiction scope, as seen at the national level and in the state of Odisha.
- Resourcing model: Governments often lack digital, data and AI capabilities. Hybrid Project Management Units (PMUs) blending public officials with embedded experts enable quick delivery while building institutional capacity. Some PMUs are temporary, others permanent, with financing shaped by government budgets, PPPs or co‑funding to sustain delivery capacity over time. For example, Ethiopia’s PMU blends civil servants with secondees from organisations such as PxD to supplement short‑term capacity and enable a government‑led DAU, accelerating implementation and enhancing institutional capacity. India also uses a hybrid model, adding external experts for technical domains such as data analytics. Benin and Kenya are developing similar approaches with lean core teams and partner‑supported delivery.
The report also outlines practical steps to build an effective DAU, highlighting three design principles that ensure DAUs are positioned to coordinate effectively, align incentives across actors, and maintain continuity from strategy through to execution.
“Digital tools can only deliver impact for farmers when they are embedded in systems that are built to scale,” said Habtamu Yesigat, Director of Programmes, Ethiopia at Precision Development. “Digital Agriculture Units provide the delivery backbone governments need to move from isolated pilots to national platforms that reach millions of smallholder farmers and drive inclusive, sustainable growth.”
As pressures on food systems intensify, the report concludes that unlocking the full value of digital agriculture will require sustained, accountable delivery – supported by the right institutional capacity, clear mandates, and long‑term financing.
“As the urgency to build resilient, productive and climate‑smart food systems grows, the next frontier is delivery: moving from vision to sustained execution, and from pilots to scalable national platforms. Digital Agriculture Units can unlock this shift, but only when their design is embedded right from the start,” said Karl-Waithaka.
The full report is available for download.
