Análisis de negocios inclusivos: Wi-AGRI, Costa de Marfil

Wi-AGRI se estableció en 2021 y funciona como una plataforma digital principalmente en la cadena de valor del anacardo para vincular a los diversos actores, como agricultores, recolectores de anacardo, procesadores, proveedores de insumos y proveedores de servicios financieros para brindar transparencia y eficiencia.

Wi-AGRI tiene su sede en Costa de Marfil, el mayor productor de anacardos crudos del mundo, con cerca del 25 % de la producción mundial. Lo más sorprendente es que apenas entre el 15 y el 20 % de los anacardos se procesan en el país y el resto se exporta a países como Vietnam y la India.

Wi-AGRI cuenta actualmente con cerca de 22.000 productores de anacardo y 34 cooperativas incorporados a su plataforma (finales de 2023).

Este análisis fue realizado por IDH junto con los aportes de CGAP para entender cómo se puede adaptar el modelo de negocios de Wi-AGRI para lograr resultados comerciales sostenibles y crear valor para sus usuarios (principalmente agricultores y recolectores de anacardos). También analiza el caso de negocio para que Wi-AGRI se expanda a otras cadenas de valor; el papel de los agentes de campo en la prestación de sus servicios digitales y el papel de los socios estratégicos en la mejora de la experiencia de sus usuarios.

Las principales conclusiones y recomendaciones del análisis fueron:

• Wi-AGRI's key audience includes quite a lot of women in the form of cashew producers and cashew pickers who find it challenging to access credit. Through Wi-AGRI’s collaboration with financial service providers to formalize cashew cooperatives (especially women’s cooperatives), the loan interest rates can be brought down to 15-16% per annum from the existing rate of 30-50% per annum from informal money lenders.

• Wi-AGRI can collect farmer-level data on cashew production volumes, land size, average expenses, and other crops being produced by their farmers. This data can be leveraged to monitor any increase in cashew yields due to Wi-AGRI’s interventions in the form of good agricultural practices (GAP) that are available on the company’s digital platform.

• Wi-AGRI is looking to expand into other value chains such as maize and cassava. Based on the analysis, it was found that cashew will contribute 1.5 to 2 times more financially to Wi-AGRI’s income than maize and cassava respectively at a farmer level. Based on this information, Wi-AGRI can create a detailed roadmap on achieving financial breakeven.

• Farmers’ income can be increased by investing lower cost capital (facilitated by Wi-AGRI) into yield-enhancing inputs at a lower price (again facilitated by Wi-AGRI) and offering higher farm-gate prices that will come with an enhancement in cashew quality which is mainly determined by its colour and size.

• Wi-AGRI needs to strengthen its existing field-agent network through incentives and strategic positioning with the aim of increasing farmers’ understanding of the platform and their transactions. Overtime, these transactions can be leveraged to segment the farmers and identify drivers for top-transacting farmers.