Agriculture in East Africa is not just business, it’s survival. The FAO reports that smallholder farms supply about 75% of the region’s output and employ a similar share of agricultural labor. Farming employs roughly 70% of Ugandans, 40% of Kenyans, 65% of Tanzanians, and about 80% of Ethiopians, while contributing roughly one-quarter or more of GDP in these countries. This vast base of small farms is notoriously under-served. Yields lag far behind global averages, so innovators see huge potential and investors are beginning to take notice. In 2024, Kenya alone captured $638 million in startup funding, showing the immense value that lie in the region. In this article, we’ll explore the agritech boom in East Africa and the countries leading the charge.
The Countries leading The East Africa Agritech Revolution
Even as agri-tech funding in Africa slowed in 2024, East Africa’s still attracted the most funding for the second year in a row. Kenya alone captured 88% of the region’s startup capital, driven by investor interest in food systems and climate solutions. This shows the readiness of the region to lead Africa’s next agricultural revolution. Here are the countries at the forefront of these transformations:
Kenya: Cultivating High-Tech Fields
Kenya remains the regional leader in agritech innovation. Agriculture is 23% of Kenya’s GDP and employs about 40% of the population, so digital solutions can rapidly scale. Nairobi-based Apollo Agriculture is one flagship. Apollo uses satellite imagery, machine learning and mobile data to underwrite loans and advice for smallholders. It had already served 100,000 farmers by late 2021 and raised a $40 million Series B (SoftBank-led) to double its reach and expand into new markets. Another homegrown startup, iProcure, builds a mobile supply-chain platform linking seed and fertiliser makers to rural agro-dealers. iProcure has raised $10.2 million (2022) to grow in Kenya and enter Uganda and Tanzania. In practice, iProcure’s app manages inventory and deliveries for thousands of rural outlets, helping them source from certified suppliers and avoid substandard inputs.
Kenyan startups are also tackling irrigation and distribution. SunCulture, a Nairobi climate tech firm, sells small solar-powered pumps to small farms. A recent $12 million Series B will push hundreds of thousands of IoT‑enabled irrigation kits across Kenya and beyond. These solar pumps (often subsidised by carbon-credit sales) can boost yields up to 5× compared to rain‑fed fields. Meanwhile Twiga Foods – once billed as Africa’s most funded agritech – digitises produce markets. Founded in 2014, Twiga has raised over $160 million from investors like Goldman Sachs and IFC, to link small-scale farmers to Nairobi’s retail vendors, streamlining hundreds of tons of fruits and vegetables each week.
Uganda: Digitizing Finance and Agricultural Extension
In Uganda, where farming is 25% of GDP and 70% of the workforce, startups focus on financing and information for cash‑strapped smallholders. A leading example is Emata, a platform founded in 2020 that offers quick, collateral-free loans via mobile phones. In 2023 Emata closed a $2.4 million seed round (led by African Renaissance Partners) to scale in Uganda and Tanzania. Farmers apply via app or USSD; funds go straight to their mobile wallets. With the new funding, Emata plans to introduce crop insurance and advisory services, helping farmers improve productivity and reduce risk.
We are excited to share with you
This FREE E-Book of 50 Agritech Pioneers & Their Game Changing Innovations.
Download the Ebook now
On the advisory side, m‑Omulimisa (a Ugandan startup) and government programs are teaching farmers digital literacy. For instance, a “Digital Woman Uganda” initiative is training rural women in tech skills so they can use agri‑apps and e‑tools.
Tanzania: Policy-Driven Productivity
Tanzania has also become a lively ag‑tech market. Agriculture still employs 65% of Tanzanians and contributes about one-third of GDP. Daily news reported that the country reached 128% food self‑sufficiency (surplus exports) in recent years. The government’s Agricultural Sector Development Programme II (ASDP II) is channeling funds into irrigation, mechanisation and digital extension services. For example, subsidised tractors and solar pumps, along with national electrification (90% of villages now have power), are enhancing farm productivity. Tanzania’s emerging e‑platforms – from e‑Soko (for marketing and pricing) to SMS advisory tools – are starting to link farmers with buyers and inputs. In practice, mobile networks deliver Swahili weather forecasts and market prices by voice or text to remote growers.
Innovation hubs and donor projects supplement these efforts. NGOs and startups (often supported by FAO, World Bank and AGRA) have piloted drone surveys for pests and IoT sensors for soil moisture.
Rwanda: Climate-Smart & Startups Growth
Rwanda has paired its technology push with aggressive climate-smart planning. Agriculture is vital in Rwanda (integral to GDP and rural jobs), so the government set up special funds and investment plans. In late 2024, Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture and the World Bank launched the Hanga Agritech Innovation Challenge Fund – a $2 million facility specifically to back local agri-tech startups. This fund underscores policy support: Rwandan officials emphasise technology’s role in food security and seek to meet CAADP targets (10% of budget to agriculture). The fund launch coincided with planning for the 2025 African AgriTech conference in Kigali, highlighting Rwanda’s regional role.
More recently (June 2025), Rwanda released a national Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Investment Plan, co-prepared with IFC. This plan identifies about RWF 449.7 billion ($335 million) in private-sector opportunities for irrigation, resilient seed varieties, post-harvest tech, and livestock management. Two-thirds of that is earmarked for water and irrigation projects. Minister Mark Bagabe linked the CSA plan to Rwanda’s existing PSTA5 agricultural strategy, which itself targets accelerated growth through resilience, market access and private investment. Together, these policy moves signal that Rwanda is building an enabling environment – funding pilots, guaranteeing off-take, and connecting farmers to climate funds – so that agritech entrepreneurs can thrive in a predictable market.
Ethiopia: Roadmap to Digital Farms
Ethiopia’s leaders are taking a systemic approach. Faced with perennial food gaps, the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture has now partnered with tech specialists (Precision Development, via a Bill & Melinda Gates grant) to create a Digital Agriculture Roadmap. This two-year project (2025–27) has a $3 million budget and will align public programs, data systems and innovation hubs under one strategy. The aim is to ensure startups and digital services (from SMS advisories to satellite crop monitors) are integrated into national projects rather than operating in isolation.
On the ground, Ethiopian agripreneurs are beginning to deliver digital services. For example, the startup Lersha (meaning “come” in Amharic) allows farmers to order seeds, fertiliser or advice via smartphone or even a USSD menu. Lersha agents (often young agri-graduates) then coordinate delivery and training for farmers who lack internet. Another signal of nascent innovation is Heifer International’s AYuTE Challenge: in 2025 five Ethiopian startups won a combined $40K in prise money, with first place ($15K) going to Nanex Biochar Solutions (which turns crop waste into soil-enhancing biochar). These examples show local talent tackling soil, irrigation and waste problems with tech.
Looking ahead, Ethiopia’s roadmap is intended to knit these pilots into something larger. By coordinating between government, universities and entrepreneurs, the plan should help channel investment (from donors like USAID and IFC) into agri-tech clinics and accelerators.
Smart Tools on the Farm
Beyond startups, emerging technologies are reshaping East African fields. Artificial Intelligence and IoT are no longer science fiction. For instance, IBM’s Watson Decision Platform has been piloted in Kenya to deliver SMS-based weather forecasts and planting advice to smallholders. Local firms are also automating tasks: Tanzania’s AgroAI is deploying AI‑driven robots that analyze soil and automatically apply fertiliser and water. Mobile apps like Kenya’s Farmers’ Friend (an agronomy chatbot) use AI to give real-time pest and disease alerts. These projects combine satellite and drone imagery with machine learning, so farmers get hyper-local recommendations.
Connectivity is improving too. Some East African farms now use LoRaWAN sensor networks (long-range, low-power radio) to link soil moisture or solar pump sensors to the cloud. Even satellite networks are entering the picture. In early 2024, Spacecom Ltd announced a new Satellite IoT Service for sub-Saharan agriculture. It uses geostationary satellites to connect remote sensors on farm equipment or livestock even beyond cellular range. Researchers tested this system on cattle and water pumps in Namibia and South Africa, and the company plans to extend it across Eastern Africa. These low-bandwidth networks let farmers remotely monitor irrigation, fence boundaries or weather stations in real time, a game‑changer for isolated plots.
In short, AI-driven analytics and IoT-enabled devices are moving off the lab and into practice. Partners like USAID, UN and local universities are training extension officers on data tools. We now see drone surveys of maise yields in Rwanda, soil-nutrient sensors in Kenya, and mobile apps for crop insurance all being pilot-deployed. The science itself is global (often via partnerships with European or Israeli agri‑tech firms), but the practical applications are being customised to local conditions by East African startups and NGOs.
A Bright Future for Agritech in East Africa
East Africa is becoming a laboratory for digital farming. Farmers and funders alike are testing everything from solar drip-irrigation and remote-sensing irrigation to blockchain-based traceability for coffee. Challenges remain (poor rural connectivity, erratic power, data gaps and the high cost of devices), but the region is filling those gaps fast. With evidence of yield gains and financial returns mounting, more farmers are expected to adopt precision tools, and more investors are ready to bet on the agri-tech future. In Bloomberg’s words, the fields of Nairobi, Kampala and Kigali are starting to look a lot like Silicon Valley – just with more fertile soil.
