Lersha

Ethiopia | Finance, Insurance, Loans

The company

Lersha provides digital services to enable smallholder farmers to access farm inputs, hire mechanisation services and get advice, credit and insurance through an in-house call centre, mobile app and Lersha agents.

Problem

Smallholder farmers in Ethiopia account for 95% of production, often managing multiple farm enterprises while contending with changing climatic and uncertain socio-economic conditions. Farmers need additional information on the availability and prices of recommended farm inputs, a mechanisation service for their short planting window, expected market prices for their produce and access to credit services.

Within Ethiopia’s conflict-affected regions of Amhara and Tigray, smallholder farmers and displaced communities lack access to quality inputs and mechanization services, as traditional systems often bypass conflict-affected and rural areas. Additionally, over 80% of these farmers lack formal identification and financial literacy, which excludes them from accessing mobile wallets, credit, and other formal financial services.

GSMA project

In November 2022, Lersha received a GSMA grant to expand the reach of its platform among smallholder farmers by promoting agricultural finance and climate-risk insurance. The grant also enhanced the Lersha platform with more customised extension services and frequent agro-climate advisories.

Outcomes

Received funding investment to hire more than 1,000 Lersha agents – digitally-savvy youth in rural areas with agricultural degrees – while also focusing on financial education and awareness creation.

Traction

As of September 2024, more than 620,000 farmers access the Lersha platform for agro-climate advisory information, agricultural finance and crop insurance and mechanisation and input services.
Offered agricultural finance to 76,000 farmers, with this number growing substantially.
Provided insurance bundled with finance to more than 19,000 farmers, improving their ability to adapt to climate shocks.
Issued insurance payments to more than 11,000 farmers, improving their ability to adapt to climate shocks.

To find out more, read the Lersha case study.