Digitising Agriculture and Unlocking Finance in Ethiopia: Lersha

The GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation (launched in 2022) was designed to help accelerate the testing, adoption and scalability of digital innovations that enable the world’s most vulnerable populations to adapt, anticipate and absorb the negative impacts of climate change. 12 successful startups from 10 countries were selected for our first round of the Fund. This case study shares lessons and outcomes from the project with Lersha a startup based in Nigeria, and supported by the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation

Lersha provides a one-stop digital service for Ethiopia’s smallholder farmers to access farm inputs, hire mechanisation services and request dynamic agro-climate advice. The Lersha platform assists Ethiopian farmers who often manage multiple farm enterprises under variable climatic and uncertain socio-economic conditions. The farmers are presented with information on the availability and prices of recommended farm inputs, as well as a mechanisation service to take advantage of the short planting seasons, receive expected market prices for their produce and access credit services.

During the GSMA grant period, Lersha unlocked an additional US $550,000 in investment from other sources.

Read the full grant outcomes in the case study link located on top of the page.

This initiative is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and is supported by the GSMA and its mem