With even basic models costing 10.000 Euro, tractors are out of reach for most smallholder farmers. However, farmers do not need to own tractors in order to benefit from them. Following the idea of the sharing economy, several start-ups have developed digital tools for tractor hire in developing countries, a trend coined “Uberization for mechanization”. This policy brief presents the concept and findings from case studies with Hello Tractor (Nigeria) and EM3 Agri-Services (India) to illustrate how this can work in developing countries.
This Policy Brief is based on the study: Daum, T. et al. (2020). Uber for tractors? Opportunities and challenges of digital tools for tractor hire in India and Nigeria, Hohenheim Working Paper 001-2020.