[ L’entreprise digitale sur le terreau culturel agraire des PME agricoles en Afrique: Atouts, limites et perspectives de l’expérience de la plate-forme Esoko ]
Volume 37, Issue 4, October 2022, Pages 890–898
Agnissan Assi Aubin1, Yao Yao Leopold2, and Djane Kabran Aristide3
1 Institut des Sciences Anthropologiques de Développement, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2 Institut des Sciences Anthropologiques de Développement, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
3 Departement de Sociologie, Université Peleforo Gon Coulibaly, Korhogo, Côte d’Ivoire
Original language: French
Copyright © 2022 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The rapid development of digital in Africa is at the heart of a plural issue: economic, human and cultural. Having become a reality for the agrarian sectors (agriculture, livestock) until then spared by the digital wave, mobile telephony is anchored in the daily life of the African rural world. It offers peasants and farmers enormous possibilities beyond cultural borders and geographical distances. Thanks to such a territorial anchoring of the digital economy, the farmer can, from his mobile phone, receive information on microfinance or marketing consultancy offers (Drumnet / Kenya), the weather and market needs (price, quantity) in order to better produce and better sell its productions (Esoko / Ivory Coast). For example, Kilimo Salama (Kenya) offers farmers an innovative dematerialized insurance service. During the season, if the drought or the rains exceed a level pre-defined by weather radars, the farmer receives financial compensation via « M-Pesa ». Even if digital offers the rural world unimaginable opportunities, its integration into the organization or business cannot be improvised. The challenges of digital transformation are certainly technical, but also human and cultural. In rural societies with a strong oral tradition, where face to face was the dominant mode of interaction, digitalized and anonymous interpersonal communication transforms social bonds. Therefore, any digital irrigation of the African rural environment requires anthropological support in terms of socio-educational strategies of cultural appropriation without which the expected digital anchoring would lack sociological foundation. How the social sciences can accompany the development of in the rural agricultural sector, in terms of support, prevention of risks or human costs. This anticipatory reading of the strengths and limitations of agricultural startups will be based on the Esoko platform experience developed in Kenya, then in Côte d'Ivoire.
Author Keywords: Digital, Platform, Esoko, Agriculture, Agrarian, mobile phone.
Volume 37, Issue 4, October 2022, Pages 890–898
Agnissan Assi Aubin1, Yao Yao Leopold2, and Djane Kabran Aristide3
1 Institut des Sciences Anthropologiques de Développement, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2 Institut des Sciences Anthropologiques de Développement, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
3 Departement de Sociologie, Université Peleforo Gon Coulibaly, Korhogo, Côte d’Ivoire
Original language: French
Copyright © 2022 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The rapid development of digital in Africa is at the heart of a plural issue: economic, human and cultural. Having become a reality for the agrarian sectors (agriculture, livestock) until then spared by the digital wave, mobile telephony is anchored in the daily life of the African rural world. It offers peasants and farmers enormous possibilities beyond cultural borders and geographical distances. Thanks to such a territorial anchoring of the digital economy, the farmer can, from his mobile phone, receive information on microfinance or marketing consultancy offers (Drumnet / Kenya), the weather and market needs (price, quantity) in order to better produce and better sell its productions (Esoko / Ivory Coast). For example, Kilimo Salama (Kenya) offers farmers an innovative dematerialized insurance service. During the season, if the drought or the rains exceed a level pre-defined by weather radars, the farmer receives financial compensation via « M-Pesa ». Even if digital offers the rural world unimaginable opportunities, its integration into the organization or business cannot be improvised. The challenges of digital transformation are certainly technical, but also human and cultural. In rural societies with a strong oral tradition, where face to face was the dominant mode of interaction, digitalized and anonymous interpersonal communication transforms social bonds. Therefore, any digital irrigation of the African rural environment requires anthropological support in terms of socio-educational strategies of cultural appropriation without which the expected digital anchoring would lack sociological foundation. How the social sciences can accompany the development of in the rural agricultural sector, in terms of support, prevention of risks or human costs. This anticipatory reading of the strengths and limitations of agricultural startups will be based on the Esoko platform experience developed in Kenya, then in Côte d'Ivoire.
Author Keywords: Digital, Platform, Esoko, Agriculture, Agrarian, mobile phone.
Abstract: (french)
Le développement fulgurant du digital en Afrique est au cœur d’un enjeu pluriel: économique, humaine et culturel. Devenue une réalité pour les secteurs agraires (agriculture, élevage) jusque-là épargnés par la vague digitale, la téléphonie mobile est ancrée dans le quotidien du monde rural africain. Elle offre aux paysans ou agriculteurs des possibilités énormes par-delà les frontières culturelles et des distances géographiques. Grâce à un tel ancrage territorial de l’économie numérique, le paysan peut à partir de son téléphone mobile recevoir des informations sur les offres de microfinancement ou de conseil en marketing (Drumnet / Kenya), la météo et les besoins du marchés (prix, quantité) afin de mieux produire et mieux vendre ses productions (Esoko/Cote d’Ivoire). Par exemple Kilimo Salama (Kenya) propose aux paysans un service d'assurance dématérialisé innovant. Durant la saison, si la sécheresse ou les pluies dépassent un niveau pré-défini par des radars météo, l'agriculteur reçoit une compensation financière via « M-Pesa ». Même si le digital offre au monde rural des opportunités inimaginables, son intégration dans l’organisation ou entreprise ne s’improvise pas. Les enjeux de transformation digitale sont certes techniques, mais aussi humains et culturels. Dans des sociétés rurales de forte tradition orale, où le face à face était le mode dominant d’interaction, une communication interpersonnelle digitalisée et anonyme transforme les liens social. Dès lors, toute irrigation digitale du milieu rural africain exige un accompagnement anthropologique en termes de stratégies socio-éducatives d’appropriation culturelle sans laquelle l’ancrage digital escompté manquerait d’assisse sociologique. Comment les sciences sociales peuvent elle accompagner l’essor du dans le secteur rural agricole, en termes d’appui, de prévention de risques ou coûts humains. Cette lecture anticipatrice les atouts et limites des startups en milieu agricole s’appuiera sur l’expérience plate-forme Esoko développé au Kenya, puis en Côte d’Ivoire.
Author Keywords: Digital, Plateforme, Esoko, Agriculture, Agraire, téléphone mobile.
How to Cite this Article
Agnissan Assi Aubin, Yao Yao Leopold, and Djane Kabran Aristide, “The digital enterprise on the agrarian cultural land of agricultural SMEs in Africa: Strengths, limits and prospects on the experience of the Esoko platform,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 890–898, October 2022.
