Analysis of impact of agricultural digital services on annual crop production in Senegal

Agriculture is a key sector in Senegal’s economy, engaging 35.2% of households (ANSD, 2021) and contributing significantly to food security. However, productivity remains low due to various constraints, including limited access to timely and reliable agricultural information. The integration of digital agricultural services is emerging as a viable solution to address these challenges by providing farmers with essential data, advisory services, and market access. Knowledge gaps exist on the extent of use and impact of digital tools in agriculture among farmers in Senegal.This paper was initiated to assess the impact of digital agricultural services usage by farmers in Western, Central and Southern zones of Senegal. The study was conducted based on a survey realized in 2021 focussing on strategic crop value chains. Simple logistic model was used to estimate the propensity score and to explain the factors that influence adoption of agricultural digital services. Kernel matching was used to estimate the impacts of digital services on production yield. The factors determining the use of digital agricultural services were the region of residence, gender, level of education and the number of people in the household. The results of the analyses showed 29.9, 28.9 and 34.9 percentage points increase in maize, sesame and groundnut yields, respectively, due to enhanced access to digital agricultural services. However, the impact on the yields of other key crops (cowpea, rice, millet, sorghum) was not statistically proven.