Digital Receipts Transform Uganda's Dairy Supply Chain Transparency

In a recent initiative in Uganda, 13 dairy cooperatives partnered to implement digital receipts for smallholder farmers. This project aimed to improve transparency in the dairy supply chain, where farmers often face challenges due to reliance on informal transporters. Farmers received SMS messages twice a week detailing the volume of milk delivered and recorded in their name at the cooperative.

The intervention was evaluated through a randomised controlled trial involving 766 farmers and 70 transporters. Findings indicated that farmers who delivered milk themselves were 6-10 percentage points more likely to continue deliveries during the intervention. Additionally, milk quality improved by nearly 13%, particularly among farmers using transporters.

Accountability among transporters increased, as treated farmers were 20-26 percentage points more likely to detect discrepancies between farm and cooperative records. They were also 14-17 percentage points more likely to change transporters and reported lower trust in intermediaries. These digital receipts helped reveal previously hidden misconduct.

The study demonstrated that simple digital tools could empower farmers by providing timely, verifiable information, potentially reshaping behavior across the supply chain. The system's reliance on basic mobile phone infrastructure makes it scalable even in resource-constrained environments.

Beyond the dairy sector, these findings suggest potential applications in other agricultural markets facing similar information frictions. Digital tools can realign incentives, improve transparency, and enable more equitable market participation.