December 1, 2025
Busting the Middlemen Cartel: How Data Can Save Farmers' Lives
In the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and beyond, as many as 40% of farmers continue to use hand tools and face immense challenges against middlemen networks that have dominated trade for over a hundred years1. The outcome is grim: farmers in countries such as India, Egypt, and Nigeria earn barely enough to subsist. Equally disturbing is that end consumers are left paying exorbitant prices. The system’s design leads to untold stress in the farming community, often resulting in farmer suicides and perpetuating poverty2 3. This crisis is so pervasive that words fail to convey its depth. For a majority of the estimated 624 million farmers worldwide4, the unyielding uncertainty inflicted by the traditional agricultural and trade system turns life's simplest hopes—to provide, to endure, to dream—into distant possibilities. To me and a handful of close associates, this didn’t look like mere poverty; it was a painful and relentless erosion of dignity and possibility. The world cannot look away from such heartbreak. We could not, especially in an age when technology can create solutions to this unforgiving system.
Is technology the real answer?
There are other daunting challenges in the food sector. In Saudi Arabia, where I reside, we have made considerable progress in enhancing our agricultural sector. Yet, much of the gains built over the last two decades are lost: The sobering reality is that food waste is more than 33%, costing the nation SAR 40 billion annually. A national program under Saudi Vision 2030 aims to reduce food loss and waste by around 50% by 2030. The numbers made us wonder: Couldn’t we reset the system using an app that gives farmers direct access to markets with price transparency, negotiation tools, and immediate payment facilities? The answer was “yes.”
But, very quickly, the answer went beyond a simple “yes.”
Over the last three years, through meetings with government officials, global food experts, and industry authorities, we have discovered that technology not only has the potential to challenge a century-old status quo and transform the farmer’s fate, but also reset the ticking clock on food security. That fired us into action. I don’t know the exact number of meetings I have had to discuss turning the idea of technology-as-an-intervention-for-food-security into reality, but, without exaggeration, it must be over a thousand.
We’ve met agronomists, state officials, policymakers, academics, financial advisors, supply chain analysts, and scores of humble farmers. We’ve shared our ideas with food collectives, agricultural networks, and thinktanks across China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the US, and Nigeria (I have lost count). The response has been overwhelming. I am now tempted to say that we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in food security.
Can we also reduce food waste?
I am convinced that we can solve the most insidious challenge facing the global food system, starting with the 57 OIC nations and emerging markets. We can not only prevent the siphoning of value from every transaction but can also reduce food waste and improve farm output.
This realization has fueled the creation of T57, an end-to-end ecosystem for market participants—farmers, sellers, buyers, and governments alike. It is a platform that integrates trade, agriculture, and food security by combining technology, transparency, and an on-ground presence that cuts across borders and cultures. By making pricing, demand, market options, and support visible to all participants, the platform turns market power into a public good, not a private privilege.
Breaking the middleman monopoly
Let me share the three strategic imperatives that can turn around the current state of food security:
First, platforms must democratize information. When agricultural stakeholders see competing prices, know true market demand, and comprehend the actions of intermediaries at each step, they can negotiate fairly and invest with confidence. This has led to features on T57, such as AI-powered searches for trade offers, negotiation tools that allow buyers to specify quality (organic, non-GMO, broken ratio), origin, and bid price, and receive tailored matches almost instantly. This reengineering of market structure is essential for breaking the middleman's monopoly.
Second, platforms must reimagine risk. Too often, farmers have little recourse when deals go awry or the market moves against them. By embedding smart contracts and hedging capabilities within the T57 platform, the system creates resilient, enforceable agreements and risk-management capabilities. Payment transfers are instantaneous, using fiat-backed crypto if necessary. Trust moves from hope to calculation, and exploitation is eliminated before it can metastasize.
Third, the platform must prioritize equitable outcomes. Merely digitizing existing systems risks amplifying inequity; instead, it must build “data markets for the many,” not digital empires for the few. This means matching the farmer directly with both local and international buyers, enabling smallholders to join verified aggregators, and rating both buyers and sellers based on objective criteria such as banking history, trade volume, and reliability.
The challenge is not technical but organizational: to change mindsets as much as market listings. For policymakers and technologists, the lesson is clear. True disruption in food security will only occur when trust, transparency, and direct access are embedded in every transaction.
We are reimagining the food system, and I invite you to join us in turning it into a meritocratic and humane one where sustainability, fairness, and dignity guide every step of the value chain. We will strive to ensure that no one goes to bed hungry. Hopefully, within our lifetime.
____
In India, over 80% of smallholder farmers rely on hand tools, Farmonaut
Over 112,000 Suicides in India's Farming Industry in 10 Years, Statista, May 15, 2024.
Over 50% Agricultural Households Are Indebted, Farm Debt Rose by 58% In 5 Years: NSO Survey, The Wire, September 11, 2021
Olaf Erenstein, Jordan Chamberlin, and Kai Sonder, Farms worldwide: 2020 and 2030 outlook, Sage Journals, Volume 50, Issue 3, June 21, 2021
Food and Agriculture Sector in the Saudi Vision 2030 Annual Report 2024, Saudi Foodtech, April 26, 2025
Is technology the real answer?
There are other daunting challenges in the food sector. In Saudi Arabia, where I reside, we have made considerable progress in enhancing our agricultural sector. Yet, much of the gains built over the last two decades are lost: The sobering reality is that food waste is more than 33%, costing the nation SAR 40 billion annually. A national program under Saudi Vision 2030 aims to reduce food loss and waste by around 50% by 2030. The numbers made us wonder: Couldn’t we reset the system using an app that gives farmers direct access to markets with price transparency, negotiation tools, and immediate payment facilities? The answer was “yes.”
But, very quickly, the answer went beyond a simple “yes.”
Over the last three years, through meetings with government officials, global food experts, and industry authorities, we have discovered that technology not only has the potential to challenge a century-old status quo and transform the farmer’s fate, but also reset the ticking clock on food security. That fired us into action. I don’t know the exact number of meetings I have had to discuss turning the idea of technology-as-an-intervention-for-food-security into reality, but, without exaggeration, it must be over a thousand.
We’ve met agronomists, state officials, policymakers, academics, financial advisors, supply chain analysts, and scores of humble farmers. We’ve shared our ideas with food collectives, agricultural networks, and thinktanks across China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the US, and Nigeria (I have lost count). The response has been overwhelming. I am now tempted to say that we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in food security.
Can we also reduce food waste?
I am convinced that we can solve the most insidious challenge facing the global food system, starting with the 57 OIC nations and emerging markets. We can not only prevent the siphoning of value from every transaction but can also reduce food waste and improve farm output.
This realization has fueled the creation of T57, an end-to-end ecosystem for market participants—farmers, sellers, buyers, and governments alike. It is a platform that integrates trade, agriculture, and food security by combining technology, transparency, and an on-ground presence that cuts across borders and cultures. By making pricing, demand, market options, and support visible to all participants, the platform turns market power into a public good, not a private privilege.
Breaking the middleman monopoly
Let me share the three strategic imperatives that can turn around the current state of food security:
First, platforms must democratize information. When agricultural stakeholders see competing prices, know true market demand, and comprehend the actions of intermediaries at each step, they can negotiate fairly and invest with confidence. This has led to features on T57, such as AI-powered searches for trade offers, negotiation tools that allow buyers to specify quality (organic, non-GMO, broken ratio), origin, and bid price, and receive tailored matches almost instantly. This reengineering of market structure is essential for breaking the middleman's monopoly.
Second, platforms must reimagine risk. Too often, farmers have little recourse when deals go awry or the market moves against them. By embedding smart contracts and hedging capabilities within the T57 platform, the system creates resilient, enforceable agreements and risk-management capabilities. Payment transfers are instantaneous, using fiat-backed crypto if necessary. Trust moves from hope to calculation, and exploitation is eliminated before it can metastasize.
Third, the platform must prioritize equitable outcomes. Merely digitizing existing systems risks amplifying inequity; instead, it must build “data markets for the many,” not digital empires for the few. This means matching the farmer directly with both local and international buyers, enabling smallholders to join verified aggregators, and rating both buyers and sellers based on objective criteria such as banking history, trade volume, and reliability.
The challenge is not technical but organizational: to change mindsets as much as market listings. For policymakers and technologists, the lesson is clear. True disruption in food security will only occur when trust, transparency, and direct access are embedded in every transaction.
We are reimagining the food system, and I invite you to join us in turning it into a meritocratic and humane one where sustainability, fairness, and dignity guide every step of the value chain. We will strive to ensure that no one goes to bed hungry. Hopefully, within our lifetime.
____
In India, over 80% of smallholder farmers rely on hand tools, Farmonaut
Over 112,000 Suicides in India's Farming Industry in 10 Years, Statista, May 15, 2024.
Over 50% Agricultural Households Are Indebted, Farm Debt Rose by 58% In 5 Years: NSO Survey, The Wire, September 11, 2021
Olaf Erenstein, Jordan Chamberlin, and Kai Sonder, Farms worldwide: 2020 and 2030 outlook, Sage Journals, Volume 50, Issue 3, June 21, 2021
Food and Agriculture Sector in the Saudi Vision 2030 Annual Report 2024, Saudi Foodtech, April 26, 2025
