While Ghana’s agriculture sector is growing, smallholder producers still lack access to financial services that ease receipt of payment, increase access to savings, and facilitate credit. Similarly, commercial agriculture companies lack efficient and secure means to process transactions with farmers. With millions of mobile phones in circulation, Ghana could benefit significantly from increased access to mobile financial services.
Market Solution
Since 2014, Tanager (operating then as ASI) worked with telecoms, agribusinesses, and public partners to leverage expanding mobile services in Ghana’s rural communities to address financial needs of farmers in Ghana through mobile money solutions. In partnership with Global Agri-Development Company Ltd. (GADCO), a major rice producer, miller, and provider of extension services, Tanager initiated the Rice Mobile Finance Pilot (RiMFin) to introduce a more efficient, secure payment mechanism, reduce side selling, and maintain loyalty in the rice supply chain. Building on the proof-of-concept tested in the RiMFin project, Tanager partnered with Tigo Cash and OpenRevolution to implement the Agricultural Value Chain Mobile Finance (AgFin) project. Working with farmers in the cocoa, palm oil, and dried fruits value chains, AgFin allowed the three agricultural processing and export companies to provide mobile money payments to farmers, thus reducing transaction costs and risks associated with cash payments.
Currently, under the Smallholder Financial Inclusion (SFIN) project, Tanager is partnering with Tigo and Vodafone Cash as well as four local agribusinesses to incorporate mobile money into local business models and improve the saving and investment capacity of smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana. The project will reach a minimum of 10,000 smallholder farmers, training them on mobile money usage, financial literacy, and connecting them with mobile savings and investment providers.
Through a successive series of projects, Tanager has built on its initial pilot model to facilitate sustainable financial inclusion of rural, under-served farmers and agribusiness through mobile money transfer (MMT) technology.
Market Impact
- 8 Ghanaian agribusinesses converted or converting large portion of their payment process from cash to mobile money
- Over 7,000 Ghanaian farmers registered onto mobile money platforms with an additional 3,000 being trained and registered in 2018.
- Facilitated transfer of over $400,000 USD through mobile money platforms with potential to increase value up to $1,000,000 by end of 2018.
