Fast forward a few years and Farmerline, the social business he founded whilst at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology University with Emmanuel Addai (Co-Founder and CTO), is helping smallholder farmers increase yields by providing access to critical agricultural information via their mobile phones in their local language.
Their inspiration was to create a service specifically focused on smallholder farmers and organisations to help them get access to resources.
Challenges
Significant challenges remain in realizing the full potential of Ghana’s agriculture sector: lack of information on pricing, lack of access to credit facilities, lack of agricultural extension services and increasing costs of inputs prices are just some of the critical issues to address. With the right tools and training, which is what we're providing through our services and farmer workshops, we believe we can play a critical role in transforming this sector into the engine of the country’s development.
Our Future
We offer 6 to 8 weekly workshops in farming communities spread across the country. Our technology is providing a valuable link for farmers to better access markets, financing, weather forecasts and agricultural services. Our mobile messaging platform is also allowing development partners and businesses to provide farmers with crop management updates faster and at low cost through our outgoing messages (Voice/SMS) and mobile surveys to ensure that they receive the right knowledge for increasing yields.
Through many different initiatives by Farmerline, farmers can produce and sell more food. We provide services to reach sustainability for Ghanaian farmers through innovation, education and information in the agricultural sector.
When farmers gain access to the information and tools that help them better cultivate the land, they can start to shake off the chains of poverty. They can then begin to prosper and really provide for themselves and their community.
If you believe in our mission and want to help, please visit our website.
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Alloysius Attah:
CEO & Co-Founder
Emmanuel Owusu Addai:
CTO & Co-Founder
Farmerline