Phone Farming: How SMS is Changing Agriculture in Ghana

Just three years ago, Abdul Rahman Takoro could not afford to send all his eight children to school. Several dropped out, while he struggled to pay the fees for the rest. Takoro tried to work as a bicycle repairer, after the frustration of seeing his farm fail. Without any education or resources on farming, Takoro was losing money. “I could invest about GHC200 into my 9 acre farm and I would lose all of it,” Takoro said, speaking in Dagbani. “I have suffered in this world,” he said. “I could not see any progress in my life.” But Takoro found a lot of hope in a simple SMS technology. A private communication company, Esoko, is helping farmers like Takoro access tips on weather, better farming methods and market prices. Currently the only way most farmers get such information is through extension officers. The government employees meet with farmers to provide information, but they barely reach a quarter of the total number of farmers in Ghana. As well, according to information from  Ghana’s Finance Ministry, about 70 per  cent of extension officers will retire from active service in the next three years.

The Minister for Food and Agriculture Clement Kofi Humado said that farmers can face large challenges. “The Ministry has taken a serious view of market access to the extent that last year and this year for example small holder farmers particularly in Brong Ahafo, Upper East and Upper West regions have produced a lot of grains and are unable to send them to the market,” he said. The agricultural industry in Ghana has been struggling as farmers lack education and resources to grow their yields meet demands and subsist under rising prices. A decade ago, agriculture contributed 40 per cent of the country’s GDP, according to the country’s agricultural ministry. Now, it’s only 27 per cent. continued