We build tools that help smallholders in northern Ghana decide when to plant, and how much to risk.
We turn what is already known about soil and weather into one instruction a farmer can act on today.
One extension officer cannot reach every plot before the rains. These four numbers are why we started.
1:500
Extension officers to farmers, the recommended ratio
1:1,500
The average in Ghana today
June
When the rains now start in northern Ghana, not March
120
Design trials one service needed to make a 7-word SMS clear
How wet the soil must be for maize, how little fits on a USSD screen, and how far a regional forecast can be from one plot.
Maize establishes when the soil holds about 15% water by volume. A USSD session ends after 150 to 180 seconds and shows 160 characters per screen. And a forecast for a whole region can miss what happens on a single farm, which is why we measure the plot itself.
Whether farmers trust a voice on a basic phone, and which channel they actually finish.
When a voice message and the advice of community elders disagree, we do not yet know which a farmer will follow. Nor do we know how many farmers drop off a USSD menu compared with a voice call in these districts. The Upper West pilot is designed to find out.
Five people covering the product, the money, the operations and the farmers we need to reach.
Join the team
Tanaka Manhuwa
Team Lead
Frank Mugwaneza Kwizera
Technical Lead
Abdoul-Latif Sissao
Operations Lead
Kudakwashe Chingoka
Finance Lead
Oloo Tryphone Obuya
Marketing Lead