A Working Visit to Complete Farmer: Digital Remote Farming From Seed to Market

The 28th of April, 2021 saw the Director of Diaspora Affairs, Akwasi Awua Ababio pay a working visit to the office of Complete Farmer in East Legon, Accra. This followed a visit by the founder Desmond Koney to the Jubilee House a week prior to introduce his platform to the Office.  Complete Farmer founded by Ghanaian, Desmond Koney is an end to end digital agriculture platform which enables industries across the globe to source for agriculture commodities and also allows for individuals to participate in the agriculture value chain. The company is made up of a pan African team of young professionals from engineering, business, agronomy, finance and marketing backgrounds.

Giving Mr. Ababio a tour of their office, Desmond Koney explained how the platform works. Users sign up on the website and select which crops they would want to farm as well as the acreage, all from the comfort of being behind their digital devices. With over 12,000 acres of farm cultivation across Ghana, Complete Farmer takes this request and outsources the farming project to their farmers, about 350 in number.

Farms are selected and cultivated on based on extensive research and data to ensure high quality yield. The platform uses satellites and sensors allowing for users to view and get comprehensive updates on their farms at any place and at any point in time. Upon harvest, users are notified. The platform not only includes farmers but a buyer market place as well. Thus, users are assured of buyers and can also determine how many bags they would want to sell and to whom.

Complete Farmer currently ships high quality agriculture produce to the Netherlands, Germany, China, India, Sinagapore and United Arab Emirates. The platform currently farms soy beans, maize, ginger, carrots, sweet potatoes, chilli pepper, groundnuts, cassava, sesame seeds and pineapple.

The Director of Diaspora Affairs, Mr. Ababio commended Desmond Koney and his team for instituting such an initiative in agriculture. As this initiative also intersects with the Government of Ghana’s drive to encourage agriculture, Mr. Ababio assured Desmond Koney of support from the Government. He also mentioned the platform is an initiative which can be recommended to people in the diaspora as it will allow for those not in Ghana to be able to invest in farming without being here.

Moreover, those in the country who would want to get into farming but do not want to get into the physical act could also take advantage of the platform. Mr. Ababio further assured Complete Farmer of the support and future engagement with Diaspora Affairs to introduce the platform to members of the Diaspora.