MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Farminista Africa

One-line solution summary:

Using Crowdfunding Platform to Empower Marginalized Women Through Sustainable and Equitable Agriculture

Pitch your solution.

1)In Ghana there are over five million smallholder farmers who cultivate less than two hectares of farmland every planting season.Female smallholders, the majority of whom reside in the Volta and Northern regions of Ghana, produce thirty percent less on their farms compared to their male counterparts, mainly because of three main constraints: difficulty in accessing arable land, inadequate capital to fund their farm inputs and lack of market access.

2)Farminista Africa is a female-led social enterprise that empowers female smallholder farmers and gives them access to to inputs, capital, and knowledge to improve yields while focusing on sustainability.We provide the resources the women need through our crowdfunding platform that connects financiers to these women.

3)If scaled globally,small scale female farmers earn higher wages,are less susceptible to infectious diseases, are less likely to marry against their will, have more productive agricultural plots, and build resilience in the face of climate change.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

In Ghana there are over five million smallholder farmers who cultivate less than two hectares of farmland every planting season. Female smallholders, the majority of whom reside in the Volta and Northern regions of Ghana, produce thirty percent less on their farms compared to their male counterparts, mainly because of three main constraints: difficulty in accessing arable land, inadequate capital to fund their farm inputs and lack of market access.We support these women with capital for inputs and market for their produce.More than half of the women we work with are widows and young women who want to make a decent living, live independently to avoid being forced into marriage because of their needs.

The main use of Trees in the community is to produce charcoal for both domestic use in the town, and transporting to the bigger towns since there’s a huge market for it. This is termed as tree felling. It’s a current problem leading to deforestation, and we foresee it becoming worse as farming activities kickstart in the community.This shows the need of them to be educated on sustainable farm practices that enables them to make money without engaging in destructive practices like deforestation.

What is your solution?

Farminista’s vision firstly solves the inequality issue among smallholder farmers. Male and female smallholder farmers would have equal access to and control arable land, funding for farm inputs, and market for their produce after harvesting. This would be carried out through our farming as a service model where smallholder farmers in need of our franchise service would be enrolled into our programme.This program will also teach on the use of sustainable Farming Practices.

In our bid to create Agri-entrepreneurs using our farming as a service model, we aim to solve the urbanization and unemployment challenges as well as ramp up food production and preservation techniques to meet the growing population by 2050.

In the last two years community leaders in this area, have bought into our vision and subsequently released large tracts of land totalling approximately 10,000 hectares to support our project of transitioning women smallholders into commercial agri-entrepreneurs.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Our customers are the three million female smallholder farmers in poor farming communities across Ghana between the ages of 18 and 55 years who are interested in pursuing agriculture as career and on a large scale.

In 2019, we worked with almost 170 farmers all of which were women. This year, we are serving 300 female smallholders. These are made up of new recruits as well as some of those we worked with in 2019.

These women are marginalized in society and very dependent on male members of their family or communities to survive, they are unable to cater to their basic needs and that of their children.

Without this intervention the women will have irregular income due to lack of access to arable lands and adequate inputs resulting in low yields. These women will typically have unstable employment giving rise to increased poverty levels and poor quality of life.When these women are unable to cater to the basic needs of their children, it often results in increased child marriage, poor healthcare, malnutrition and ethnic conflicts involving their families and communities.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Support small-scale producers with access to inputs, capital, and knowledge to improve yields while sustaining productivity of land and seas

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge and your selected dimension.

Our solution support small-scale producers with access to inputs, capital, and knowledge to improve yields while sustaining productivity of land and seas by providing the resources to small scale female farmers who are usually not given the opportunity to access these resources and learn how to farm sustainably.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Accra, Ghana

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

Debbie Ajei-Godson