Farming is hard, especially when you don’t have the right tools. Most farmers in West Africa lack the tractors, quality seeds and fertilizer needed to produce a good crop, resulting in yields that are just 20% of their potential.
Farm Yield Africa was created to provide farmers the tools they need to succeed, on microcredit if needed, and to guarantee access to market so they can earn and grow more each season.
For eight years, Farm Yield Africa operated as Tractors for Africa (TFA), a name that reflected our beginnings donating tractors to farming communities in Ghana and Burkina Faso. While impactful, this approach addressed only a fraction of the challenges faced by smallholder farmers and was not scalable to meet the vast demand in the region we served.
The Problem We Identified
Food insecurity continues to be a persistent challenge in West Africa, with over 310 million people struggling with severe shortages. In Northern Ghana, where farming is the primary livelihood, the situation is particularly dire. Farmers face a lack of access to essential resources such as tractors, quality seeds, and fertilizers.
For instance, while Ghana requires over 30,000 tractors to meet demand, fewer than 2,000 are currently operational. This equipment gap limits farmers’ ability to maximize their yields and incomes. On average, corn yields in Sub-Saharan Africa stand at a mere 30 bushels (15 per acre (15 50-kg bags), compared to 180 bushels per acre (91 50 kg-bags) in the United States. Such disparities highlight the urgent need for transformative interventions in the agricultural sector.
Our Solution
Farm Yield Africa is a nonprofit social enterprise, and we have embraced a market-based systems approach to these challenges. Our services go far beyond providing mechanization; they are designed to empower farmers at every stage of the agricultural process. We supply superior seeds and fertilizers, offer expert agronomic advice, and provide credit facilities that enable farmers to invest in their businesses.
Additionally, we offer grain storage solutions to reduce post-harvest losses and ensure that farmers can access markets on more favorable terms. This integrated model equips farmers not only with the tools to increase their productivity but also with the knowledge and support to improve their incomes and quality of life.
Our Impact Through the Years
Since our inception, Farm Yield Africa has steadily expanded its reach and deepened its impact across farming communities in Northern Ghana.
Over the years, we’ve empowered thousands of farmers with the tools, resources, and knowledge needed to transform their agricultural practices and improve their livelihoods. From initially donating tractors to pioneering a scalable, market-based model, our work has consistently focused on addressing systemic challenges in agriculture.
Through our efforts, we’ve helped farmers double their yields, increase their incomes, and gain access to critical resources like high-quality seeds, fertilizers, and mechanization services. By integrating credit facilities and grain storage into our model, we’ve not only enabled farmers to invest in their future but also reduced post-harvest losses, ensuring they can reap the full benefits of their hard work.
In 2024, we achieved remarkable milestones that underscore our growing impact. We reached 1,775 farmers, directly transforming the lives of an estimated 8,875 people.
Through our services, we provided over $250,000 worth of input support, resulting in a doubling of crop yields, a transformative outcome for many families. We also achieved breakeven for the first time, meaning that our model is sustainable and that each donated dollar or cedi grows our impact rather than being needed to maintain where we are at.
Our commitment to gender equity has been unwavering. In 2024, 88% of the farmers we supported were women, and over 80% of our mechanization services were provided to women, ensuring they had the tools to succeed in an often male-dominated sector. To further promote inclusion, we trained 15 women in tractor operations, breaking barriers and fostering new opportunities.
Beyond empowering farmers, we strengthened our internal capacity by hiring new staff and achieving an impressive 97% repayment rate for microcredit during the 2024 irrigation cycle. This high repayment rate reflects the trust and accountability we’ve built within farming communities and the effectiveness of our support systems.
The impact of our work reaches far beyond the individual farmers we serve, touching the lives of our staff and their communities. Felicia Anabire, our Social and Development Officer for example has grown from serving 80 farmers to now managing several hundred farms and farmers in a supervisory capacity.
Similarly, Lucy’ Abochi’s story reflects the ripple effect of our efforts—her son is now employed as a tractor operator for Farm Yield Africa, creating new opportunities for their family and community. These successes exemplify how our mission transforms lives on multiple levels.
Looking Ahead: How You Can Get Involved
At Farm Yield Africa, we are driven by the belief that farming communities hold the key to solving food insecurity in Africa. But we cannot do this work alone. There are several ways you can join us in making a difference.
You can start out by joining us as a volunteer. Volunteering your time and expertise can directly contribute to scaling our efforts. You can also support us by donating to work through our website. By donating, you help provide resources like seeds, fertilizers, and training to farmers who need them the most. If you are familiar with a Ghanaian community who would like our services, these connections are also helpful. Finally, you can support us by following our social media pages on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, and sharing our posts with your network.
Together, we can create a future where every farmer has the tools and support they need to thrive. To learn more about our work or to get involved, visit farmyieldafrica.org. Join us in building a brighter, more food-secure future in Ghana.
Written By: Juliet Buntuguh
Farm Yield Africa
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