Across West Africa, a digital revolution is reshaping agriculture. Small-scale farmers are no longer just producers; they’re becoming data-driven entrepreneurs who leverage technology to optimise yields, access financial services, and connect directly with markets. This transformation is particularly pronounced in Ghana, where a new generation of agritech startups is emerging to bridge the gap between traditional farming practices and modern agricultural solutions. At the forefront of this revolution are women entrepreneurs who bring unique perspectives and deep understanding of agricultural challenges to the tech space.
Despite representing a significant portion of Africa’s agricultural workforce, women have historically faced barriers to accessing technology, funding, and markets. However, a growing movement of female-led agritech startups in Ghana is changing this narrative, developing solutions that address real-world farming problems while creating pathways for other women to participate in the digital agricultural economy.
The Agricultural Landscape in Ghana
Ghana’s economy runs on agriculture. Over 35% of Ghanaians work in farming, and the sector feeds the entire country of 33 million people. In this large number of farmers, women make up about 70% of the workforce, yet they’ve historically been excluded from decision-making and technology adoption. This is changing as more women step into leadership roles in agritech, bringing fresh solutions to old problems.
Ghanaian women farmers face specific challenges that male entrepreneurs often overlook. They typically have less access to land, credit, and markets. Many juggle farming with household responsibilities and have limited time for training programs. Traditional gender roles also restrict their ability to adopt new technologies or start businesses. But these same experiences give women unique insights into what farmers actually need. They understand the daily realities of smallholder farming – from managing limited resources to balancing multiple crops and income sources.
Let’s consider some women led Agritech companies taking the Ghana agricultural industry by storm.
5 Top Women-Led Agritech Startups in Ghana
1. Farm.io Limited
In 2019, Anaporka Adasabra co-founded Farm.io Limited with one clear mission to use technology to make farming genuinely profitable for smallholder farmers. The challenge was obvious but complex. Ghana’s farmers were losing crops to unpredictable weather while struggling to access markets that paid fair prices.
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Traditional farming methods weren’t sufficient anymore, but most tech solutions remained too expensive or complicated for small-scale operations. Farm.io’s solution combines greenhouse systems with smart technology. Their setups use IoT sensors to continuously monitor soil moisture, temperature, and plant health, automatically adjusting water and fertiliser use. This precision farming approach maximises yields while minimising waste – essential when input costs strain farmer budgets.
How Farm.io is Helping Farmers
Farm.io partners with over 220 farmers (74% women) who supply various grocery stores and retail customers. They’ve completed over 100 projects producing more than 600 different vegetables.
In 2022, TotalEnergies Ghana recognised Adasabra as Best Top Female Entrepreneur in their Startupper competition. Her goal remains ambitious: establish Farmio as the leading greenhouse company across sub-Saharan Africa.
2. AgriQuinns Ghana
Four women looked at Ghana’s massive coconut waste problem and saw an untapped opportunity. Jessica Awaliga and her co-founders launched AgriQuinns Ghana in 2023 with a straightforward concept: convert discarded coconut shells and husks into high-quality organic fertiliser.
Their timing addressed two pressing problems simultaneously. Chemical fertilisers drain farmer budgets while gradually degrading soil health. Meanwhile, coconut waste typically gets burned or dumped, creating environmental hazards.
AgriQuinns identified a way to solve both challenges through one integrated solution. Their process transforms agricultural waste into nutrient-rich organic fertiliser that costs less than chemical alternatives while actively improving soil fertility. This represents classic circular economy thinking – converting one industry’s waste stream into another sector’s valuable input.
Success Without Traditional Funding
The real test came when AgriQuinns didn’t secure KIC funding in 2024. Most startups would have ceased operations. Instead, these four determined women leveraged their expertise, professional networks, and available resources to continue scaling. They demonstrated that persistence and resourcefulness often matter more than initial capital access.
As an entirely female-led team, AgriQuinns shows young women that they can build successful agricultural businesses without waiting for perfect conditions or major funding rounds.
3. Sommalife
Christina Mawuse Gyisun grew up watching women in northern Ghana collect shea nuts for pennies while international cosmetic companies paid premium prices for shea butter. This disconnect troubled her enough to take action. In 2020, she co-founded Sommalife with JohnCarl Dunyo, determined to bridge the gap between shea producers and global markets.
The shea industry presents a classic value chain problem. Women smallholder farmers do the hard work of collecting nuts and processing them into butter, but middlemen capture most profits. Sommalife’s solution centers on their proprietary TreeSyt software platform, designed specifically for rural West Africa’s challenging conditions.
How TreeSyt software Works
Sommalife Treesyt platform creates a transparent, traceable shea value chain from tree to final product. When farmers sell through Sommalife’s system, international buyers can track exactly where products originated and what social and environmental benefits their purchases generate.
This transparency enables premium pricing while ensuring those premiums reach actual producers rather than intermediaries.
4. Oceans Mall Company
Caroline Pomeyie recognised a troubling paradox in Ghana’s fishing sector. Despite providing livelihoods for 2.5 million people, fishing communities remained trapped in poverty, illiteracy, and poor living conditions. She founded Oceans Mall Company Limited to use technology to transform this vital but underserved industry.
Ghana’s fishing challenges are interconnected and complex. Small-scale fishers lack direct access to profitable urban markets, typically selling to middlemen at low prices. Post-harvest losses due to poor handling and inadequate storage reduce already slim profit margins. Traditional practices often contribute to overfishing and environmental degradation.
Caroline’s approach through Oceans Mall combines seafood processing with technology-enabled supply chain improvements. The company focuses on reducing post-harvest losses while ensuring food security through more efficient market systems.
How Oceans Mall Helps Farmers
Oceans Mall’s centerpiece is their Pinwheel-Agent mobile application, which connects fishing communities directly to urban buyers. By onboarding fishers to this platform, Oceans Mall strengthens economic opportunities and integrates them into transparent, efficient supply chains. The app provides real-time market information, direct buyer connections, and mobile payment systems.
5. aiScarecrow Technologies
Mary Aboagye, an environmental scientist turned agritech entrepreneur, noticed something troubling during her travels through Ghana’s cereal-growing regions. Pest birds destroy a good percentage of cereal crops in Ghana, representing millions of dollars in lost food production and farmer income. Traditional solutions involve either hiring people (often children) to spend 8-10 hours daily chasing birds manually or applying expensive chemical pesticides that harm the environment.
Mary recognised that both approaches created additional problems while failing to solve the original issue effectively. Her solution through aiScarecrow Technologies combines drone technology with environmental science principles. The company provides drone-based bird control services using eco-friendly systems that combine visual and audio deterrents to scare birds away from cereal crops without harming wildlife or requiring dangerous chemicals.
Smart Technology for Ancient Problems
What makes aiScarecrow’s approach innovative is the randomisation factor. Birds quickly adapt to predictable deterrent patterns, making static scarecrows ineffective within days. The company’s drones use artificial intelligence to vary deterrent patterns, keeping birds confused and maintaining effectiveness over extended periods.
The locally-designed and assembled technology makes the solution affordable for Ghanaian farmers while creating jobs and technical expertise within the country. Beyond pest control, their drone platform includes capabilities for agrochemical application and general farm security, increasing value for farmers.
Advantages of Women-Led Agritech Startups
1. User-Centric Product Design: Women-led agritech startups often prioritise the needs of their users in the design process, resulting in products that are simpler and more user-friendly. This approach stems from a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by farmers and agricultural workers, particularly women, who may encounter barriers to using complex technology. By focusing on intuitive interfaces and straightforward functionalities, these startups make their solutions more accessible to a broader audience, including smallholder farmers who may have limited technical expertise.
2. Inclusivity in Solutions: Women entrepreneurs tend to bring diverse perspectives to problem-solving, which can lead to more inclusive agricultural solutions. Their experiences drive innovations that cater to the specific needs of women in agriculture, thereby addressing issues such as access to resources, training, and market opportunities. This inclusivity not only empowers women but also strengthens the agricultural ecosystem as a whole by ensuring that a wider range of voices and experiences are incorporated into the technologies developed.
3. Sustainability Orientation: Many women-led agritech startups have a strong emphasis on sustainability and environmental stewardship. They often advocate for practices that promote biodiversity, soil health, and responsible resource management. This commitment leads to the development of solutions that are not only economically viable but also beneficial for the planet, addressing critical issues like climate change and food security.
4. Community Engagement: Women entrepreneurs frequently excel in community engagement and building strong relationships within agricultural communities. Their focus on collaboration leads to the co-creation of products and services that truly reflect the needs and desires of those they serve. This participatory approach fosters trust and ensures that solutions are more readily adopted by the community.
5. Innovative Problem-Solving: The unique experiences and challenges faced by women in agriculture drives innovative thinking in tackling persistent agricultural issues. Women-led startups therefore, develop creative solutions that traditional approaches may overlook, leading to breakthroughs in productivity, efficiency, and market access.
Driving Inclusive Growth Through Innovation
The stories of Farm.io, AgriQuinns, Sommalife, Oceans Mall, and aiScarecrow reveal how women-led agritech startups are redefining Ghana’s food systems. Their creativity blends local insight with bold experimentation, producing tools that help farmers earn more, conserve resources, and connect with valuable markets. Beyond the technologies themselves, these ventures model an inclusive pathway for agricultural transformation, one where women are not just participants but architects of sustainable growth. By addressing systemic barriers such as market access, financing, and skills development, they demonstrate that empowering women unlocks benefits for entire communities. Their work proves that when innovation is paired with empathy and persistence, agriculture becomes not only more productive but also more equitable and future ready.
