Bank accounts for cocoa farmers: Ghana's five-year digital finance pact

A cocoa farmer's harvest is only as good as her ability to buy inputs before the season and save safely after it. In Accra, SafeBond Co-operative Credit Union and WebMate Ghana have signed a five-year partnership to bring digital financial services and farm-input access to cocoa-growing communities, working through Village Savings and Loan Associations — the community savings groups farmers already trust. The programme links the groups to SafeCrop's agricultural services, so a farmer's savings record, her loans and her fertiliser can finally live in the same system. For Ghana's cocoa belt, it is financial plumbing — unglamorous, and exactly what smallholders ask for.

SDG 8 · Decent work and economic growth — Mechanism: funding & finance