She explained that access to finance was a major challenge in the agricultural sector; and that it was expensive to build bank branches in rural areas coupled with difficulty in convincing the ‘unbanked’ to use formal banks.

Dr Annan made these remarks during a panel discussion at the 68th Annual New Year School and Conference (ANYSC) at the University of Ghana.

Speaking on the topic "Agribusiness Financing and Insurance", Dr Annan said mobile financing provides financial inclusion access to rural under-served agribusiness value chain actors.

She said most smallholder farmers lack access to formal bank accounts and services; stating that majority of those at the base of the economic pyramid mostly live in a cash economy.

She said farmers appreciate the privacy, efficiency and accountability Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) provides.

Dr Annan said the ASI believes that there was significant untapped potential for growth among smallholder producers and agribusinesses.

She noted that business could profit while contributing to the greater good and sustainably solving today’s pressing development challenges.

She mentioned that the benefits of digital financing service in agricultural value chains included data integrity – registered farmer numbers to be kept to ensure payments to right recipients.

She noted that farmers could receive payments outside normal banking hours including weekends from 0700 hours to 2200 hours.

Dr Annan said the mobile financing provides a more cost efficient, easily accountable, less susceptible to fraud, and easier to pay out in a timely and safe manner.

She cited that ASI collaborated with Global Agri-Development Company Limited (GADCO) and partnered with Tigo Cash as the Mobile Money Transfer Provider with the greatest interest in developing a rural network and the only platform that could make payments into non-subscriber accounts RiMFin.

She noted that the programme was designed to reduce the financial and administrative burden of paying farmers for their paddy rice by transitioning cash payments to a more convenient and secure electronic payment platform.

ASI a subsidiary of ACDI/VOCA is a nonprofit consulting firm that aligns business interests with those of smallholder producers to confront today’s global challenges.

ASI conducts market systems analysis and drives economic development that equips people to build healthier families, resilient communities, and flourishing societies.

The 68th ANYSC, on the theme "Promoting National Development through Agriculture Modernisation: The Role of ICT", is being organised by the School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, under the auspices of the MTN, Eximbank Ghana, and The Kosmos Innovation Centre.

The aim of this 68th Annual New Year School and Conference is to create the forum for passionate discussions on how ICT could be integrated into agriculture, to modernise the sector for sustainable national development.