FarmAsyst are supporting Ghana’s farmers with equipment and quality seeds.
You can tell from his passion for the subject that Wisdom Zotor, team lead for FarmAsyst, has farming in his blood. “Farming is my inheritance, really. My father was a farmer, so I joined my father and learned from him. Now, anywhere I go, I keep telling people – let us put aside the notion that this is how we’ve been doing it, so this is how we should always do it. You know, that is an attitude of farmers. I remember when we wanted to introduce line planting, you know, planting crops in lines, the first group of farmers we tried to engage were like, ‘Ah, that’s going to take a lot of time.’ But when we did it for one farmer and they saw the benefit, they were like, ‘Whoa!’ because the farmer who used the lines was able to get more yield than the one who didn’t.”
FarmAsyst is a business that was developed during Wisdom’s time with the Kosmos Innovation Centre in Ghana. He knew that the older generation of farmers could benefit from the addition of the newer technologies that he had learned about – whether it was mechanical assistance, such as tractors and cultivators, or from seeds and chemicals that could enhance yields. During his first time with Kosmos Innovation Center, Zotor said that he hadn’t refined the idea for FarmAsyst enough for them to be able to progress in the competition.
“The lessons, or the learnings you make from KIC will follow you the rest of your life – discipline, teamwork, and the desire to push forward. So, the one thing about Kosmos Innovation Center is that you conceive the raw idea, but Kosmos Innovation Center will help you refine the idea. We picked an idea where we were not too clear as to what we were trying to solve. But in Kosmos Innovation Center they ask you questions about the business. We call it punching holes. They punch holes in an idea, and then you go back and fill those holes, you have refined an idea. We went through that, and when we did the Kosmos Innovation Center process again, the second time we won.”
The business that has emerged from the process of having holes punched in it by the Kosmos Innovation Center tutors is a rock-solid agri-business that at times employs as many as 19 and has allowed Wisdom to bring technology to Ghanaian farmers, just as he dreamed he could. They are now working with 2021’s national farmer of the year, and Wisdom says that this has helped to break through the skepticism of some of the potential customers he approaches – although it helps to have other tricks too. “The best way is to work with people on credit so that they can see the difference before they have to pay!”
Wisdom explains that the work of FarmAsyst is broadly about making connections. “We provide connectivity for these smallholder farmers in Ghana because the farmers lack access to inputs. We don’t own tractors ourselves, but we connect these small farmers with those who do and this gives them access to better technology.” Wisdom says that the key challenge of FarmAsyst is to overcome the natural scepticism of the traditional farmers – a feat that can only be achieved by actions rather than words.
“It’s understandable because in agriculture, the risk of losing all your investment is quite huge, especially with the issue of climate change and all that. So that is where we have the biggest challenge. But one thing is that when we’re able to get somebody on board and we do operations with them, the following year, we don’t need to even explain again. We started in 2020 with 38 farmers, and this year we have enrolled 1,573 to work with us.”