DBG launches AI-powered platform to support farmers

The Development Bank Ghana (DBG), in partnership with Opportunity International (OI) and the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (GIRSAL), has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered agricultural finance platform designed to provide farmers with timely technical advice and support financial institutions in making better lending decisions.

The platform, known as Boa Mi, an Akan expression meaning “help me”, is built into WhatsApp and provides smallholder farmers and agricultural extension officers with instant, evidence-based agronomic information.

It also gives loan officers and financial institutions real-time intelligence on agricultural portfolios, helping to bridge the information gap that has traditionally made lending to the sector risky.

Speaking at the launch, the Chief Executive Officer of DBG, Professor Randolph Nsor-Ambala, said the initiative was part of the bank’s mandate to support agribusiness and transform agriculture into a more commercially viable venture.

He said research had shown that one of the major challenges confronting farmers was access to quality, relevant and context-specific technical information.

According to him, the lack of such information often limited farmers’ ability to treat farming as a business, with many engaging in agriculture mainly for subsistence or as a side activity.

“We are trying to change the mindset to make it into a business,” Prof. Nsor-Ambala said, explaining that the bank therefore sought a low-cost, efficient and reliable way of delivering technical information to farmers.

He said technology offered the opportunity to democratise access to agricultural knowledge while helping farmers improve productivity, remain competitive and avoid challenges that could be prevented through proper technical guidance.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of DBG in charge of Investment, Mr Michael Mensah-Baah, said agriculture remained central to Ghana’s economy and the livelihoods of millions of people.

He noted that for many smallholder farmers, the challenge was not a lack of willingness to farm but the difficulty in obtaining the right information at the right time in a practical and accessible form.

The Deputy CEO explained that Boa Mi had been developed to respond to these challenges by making agricultural knowledge available through a platform familiar to millions of people.

“You don’t need to download an application. You don’t need to learn a new technology. You simply need to know how to use WhatsApp,” he said.

Mr Mensah-Baah said the platform was more than a conventional chatbot, as its intelligence was designed around Ghanaian agriculture, with commodity-specific and country-specific advice supported by specialist agronomic knowledge.

He disclosed that the platform had already been tested during a rice farming pilot, generating more than 8,500 advisory queries within three months, with user satisfaction exceeding 75 per cent.

The Deputy CEO said the queries represented farmers seeking practical solutions to protect their crops, improve productivity and safeguard their investments and livelihoods.

Beyond supporting farmers, Mr Mensah-Baah said the platform would provide financial institutions with additional information to improve agricultural credit decisions and identify potential challenges during the production cycle.

He described Boa Mi as a bridge between agricultural knowledge and agricultural finance, saying it could help reduce the information gap and perceived risks associated with lending to farmers.

The platform currently operates in English, while versions in Twi, Dagbani, Ewe and Ga are under development. It supports both text and voice interactions at no additional cost to users.

DBG said the initiative reflected the combined strengths of its three partners, with the bank bringing its development finance mandate, OI its experience working with farmers and communities, and GIRSAL its expertise in agricultural risk management.

BY KINGSLEY ASARE

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