Ghanaian agri-tech startup Complete Farmer has secured a US$2.4 million convertible loan from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to expand agricultural financing, provide farm inputs and strengthen agronomy services for smallholder farmers across Ghana and Togo.
The financing is accompanied by US$480,000 in advisory support aimed at strengthening the company’s systems and capacity as it expands its farmer-financing model.
Founded in 2017, Complete Farmer currently works with more than 72,000 farmers and supplies international commodity buyers, including Aldi and Lidl.
The company said the new partnership will help extend its support to 240,000 farmers by 2030.
“For us, this partnership is about making finance work better for farmers,” said Desmond Koney, CEO of Complete Farmer.
He highlighted the company’s focus on addressing persistent financing challenges facing commercially oriented smallholder farmers.
What is Complete Farmer?
Complete Farmer is a Ghanaian agricultural technology company founded in 2017 to connect smallholder farmers with buyers of agricultural commodities while providing services that support farmers throughout the production process.
The company operates across Ghana and Togo and has built a network of more than 72,000 farmers, supported by over 350 field agents and eight fulfilment centres.
The company’s fulfilment centres play an important role in its agricultural supply chain by handling the aggregation, grading and quality control of farm produce before it is prepared for export.
Through this structure, Complete Farmer helps bridge the gap between smallholder farmers who produce agricultural commodities and large international buyers seeking reliable supplies.
Its customer base includes major international retailers such as Aldi and Lidl, giving farmers connected to its platform access to markets beyond their immediate communities.
Over time, however, Complete Farmer has expanded beyond simply connecting farmers to commodity buyers, developing additional technology-driven services designed to address some of the financial and operational challenges affecting smallholder agriculture.
What exactly does Complete Farmer do?
Complete Farmer essentially operates as a digital agricultural ecosystem that connects farmers, agricultural inputs, financing and markets.
While its original business model centred on agricultural trading, the company has expanded into farm-inputs and equipment through its marketplace, while also developing a credit product that uses farm data to help farmers access financing.
In practical terms, a farmer working with Complete Farmer can potentially receive support beyond simply selling harvested produce.
The company can help provide access to inputs required for production, including farming materials and equipment, while its agronomy services offer farmers professional guidance aimed at improving agricultural productivity.
Its use of farm data is particularly important to its financing model. By developing a better understanding of farmers, their production activities and their agricultural capacity, Complete Farmer seeks to make it easier to connect commercially viable farmers with appropriate financing.
This addresses a common challenge in smallholder agriculture, where farmers may have the capacity to expand production but struggle to secure the capital required to purchase inputs and finance their operations.
How will the $2.4m IFC financing support farmers?
The US$2.4 million convertible loan from IFC will enable Complete Farmer to scale its operations and increase its ability to finance agricultural inputs and agronomy services for farmers.
The funding is being supported through the Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT) of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), reflecting a broader effort to expand private-sector financing within agricultural value chains.
The company is expected to use the financing to strengthen its input-financing model, allowing more farmers to obtain the resources needed to produce commercially.
Rather than requiring farmers to independently raise all the money needed for seeds, fertiliser, equipment and other agricultural requirements before production begins, Complete Farmer’s model is designed to facilitate access to those resources.
The company will also receive US$480,000 in advisory support from IFC. Unlike the loan, this funding is intended to strengthen Complete Farmer’s internal systems and capacity, helping it manage a larger farmer network and expand its financing operations.
Koney said the partnership would allow the company to build on the “technology, data and market infrastructure” it has developed over the years and scale its input-financing model.
Complete Farmer targets 240,000 farmers by 2030
The IFC partnership forms part of Complete Farmer’s broader expansion strategy, with the company expected to extend its support to approximately 240,000 farmers by 2030.
That would represent a substantial increase from the more than 72,000 farmers currently connected to its platform across Ghana and Togo.
The expansion is expected to focus not only on bringing more farmers into the company’s agricultural marketplace but also on facilitating their access to finance.
This is important because financing can determine whether smallholder farmers are able to move from small-scale production to more commercially viable farming operations.
Complete Farmer’s approach combines farmer data, agricultural services and market access in an attempt to address several challenges simultaneously.
Farmers need capital and inputs to produce, technical knowledge to improve yields and reliable markets where their produce can be sold. The company’s model seeks to connect these elements rather than treating them as separate problems.
Koney said the objective is to ensure that more farmers have “the resources and support they need to grow sustainably and participate more meaningfully in agricultural markets.”
Talking Point
Complete Farmer’s model is compelling because it tackles several agricultural bottlenecks at once, such as fragmented supply chains, limited farmer access to inputs, weak market connections and inadequate financing.
Its technology, fulfilment centres, agronomy services and relationships with international buyers give it infrastructure beyond that of a simple digital marketplace.
IFC’s new US$2.4 million convertible loan, alongside US$660,000 in advisory and grant support, is therefore meaningful, but it is not a magic solution.
The hard question is whether Complete Farmer can convert increasing amounts of capital into sustainable farmer productivity and commercially viable financing without creating excessive credit, operational or repayment risks.
Its ambition to reach 240,000 farmers by 2030 is substantial, while its growing capital stack makes disciplined deployment increasingly important.
The company has demonstrated an ability to attract serious institutional backing, but the real test will be measurable improvements in farmer incomes, repayment performance, yields, market access and ultimately the underlying economics of its business.
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