Wami Agro’s Vision For Smallholder Farmers Gains Momentum With Acumen Investment

Acumen, a global impact investment fund, has announced a strategic investment in Wami Agro, a Ghana-based agritech startup working to transform smallholder farming in West Africa. The investment, made under Acumen’s Trellis initiative, aims to improve farmer livelihoods, reduce poverty, and enhance food security in the region.

Across Ghana’s rural landscapes, smallholder farmers till the land, sowing the seeds that sustain a nation. They make up 70% of the agricultural workforce, yet their contributions are often overshadowed by persistent challenges—volatile markets, limited access to credit, and the looming uncertainties of climate change.

It is in this complex reality that Wami Agro has emerged, not just as a company but as a force for transformation. The Ghana-based Agritech firm pioneered a tech-driven approach that focuses on increasing incomes and improving quality of life and climate resilience for smallholder farmers. It employs a three-pronged model that gives farmers the tools, financing, and market access they need to thrive.

Wami Market streamlines the journey from harvest to buyer, leveraging a dedicated fleet of trucks and the Pukpara platform to ensure farmers not only receive fair prices but also gain consistent access to local and international markets. Wami Credit tackles the financial constraints that often stifle growth, using a digital credit-scoring system for Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) to enable farmers to secure financing for essential inputs like seeds, fertilizers, and mechanized equipment. Meanwhile, Wami Info provides knowledge and training, empowering farmers with climate-smart practices that enhance both productivity and resilience.

This integrated approach has already begun to yield tangible results. Ghana’s smallholder farmers typically produce 44% less than global standards, a stark indicator of the constraints they face. Yet, within Wami Agro’s network, that gap is closing—farmers have seen yield increases of the same percentage, alongside income growth of 25-30% per planting season. For many, this shift is more than economic; it is the difference between subsistence and security, between an uncertain future and one with promise.

This mission resonates with Acumen, whose investment philosophy is rooted in the idea of patient capital—funding small and medium-sized enterprises, including smallholder farmers—that prioritize social impact alongside financial viability.

This investment from Acumen follows a GHS 2.21 M (USD 227 K) in funding that Wami Agro received in 2022 from Wangara Green Ventures, which helped the company to offer training, input loans, and access to markets to smallholder farmers throughout the grains value chains.

Now, with the new backing, Wami Agro is preparing to scale its operations beyond Ghana, expanding into neighbouring Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso while rolling out its proprietary farm management platform, Pukpara. This support will enable the company to further improve farmers’ yields and incomes by providing enhanced market access, credit facilities, and capacity-building opportunities.

More importantly, it brings Wami Agro closer to its most ambitious goal yet: to impact 100,000 farmers by 2027, providing them with the stability, infrastructure, and market access needed to build lasting prosperity.

For Wami Agro’s founder, Caleb Edwards, this moment is about more than just growth—it’s about deepening impact where it matters most. “This strategic investment from Acumen will enable us to expand our reach, enhance our technological capabilities, and continue to drive positive change in Ghana’s agricultural sector and beyond.”

Babatunde Usman, an investment manager on Acumen’s West Africa team, sees Wami Agro as an enterprise uniquely positioned to redefine agriculture in the region. “Wami Agro represents the kind of innovative, technology-driven enterprise that can fundamentally reshape agricultural ecosystems. Their commitment to smallholder farmers aligns perfectly with Acumen’s values, and we are excited to support their efforts to create sustainable agricultural impact at scale.”

With this latest backing, Wami Agro is not just expanding its operations—it is expanding the possibilities for thousands of farmers who have, for too long, been left behind. As the company scales, its mission remains unchanged: to build an agricultural ecosystem where smallholder farmers are not just participants, but empowered, thriving stakeholders in the future of food production.