Tigo Cash has been earmarked to be one of two mobile money service providers in a project on Financial Inclusion for Smallholder Farmers (SFIN).

The initiative is spearheaded by Agribusiness Systems International and with funding from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), 

The Smallholder Financial Inclusion project aims to promote financial inclusion through a broader uptake and usage of mobile money payments and related financial services for at least 10,000 smallholder farmers with cumulative payment volume of $1 million.

Tigo Cash through this initiative will be offering wallets to about 10,000 farmers and grant access to value chain actors; namely Masara N'zarki, Savanna Farmers, Heritage Seed Company, Shinkaafa Buni to have the benefit of utilising Tigo Cash to pay farmers for their produce.

Farmers on receiving payments can take advantage of Tigo Cash services, withdraw funds or invest in other financial services such as savings or investment products from Capital Bank or Dalex Finance.

The project aims to work with aggregators, out-grower businesses and agribusiness firms within the rice, soya bean and maize value chains to facilitate digital financial services among smallholder farmers through the mobile money platform, thus reducing risks associated with cash transactions.

Rollouts of the project will focus on the Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions with farmers currently being sensitised on the initiative.

Commenting on the role of mobile money in supporting the agricultural sector, Acting Head of Tigo Cash, Carl Pomeyie said: “increasingly, mobile payments has been identified as a crucial key to unlock agricultural growth in our rural areas.

It not only benefits the farmers, local suppliers and value chain actors but impacts the communities and region through safer transactions, access to investments, ability to save and eventual growth of businesses”.

He added that “Tigo Cash’s involvement in the SFIN project further consolidates its commitment to deepening financial inclusion in the country. We continue to identify ways to drive financial inclusion and to being a part of a process for creating an eco-system of cashless payments in the country”.

The SFIN project is one of many activities Tigo has undertaken in the month of May to signify Mobile Financial Services Month where it seeks to intensify education on mobile money and encourage greater use by highlighting the benefits of using Tigo Cash.

Since its launch in 2011, Tigo Cash has grown to record 4,158,016 registered users with transaction volumes of over 3.5 million a month as at the end of Q1, 2017.