The government is supporting a locally developed autonomous farming robot, described as a major step towards modernising Ghana’s agriculture and moving away from traditional manual methods.

Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, John Dumelo, says the innovation aligns with the government’s push for efficiency in the sector, shifting farming from hoe and cutlass to more efficient methods.

He was speaking at the launch of the FAMA robot by Ghanaian Agri-tech startup 3Farmate.

Many farmers in Ghana continue to use outdated techniques, limiting their ability to produce adequate yields or even diversify production.

This situation is worsened by inadequate labour, access to modern farming equipment and technology, leaving a significant portion of the agricultural workforce unable to harness the full capabilities of contemporary practices.

The development of the FAMA robot is revolutionising the agricultural landscape by automating planting, fertilising, and crop management with high precision and minimal human supervision.

The FAMA robot is a multi-purpose electric autonomous machine built entirely in Ghana from first principles to address local challenges such as labour shortages and low productivity.

Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, John Dumelo, speaking at the launch of the farming robot, explained that the innovation by 3Farmate will prove the efficiency of farmers.

He says farming is lucrative when it’s done at the right time and in the right place.

“If you look at agriculture, we're looking at efficiency, and it's about time we shift from hoe and cutlass to more efficient methods of doing agriculture. For a group of young Ghanaians to come up with this innovative machine, I think, is a step in the right direction, and the government is fully in support of that. And so, with something like this, it's going to increase efficiency,” he said.

The FAMA robot is designed for planting, fertiliser application, and weeding, using navigation and AI vision systems.

With the zero carbon emissions through the solar-chargeable electric power, usage will result in 60% reduction in chemical usage through targeted AI application.

Co-founder and CEO of 3Farmate, Clinton Anani, described the launch as a landmark moment for Ghanaian agriculture.

He says robots’ AI-driven decision-making makes it suitable for remote and rural areas where internet or GPS signals are unreliable.

“We don't have enough farmhands to till the land, but populations are growing. And we need to be able to feed ourselves. The robot is employed to make it possible for farmers to scale farming and make sure that we can truly bring this technology to farmers who are growing to feed the populations and us to come,” he said.

The Agritech startup is currently raising a pre-seed funding round to scale production and make the robots widely available to farmers.

The business is therefore calling on investors and collaborators to support the efforts.

The launch assembled farmers, agriculture experts and stakeholders, including the Kosmos Innovation Centre.

Kamil Nambong from Kosmos Innovation Centre indicated that the FAMA robot is the answer to many agricultural challenges.

“We have struggled to answer the question of what is next to change our agriculture sector. And I believe what we see in these innovators answers the question. The answer is in a robot that we can see working for our farmers, and this is remarkable. KIC has watched the 3farmate innovation grow,” he said.

The Adenta Municipal director of Agriculture, Rosemund Adjeoda, added that “the machine will help us a lot. When we speak to the farmers, apart from the manual equipment they use, they leave them with health challenges. So, this is a multifaceted improvement in farming.”