Queen Máxima visits Ghanaian agribusinesses linking smallholder farmers to markets
The UN's special advocate for financial health met firms working with thousands of tomato, grain and soy farmers.
Accra — Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Financial Health, visited Ghanaian agribusinesses this week to see how local firms connect smallholder farmers to markets, finance and jobs.
The visit, from 2 to 5 November, was organised with IDH Ghana. "Ghana's agricultural opportunity is not only about growing more food; it is about building the markets that allow farmers and businesses to thrive," said Robert Asugre, IDH Ghana's country director.
The businesses
- FarmMate, a Ghanaian-owned company founded in 2022, guarantees a market for more than 3,000 tomato farmers and expects to support about 9,600 year-round jobs, at least 70% of them for women and young people.
- AgroCenta, an agri-fintech platform founded in 2016, has helped move more than 70,000 tonnes of food since 2018, mostly from grain farmers in Northern Ghana.
- WamiAgro serves more than 60,000 smallholders in six regions and has lent more than $600,000 for inputs to about 5,000 farmers, with about 95% repaid.
The visit also took in the HPW Ghana factory in Upper West Akim, which the report describes as West Africa's largest producer of dried tropical fruit. IDH's WISE programme works with 16 small firms in seven regions and is targeting 125,000 jobs, 80% for young women and youth.
Source: Citi Newsroom, November 2026.
