President John Dramani Mahama has struck a deal with Japanese firm Degas, for a US$100 million investment over the next four years to help establish Ghana as Africa’s first AI-powered agricultural hub.
The deal would expand a model that has already financed more than 86,000 smallholder farmers across 122,000 acres across Ghana.
“Ghana has shown that when technology meets a clear national vision, smallholder farmers can thrive,” CEO and founder of Degas Limited, Doga Makiura said at a meeting with President Mahama on the sidelines of the Ghana Presidential Investment Forum at the just-ended 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-9) in Yokohama, Japan, on Thursday.
Degas’ US$100 million commitment, Mr Makiura said, would scale AI-driven satellite monitoring and precision agriculture techniques to boost yields, reduce risk, and access fairly priced finance.
“We’ve already seen incomes double with a 95 per cent repayment rate from the farmers,” Mr Makiura stated.
The Degas platform combines AI-driven satellite monitoring and agriculture techniques.
According to Mr Makiura, the results are drawing strong interests from Japanese investors.
“Many Japanese partners now consider Ghana’s integrated approach the gold standard for agricultural investment in Africa,” he said.
“President Mahama’s focus on value-chain integration” he noted “aligns closely with Japan’s search for credible, scalable partnerships.”
President Mahama welcomed the announcement, calling it a vote of confidence in Ghana’s agricultural transformation agenda.
“This investment reinforces our commitment to integrated agricultural value chains that connect farmers to markets, finance, storage, and processing,” President Mahama stated.
By leveraging AI and precision technologies, Mr Mahama was certain Ghana would improve productivity, enhance food security, and create dignified jobs for youth across rural communities.
The new funding will support the expansion of Degas’ farmer financing, satellite-enabled crop monitoring, and precision agronomy services, while deepening partnerships across input supply, logistics, and offtake to strengthen local value chains.
As part of his itinerary for the day, President Mahama also held bilateral talks with United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, with discussions centring on cooperation, Ghana’s economic rebound, and escalating security challenges in West Africa.
Mr Guterres commended Ghana’s active role in the UN system and its steady commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, while highlighting the country’s leadership within ECOWAS and the African Union in responding to Sahel-related crises and encouraged Mr Mahama to continue championing collective, regional solutions.
On his part, President Mahama reaffirmed Ghana’s unwavering support for multilateralism and called for further democratisation of the UN to enhance representativeness and effectiveness.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
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