IFC Backs Complete Farmer and Absa Ghana Cocoa Finance

In Short

• IFC has announced two partnerships in Ghana to expand agricultural finance.
• One deal supports cocoa buying finance for Licensed Buying Companies, covering more than 139,000 smallholder farmers.
• Another deal backs Complete Farmer with a $2.4 million convertible loan and advisory support.

What Happened

IFC has partnered with Absa Bank Ghana and Complete Farmer to widen access to agricultural finance in Ghana. The aim is to improve market access, farm input funding, and adoption of more sustainable practices.

Under the Absa Bank Ghana partnership, IFC and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, GAFSP, will provide up to $50 million via an unfunded risk participation facility. This is a risk-sharing structure where IFC takes on part of the credit risk, so the bank can lend more while using less of its own balance sheet.

The facility is designed to help Licensed Buying Companies finance cocoa purchases throughout the buying season. IFC said this should help sustain market access for more than 139,000 smallholder farmers. The financing will support purchases of traceable cocoa, meaning cocoa that can be tracked back through the supply chain for compliance and sustainability checks.

IFC’s second partnership is with Complete Farmer, a Ghanaian agtech company that runs a digital platform connecting farmers with buyers, lenders, input suppliers, and service providers. IFC will provide a $2.4 million convertible loan, which is debt that can later convert into equity under agreed terms. The funding is complemented by $480,000 in advisory support to strengthen the company’s systems as it scales.

IFC said the partnership is expected to support up to 240,000 farmers and help facilitate access to finance by 2030. The plan includes scaling input financing and agronomy services, which are farm advisory and productivity support services.

Why It Matters

Cocoa remains one of Ghana’s biggest export sectors, with nearly 800,000 registered cocoa farmers. Financing gaps across the cocoa value chain can reduce how much buyers can purchase and when farmers get paid.

For agtech platforms, the ability to connect farmers to formal finance often depends on reliable data, predictable markets, and lender confidence. IFC’s mix of risk-sharing for cocoa purchases and startup financing for farmer inputs targets both sides of that challenge.