Led by Prof. Yaw Nyarko (NYU) and Prof. Raša Karapandža (EBS Business School & NYU Abu Dhabi), our “Community Cryptocurrency in the Bush” project is pioneering the use of Blockchain enabled digital currency to promote inclusive economic growth. This initiative explores how Blockchain technology and artificial intelligence (AI) can be leveraged to help overcome market failures and financial bottlenecks faced by smallholder farmers in Ghana and across sub-Saharan Africa.

Smallholder farmers contribute about 80% of Africa’s agricultural production and constitute roughly 75% of the extreme poor. For these farmers, lack of access to secure financial platforms and transparent market systems pose major challenges. To address these challenges, CTED has developed a Blockchain-enabled ecosystem to provide credit to farmers in the form of digital tokens, which can be exchanged with registered service providers. We have designed both farmer and vendor applications that can be used to facilitate transparent, traceable exchanges and greatly reduce transaction costs and uncertainty.

We are currently piloting the project in Kumawu, Ghana but plan to scale it up to additional communities. Our ultimate aim is to devise and implement evidence-based policies to establish effective markets in regions where traditional infrastructure and institutions may be lacking.