Learn About Farmerline
Farmerline is dedicated to reimagining how the world thinks about and invests in the livelihoods of small-scale farmers. Our mission is to create lasting profits for farmers everywhere. We approach challenges with bold, systemic thinking while maintaining lean and agile operations.
We have worked with farmers since 2013, accumulating nearly 4 million farmer registrations on Mergdata, establishing an extensive field network across Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and partnering with banks that finance our farmers against buyer contracts. We produce both organic and conventional crops for buyers across Africa and Europe.
Our proprietary technology platform, Mergdata, is licensed or white-labeled to food companies, global traders, development partners, and governments to facilitate farmer registration, training, financing, and traceability.
As a learning organization, we thrive on high standards, solving complex challenges within lean teams, and driving measurable impact on farmer incomes.
Field
Details
Job Title
Commercial Manager, Volta
Location
Ho, Volta Region (regular travels across the region)
Reporting Line
Office of the CEO
Contract Type
Full Time
Role Overview
The Commercial Manager will lead Farmerline's commercial operations with farmers and agribusinesses in the Volta Region. Responsibilities include recruiting outgrowers for commercial buyer contracts, preparing farmer groups and agribusinesses for commercial bank financing, and ensuring the timely delivery of high-quality agricultural supply.
Serving as the primary permanent commercial lead in Volta, this position succeeds the interim Volta coordinator. The role holder will collaborate closely with field teams, the Ho demonstration farm, the Internal Control System (ICS) and certification unit, and partner financial institutions. Reporting directly to the CEO (who oversees Farmer Services), the Commercial Manager will work alongside regional peers in the Ashanti and Northern Regions.
Responsibilities
Outgrower recruitment and contracts
Expand the network of smallholder farmers supplying Farmerline within the Volta Region by:
- Recruiting outgrowers through strategic partnerships with Mergdata clients and internal field force channels.
- Onboarding and registering all participating farmers on the Mergdata platform, ensuring explicit consent and opt-in documentation.
- Aligning every outgrower with a structured planting schedule tied to guaranteed buyer off-take agreements.
- Negotiating and establishing contractual terms with farmers and aggregators in full compliance with corporate policies.
Bank financing
Develop a robust, bank-ready pipeline of farmers and agribusinesses across the region by:
- Identifying and vetting farmer organizations and agribusinesses suitable for input credit and asset financing solutions.
- Facilitating KYC verification, impact data collection, and loan application processes for submission to banking partners.
- Categorizing prospective credit clients by off-taker status (e.g., executed contract, prospective buyer, or spot market).
- Monitoring and driving the end-to-end lifecycle of credit applications from submission to disbursement and full recovery.
Supply and quality
Ensure strict fulfillment of off-take volume and quality commitments by:
- Generating weekly harvest forecasts against contracted targets and logging data in JustFarm.
- Conducting rigorous farm-gate quality assessments prior to produce aggregation and transport.
- Partnering with the ICS and certification team to ensure organic outgrower compliance with international certification standards.
Relationships in the region
Serve as Farmerline’s primary regional representative in Volta, fostering strong relationships with farmer cooperatives, aggregators, agribusinesses, District Departments of Agriculture, and key local stakeholders.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in agribusiness sales, outgrower scheme management, agricultural finance, or rural commercial banking [confirm].
- Demonstrated track record in mobilizing, recruiting, and managing farmer organizations or aggregator networks.
- Proven experience in preparing clients for commercial bank credit or working directly within agricultural lending operations.
- Established stakeholder networks within the Volta Region, alongside professional fluency in English and Ewe.
- Strong digital literacy and proficiency with mobile field tools (prior experience with Mergdata or equivalent agtech platforms is highly desirable).
- Willingness and flexibility to travel extensively across the Volta Region on a weekly basis.
Skills Required
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience in agribusiness sales, outgrower scheme management, agricultural finance, or rural commercial banking
- Track record mobilizing, recruiting, and managing farmer organizations or aggregator networks
- Experience preparing clients for commercial bank credit or working directly within agricultural lending operations
- Established stakeholder networks within the Volta Region
- Professional fluency in English and Ewe
- Strong digital literacy and proficiency with mobile field tools
- Experience with Mergdata or an equivalent agtech platform
- Willingness and flexibility to travel extensively across the Volta Region weekly
What We Do
We create access for all players in the agricultural value chain Farmerline is a company that develops solutions to increase access to farmers and simplify transactions throughout the agricultural value chain. Our focus on creating lasting profits for farmers everywhere has fuelled our innovations from the very onset. We are the first organization in Africa to give farmers access to information through voice messages in local languages, effectively bridging the knowledge gap among smallholder farmers. We are building the “Amazon” for farmers where they can access these timely services and other quality resources at affordable prices in their community. Since our inception in 2013, we have gone beyond serving farmers with information and resources that increase their yield. Now, we also provide global organizations with the tools they need to reach, engage and transform the agricultural last mile. Our belief in the power of technology to ensure sustainability across the agricultural value chain gave birth to Mergdata (www.mergdata.com); a mobile and web application for last-mile engagement. With this technology, we ensure that all last-mile engagements create access for all players, ensure transparency and efficiency, and ultimately, contribute to global food security. The software also offers real-time traceability, certification audit, farm mapping, farmer education, and analytics solutions to help organizations that work with farmers achieve their sustainability and food security goals efficiently. Mergdata uses big data and AI to give organizations insight into the work of farmers and to give farmers increased access to resources and services; including financial services.
