AGRICLTURE PROJECT TO LINK NORTHERN FARMERS TO MARKETS (PAGE 35, OCT 4, 2010)

AGRICULTURE is no doubt the backbone of the Ghanaian economy. Very often farmers are encouraged to focus on issues like increased use of improved seeds, fertilisers and improved agronomic practices.
However, the marketing of these crops is not effective, especially when there are increased yields, which affects earnings of farmers.
It is in the light of this that the Tamale office of the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) based in the United States of America is implementing a project to link farmers in the three northern regions, namely Upper East, Upper West and Northern, to markets in the country and beyond.
Funded by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which has Mr Kofi Annan, a former United Nations Secretary General, as the chairman, IFDC has been awarded a three-year support grant to carry out the project.
It aims at assisting small-holder farmers growing staple crops in Ghana to gain access to markets and earn higher incomes by linking them to commercial buyers and processors.
According to Dr Kofi Debrah, the Country Representative of IFDC, who is also the National project Manager, the three northern regions would essentially be the sources of supply while the southern sector and the neighbouring countries would be the main market destinations.
The three northern regions represent 41 per cent of Ghana’s land mass and provide the best ecological and socio-economic characteristics for rapidly increasing small-scale maize, rice, sorghum, soya bean and groundnut production.
The main activities under the project include the formation of alliances with partners to build organisational management, productivity and entrepreneurial skills of smallholder farmers engaged in the production and processing of staple crops in northern Ghana, strengthening capacities of farmers to market linkage organisations and local entrepreneurs to provide effective marketing services and build long-term business linkages and commercial relationships between farmers and buyers.
“The project will link approximately 50,000 smallholder farmers producing maize, rice, sorghum and soya bean in the three regions to develop commercial relationships with structural markets such as industrial processors, the Ghana School Feeding programme, World Food Programme, local entrepreneurs and processor, as well as urban consumers in Southern Ghana,” Dr Debrah told the Daily Graphic.
According to him, between 40,000 and 60,000 participating farmers in northern Ghana were expected to increase their incomes by 20 per cent through the production and regular supply of high-quality rice, maize, soya beans and sorghum, and reduce transaction cost by 30 per cent through collective action and increased linkages with buyers and accessibility to finance by farmers, marketing companies and local entrepreneurs.
He said small grants would be made available on a competitive basis to support farmer–buyer linkage activities during the season.
Dr Debrah stated that about 30 such grants would also be made available to participating farmers, aggregators and marketing companies which needed short-term liquidity to fund some key aspects of their operations, such as farmers who had firm contracts with buyers and were unable to buy the necessary inputs to meet the production target on time.
Others were to enable product aggregators to invest in small farm storage accessories like weighing scales, moisture metres, tarpaulins and storage bags to enhance storability and improve storage and quality over time. Marketing companies would be supported to expand, strengthen and train their network of suppliers.
Dr Debrah said access to credit was essential for building and maintaining farmer–buyer linkages, and for that reason, the project would facilitate access to finance by smallholders through the establishment and operation of Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) and a competitive small grants programme for business development.
The Deputy Project Manager, Mr Abass Nyo, said community storage would also be used to add value to produce through grading and stringent application of good management practices to protect stored produce.
“Finally, commodity storage will be facilitated to link farmers to markets through broadcasting of market information about the stored commodities, including quantities available, grades and prices,” he said.
Dr Debrah said it was expected that the availability of such information on bulk produce would reduce transaction cost for both farmers and traders and improve upon marketing efficiency.