Over 500 Agro-dealers Certified to Supply Farmers with Inputs
Three-year project aims to rapidly increase farm productivity and incomes for 850,000 smallholder Ghanaian farmers by increasing access and affordability of quality seeds and fertilizers
Kumasi, Ghana (13th November 2009)--The Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana in collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC) officially certified 594 agro-dealers at Ejisu in the Ashanti region.
The certification, announced this week as part of the AGRA-funded Ghana agro-dealer Development (GADD) project, which is a three-year initiative that will train approximately 2,200 agro-dealers and seed producers in business management skills to help them grow their business and provide farmers with knowledge and information that will increase their production. The GADD project hopes to increase farm productivity, incomes, and well-being of 850,000 smallholder farmers by making seeds, fertilisers and crop protection products more accessible and affordable for farmers in the rural areas of Ghana.
"Agro-dealer capacity building is critical to the development of well-functioning input markets because they provide farmers with information they need to boost their yields," said Dr Kehinde Makinde of AGRA. " These men and women are foot soldiers in the transformation of African agriculture. These skills will help them to stay focused on their clients, grow their businesses, and build momentum towards achieving an African Green Revolution. AGRA is honoured to be a partner this process."
The distribution of seeds, plant protection products and fertiliser to farmers in Ghana has been hampered by poor information on the location of shops selling quality farm inputs. According to GADD partners, increasing farmer's awareness on the location of reputable and knowledgeable agro-dealers holds promising opportunities for farmers in the region.
Mr Vesper Suglo, the Director of Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Division (PPRSD), spoke on the importance of certification and emphasized that agro-dealers stand to benefit and become successful men and women by utilizing the skills and capacities developed through this training.
As part of the of the activities, the project set has up Geographic Information Systems (GIS) platform maps of the locations of over 3,000 agro-dealers across the country. The maps show an uneven distribution of the agro-dealers across the country. The maps allow for the delineation of areas with low, medium and high density of agro-dealers per farming population. The project will work with other donors and stakeholders to open more agro-dealer points in rural areas to better serve the needs of farmers.
The ceremony in Ejisu was also used to launch the second phase of the GADD Project training component. About 1000 agro-dealers out of the total of over 3000 mapped would be trained for the basic level certificate.
As part of the Agro-dealer Capacity Building program, the GADD project signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of MoFA and the Management Centre of the Environmental Protection Agency (CCMC/EPA) to develop a standard model for agro-dealer training throughout the country. In the first year of the project period, 233 training sessions were held across the country reaching out to 875 agro-dealers (482 male and 112 females). Out of this number a total of 594 of the trained agro-dealers have been awarded certificates recognized by government agencies.
Mr John Pwamang, the Director of the Chemical Control and Management Control Centre of the Environmental Protection Agency emphasised the need for certification to help assure that quality products are sold and that farm inputs are used in ways that are environmentally safe. The agency will work closely with GADD on this.
In his remarks to the group, Dr Kofi Debrah, Country Representative of IFDC said, “The certificates you receive today are valuable, but remember that it is not enough to be trained. You need to apply your new skills to expand your business and provide more and better quality services to farmers.”
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About the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
AGRA is a dynamic partnership working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. AGRA programmes develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment. AGRA advocates for policies that support its work across all key aspects of the African agricultural value chain from seeds, soil health and water to markets and agricultural education.
AGRA's Board of Directors is chaired by Kofi A Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Dr Namanga Ngongi, former Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, is AGRA's president. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK's Department for International Development and other donors, AGRA works across sub-Saharan Africa and maintains offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Accra, Ghana.
