AGRA and IFDC Launch Program in Northern Ghana to Improve Market Access for Farmers

For more information, please contact:

In Ghana - Kofi Debrah: +233244214489 kdebrah@ifdc.org

Stella Kihara: +254 735 801 199 or skihara@agra-alliance.org

Ann Mureithi: +254 721 318 214 or AMureithi@agra-alliance.org

TAMALE, GHANA (20 May 2010)—Farmers in Northern Ghana will benefit from a new program aimed to increase their earning potential. The program, launched by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the International Centre for Soil Fertility (IFDC), will create more sustainable markets where farmers can sell their produce for a profit.

The three-year project will focus on easing the flow of produce from farms in Ghana's Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions to commercial buyers and processors of maize, rice, sorghum and soybean in Ghana. As lead implementer, IFDC will build alliances with local partners to provide farmers with skills to improve their farm productivity and business and marketing services to ensure sustainable supplies of high-quality produce for industrial buyers.

"The project will directly benefit smallholder farmers, buyers and consumers," said Kofi Debrah of IFDC. "By linking with buyers before production, farmers can be assured of regular farm incomes. Traders, processors and large retailers will also benefit because they will be able to obtain reliable and regular supplies of quality produce."

During the project, AGRA and IFDC will partner with several local organizations to strengthen capacity of farmer organizations. The aggregating organizations will serve as an intermediary between farmer groups and buyers at the top of the supply chain. These include the Savanna Farmers' Marketing Company, Ltd (SFMC), a farmer-owned marketing company with a network of 8000 farmers, OFRAM Enterprises and nearly 50 community women's rice processing groups in the region.

"Many Ghanaian farmers lack access to reliable markets where they can sell their produce at a profit," said Anne Mbaabu, director of AGRA's Market Access Program. "This makes farming an unattractive investment for most farmers. Functional markets are absolutely essential to making investments in agriculture more appealing to farmers. Farmers have no incentive to grow more food if they do not have a market for their surplus."

Agriculture is the main engine of economic growth in Ghana, and smallholder farmers represent 80 percent of farm production. AGRA is working to improve smallholder farming in Ghana through programs and partnerships that focus on improving farmers’ access to good seed, fertilizer and sustainable farming practices, while increasing farmers' access to credit, crop storage and markets.

The northern region, which represents 41 percent of Ghana's total land area, has been identified by the Government of Ghana and AGRA as a breadbasket area because of the region's high production potential for staple food crops  such as rice, maize, sorghum and soybeans and large rural farming populations. Yet the north is also the poorest region, with nearly two-thirds of the population living in poverty.

Agricultural development projects traditionally focus on crop productivity issues such as increasing the use of improved seeds and fertilizers and new farming methods.

"Very few projects address the need to ensure that the increased production finds its way to the markets without adverse effects on prices and incomes of farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain," said Mbaabu.

In Ghana, recent efforts by the private sector, donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and relief agencies are now working to address the marketing issues.

In 2005, the Association of Church Development Projects (ACDEP) helped create the Savanna Farmers Marketing Company Ltd (SFMC), whose principal objective is to pool participating farmers’ produce of such crops as sorghum, groundnut, soybeans and cashews for large industrial buyers. Between 2005 and 2008, SFMC supported approximately 5,000 smallholder farmers in the three northern regions of Ghana to sell a total of 4,307 metric tons (mt) of sorghum, soybeans, cashews and shea butter, valued at GHC 1,672,920 (US $1,394,100).

"By focusing on breadbasket areas, Ghana has the potential to transform its smallholder farming into a profitable and sustainable enterprise," said Namanga Ngongi, president of AGRA.

"Strong partnerships and strategic planning that bring improved seeds, access to finance and farm management skills to farmers could increase yields significantly," said Ngongi. "If you couple these productivity improvements with greater market access for farmers, Ghana could transform itself into an exporter of a crop like rice, and free up US$500 million now spent on imports."

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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.