AGRA partners with IFDC to launch Agro-dealer program in Ghana

A new initiative aims to improve farmer access to affordable, high-quality agricultural inputs in Ghana

Accra, Ghana (25 November 2008) --- Recognising the importance of high-quality seeds, fertilizer and crop protection products in raising productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers, AGRA and IFDC launched the Ghana Agro-Dealer Development (GADD) project to increase the use of modern agricultural inputs.

The US $2.5 program, which was officially launched by Mr. Ernest Debrah, Minister of agriculture, Ghana, will assist over 2,200 agro-dealers whose activities will then foster an increase in productivity and incomes of over 850,000 rural smallholder farmers. The agro-dealer shops will be brought closer to the farmers – making seeds and fertilizers more available and affordable in remote rural areas.

 “Nothing is more urgent than ensuring that farmers have access to the inputs they need to increase farm productivity.  Agro-dealers have a major role to play to make this possible” said Dr. Namanga Ngongi, the president of AGRA.

Ghana’s smallholder farmers must significantly increase their use of improved seeds and other modern inputs to increase their yields and incomes. Current input use averages only 10% of the recommended levels and the agro-input marketing system is underdeveloped.

To increase their ability to serve farmers effectively, agro-dealers will be trained in business skills, safe handling, and use of modern technology.  At the same time, they will be linked to seed and fertiliser suppliers.

To ensure that shop owners stock up and to expand operations into rural areas, GADD will also provide a half-million-dollar credit guarantee to cushion commercial banks against losses and make more funds available to agro-dealers. When a similar scheme was adopted in Malawi, each dollar invested in a credit guarantee for the agro-dealers leveraged sixteen dollars worth of farm inputs into rural areas by seed and fertiliser companies.

“The sustainable supply of good quality seeds is an important ingredient for increasing farm productivity in Africa,” says Joe DeVries, Director of AGRA’s Programme for Africa’s Seed Systems.  “This new intervention in Ghana complements AGRA’s existing investments in training a new generation of plant breeders, funding for breeding teams, support for seed multiplication by local seed companies and collaboration with other partners to improve the regulatory framework for seed and fertiliser markets. The project will also stimulate competition – essential for reducing market failure,” he added.

AGRA, working with IFDC-Ghana and the Ghana Agricultural Associations Business Information Centre (GAABIC), will invest in capacity building and training to strengthen the technical and business knowledge of agro-dealers. Additionally, the partners will build and support already established trade associations, assisting agro-dealers’ access to investment finance for business development through risk-sharing arrangements. Shop owners will also be trained in the methods of providing field demonstrations and soil testing, thereby transforming them into providers of basic extension services and creating an invaluable source of knowledge and advice to farmers.

“We are really fortunate to be partners,” says Juliet Biney, Executive Secretary of GAABIC. “This is an opportunity for us to build the centre into a viable service-providing entity to better serve our farmers and agro-dealers.”
 
“It is an exciting project,” says Dr Kofi Debrah, IFDC Representative in Ghana and Regional Manager of Millennium Development Authority’s (MiDA) Northern Intervention Zone. “The prospect of building on our previous training project is a real opportunity to help Ghanaian agro-dealers provide the essential inputs and services needed by smallholder producers to increase productivity.”

“The project’s goal is to increase availability, accessibility and affordability of quality agro-inputs in rural areas and we as a government will provide the regulatory framework through the passage and implementation of the seed, fertilizer and crop protection laws in Ghana” said Mr. Ernest Debrah, Minister of agriculture.

This program is part of the initiative to build a new era of seed dissemination in West Africa, where AGRA is actively building capacity of both public and private sector to ensure an active movement of inputs to reach remote rural 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.