NORTHERN GHANA FARMERS TO FEED BIG INDUSTRIES (PAGE 54, NOV 22, 2010)

FARMERS in northern Ghana are producing sorghum and soya beans in large quantities to feed big processing industries such as Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, Ghana Nuts Company and Golden Web.
The grains are being produced through the auspices of the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) which is building the capacity of the farmers to grow standard exportable crop varieties that meet the standards demanded by the big industries.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Tamale, the National Co-ordinator of the NRGP, Mr Roy Ayariga, stated that one of the key components of the programme was to link all the players in the value chain, that is, from production to consumption.
He said in that regard, farmers in its beneficiary areas had been linked to major produce buyers, such as the Savannah Farmers Marketing Company and the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO).
Mr Ayariga explained that the buyers resold the produce to the major processing and other companies in the value chain which utilised farmers’ produce.
He said, for instance, that while sorghum was to be sold to Guinness Ghana, soya beans were in demand by companies such as Ghana Nuts, 3 K&A and Golden Web.
He said the NRGP had some form of assistance for the marketing companies which purchased the produce, such as providing them with haulage trucks to transport the produce.
“We have also identified higher production areas such as Tumu, Damongo and Garu where we are planning to construct warehouses to store the produce after harvest,” he further stated.
Mr Ayariga said to enable the farmers along the value chain to produce enough to feed the industries, the NRGP was helping them obtain loans from financial institutions to invest in commercial farming.
He said the loans would help the farmers to undertake production activities, including land preparation and planting, and the purchase of inputs, which included certified seeds, agro-chemicals and fertiliser.
He observed that aside the problems regarding hoe and cutlass farming, the bane of northern farmers was their inability to make profits from their produce.
He said the NRGP was, therefore, working to ensure that the farmers had fair prices for their produce by facilitating a negotiation process between the farmers and the buyers during harvest.
The NRGP is an agricultural initiative that seeks to contribute to poverty reduction in northern Ghana through commodity chain development, rural infrastructure development and improved access to financial services by all stakeholders in the commodity value chain.
It is co-funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the government.