avcmp overview
DESCRIPTION
AVCMP OverviewTRANSCRIPT
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A BRIEF OVERVIEW
AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN MENTORSHIP PROJECT FOR
NORTHERN REGION BREADBASKET
SPONSORED BY
ALLIANCE FOR A GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA
IMPLEMENTED
BY
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T he Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project (AVCMP) was launched on September 8, 2011 in Tamale. The project is an integral part of the DANIDA Support to Private Sector Development (SPSD) Phase II, and
falls under the Enterprise Growth and Job Creation component of the program.
The overarching goal of the AVCMP project is to contribute towards the Gov-ernment of Ghana’s objectives to achieve food security and become an agro-industrial economy by strengthening the capacity of agro-dealers, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), farmer-based organizations (FBOs) and farmers throughout the value chain, turning it to a highly productive, efficient, competi-tive and sustainable system.
PROBLEMS TO BE ADDRESSED: The project seeks to address the following underlying factors that lead to low agricultural productivity and income, as well as food insecurity and poverty in Ghana’s Northern Region:
Low rates of use of improved seeds and fertilizers that result from lim-ited smallholder farmer access, high cost and limited availability of im-proved seeds and fertilizers in the local community.
Poor soil health due to limited awareness and application of inte-grated soil fertility management (ISFM) technologies, limited stake-holder skills and capacity in ISFM, low rates of fertilizer use, use of blanket fertilizer recommendations, no site-specific fertilizer recommendations and poor soil and water management practices by farmers.
Low rates of agricultural land use, lack of timely field preparation and poor crop management practices by farmers. Inadequate extension services and poor research linkages which limit farmers’ access to knowledge on soil management.
Mixed seed on a farmer’s field
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Reliance on rain-fed production as a result of limited smallholder farmer investments in irrigation and limited smallholder farmer knowledge of water management.
Insufficient agricultural marketing system to spur supply response from smallholder farmers due to a myriad of factors includ-ing lack of sufficient access to market out-lets, high post-harvest losses, limited proc-essing, lack of processing skills and facili-ties.
High transaction costs due to inadequate road and transportation infrastruc-ture; a large number of intermediaries along the value chains coupled with small volumes of varied quality produced by smallholder farmers’ poor bargain-ing power due to weak FBOs; poor institutional infrastructure; and limited ca-pacity to aggregate produce.
Limited access to credit due to high interest rates, stringent collateral require-ments and low investments in agriculture.
PROJECT COMPONENTS The AVCMP is being implemented under three key components as follows: Productivity Component – Implemented by the Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) which seeks “to improve entrepreneurial and technical skills of FBOs and their member farmers to scale up application of ISFM technologies for rice and soybean cropping systems while also strengthening their linkages with actors across the agricultural value chain – specifically agro-dealers, SMEs, commercial banks, seed and fertilizer producers and suppliers and extension agents.”
Agro-Dealer Support Component – Implemented by the Ghana Agricultural Associations Business Information Centre (GAABIC), which seeks “to improve entrepreneurial and technical skills of agro-dealers in rice and soybean farm inputs (seeds and fertilizers).” SME Mentorship Component – Implemented by IFDC, which seeks “to improve entrepreneurial and technical skills of SMEs for rice, maize and soybean output
Poor water management on a
farmer’s field
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marketing while also strengthening their linkages with actors across the agricul-tural value chain – specifically FBOs and farmer members, domestic, national and international markets, agro-dealers and agribusiness service providers.” IFDC has an additional role of coordinating activity implementation and reporting. AVCF TERM FINANCING FACILITY— The Agricultural Value Chain Facility (AVCF) under which the AVCMP falls has a term financing component implemented by Stanbic Bank. This facility seeks to provide long term financing to growth-oriented SMEs (aggregators, agro-dealers, processors and other categories of ag-ricultural service providers) operating along agricultural value chains for infra-structure and equipment acquisitions.
PROJECT BENEFICIARIES AND TARGETS The AVCMP is expected to benefit at least:
34,000 farmers in about 400 FBOs
50 SMEs – aggregators, marketers, tractor service providers, processors, warehouse services providers, etc.
400 agro-dealers
The AVCMP is also expected to achieve the following results by the end of the project:
400 FBOs trained in technical skills, business development and prepared to access financial support
300 bankable business plans developed by FBOs to access seeds/fertilizers
150 loan applications by FBOs submitted to commercial banks
400 FBOs linked to 800 agro-dealers for access to farm in-puts
Stakeholders trained in partici-patory learning and action re-search approach to ISFM
126 ISFM on-farm demonstra-tions conducted
20 discussions on ISFM aired through farm/community radio stations
20,000 print materials on ISFM produced and distributed to
Drama show on ISFM technologies
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FBOs and smallholder farmers
20 dramas performed to disseminate information on ISFM technologies
3 digital films on ISFM technologies produced and shown in the target com-munities
14 farmer learning centers on ISFM technologies established
400 additional agro-dealers trained and certified in business and technical skills to enable them to develop and manage viable farm input businesses
120 bankable farm input business plans developed by agro-dealers to support agri-cultural production
600 agro-dealers linked to fertilizer suppliers and seed producers to improve access to farm inputs
Network of agro-dealers de-veloped to foster informa-tion sharing, trade linkages and learning from best prac-tices
50 SMEs trained in entrepre-neurial and technical skills to enable them to develop and manage viable businesses and develop bank-
able business plans to access commercial finance for agricul-tural market access support ser-vices
Loan applications submitted to commercial banks by 20 SMEs for processing equipment busi-ness
160 FBOs linked to 20 SMEs/agribusiness centers offering processing services
400 SMEs and smallholder farmer groups linked to domestic, regional and international mar-kets
Training of Agro-dealers
Training of SMEs
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IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES/APPROACHES
The AVCMP employs the following strategies/approaches to address the identi-fied challenges of smallholder agriculture in the Northern Region:
Linking agro-dealers, SMEs and FBOs to banks to access commercial finance. The Project seeks to improve access to commercial finance (term finance) for farmers and agribusinesses in target areas. Through this component AGRA is helping participating financial institutions to leverage balance sheets to en-able them to provide term financing. In addition, the capacity of the financial institutions is being developed to lend across the agricultural value chain, with a special emphasis on term lending.
Development of Agribusiness Service Advisors as private service providers and change agents to provide agribusiness service support to agro-dealers, SMEs and FBOs. These advisors will be trained as trainers in business development to lead, train and demonstrate the use of ISFM practices in project communities in the target districts. The change agents will facilitate links between FBOs and agro-dealers and SMEs for knowledge transfer and enhance farmers’ access to improved seed, inputs and equipment technology. They will improve farmers’ access to fertilizers by developing strong linkages with agro-dealers. They will also link FBOs and SMEs to markets.
Partnership and collaboration to enhance farmers access to markets, farm inputs, extension and advisory services and equipment service. The project will foster close collaboration among CSIR-SARI, IFDC and GAABIC, the key imple-menters of AVCMP, and all other existing projects and programs in the project districts that are focusing on improving rice maize and soybean value chains including: Savanna Farmers Marketing Company (SFMC), Association of Church Development Projects (ACDEP), ASI Arzakimu Project, Linking Farmers to Mar-kets (FtM), ACDI/VOCA’s ADVANCE Project, Northern Rural Growth Program (NRGP), Center for Skills Development, University for Development Studies (UDS), SAHEL GRAINS, Center for Sustainable Local Development (CSLD), Pres-byterian Agricultural Services (PAS), AGRA Soil Health Project on Maize and the Rice Sector Support Project (RSSP). Joint planning, review and regular stake-holder consultations will be undertaken to harmonize activities and results for synergy. Expansion of existing programs. The project will focus on expanding the agro-dealer network in rural areas and at the same time increasing the range of ser-
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vices provided by agro-dealers to include extension services, market informa-tion, post-harvest and business advisory services to farmers. The Ghana Agro-Dealer Development (GADD) project provided technical and management train-ings to agro-dealers nationwide. AVCMP will expand the training to FBOs on contracts and collective marketing. The SME Mentorship Component will en-sure that opportunities occur to maximize market and business linkages be-tween the small-scale farmers, community-level aggregators, larger aggrega-tors, processors, buyers and end-markets.
Same geographical focus. The three sub-projects will work with agro-dealers, SMEs and FBOs in the same geographic area (Northern Region of Ghana) to ad-dress the problems of low agricultural productivity faced by smallholder farm-ers.
Promoting gender equity. Even though gender roles in rice and soybean pro-duction vary in the Northern Region, women are often systematically excluded from full access to training, credit, inputs and information. To ensure that women benefit fully, some specific training activities will target women’s groups.
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TARGET DISTRICTS The AVCMP is currently being implemented in 16 districts across the Northern Region. These are listed below.
While these districts are the primary districts of implementation, all other dis-tricts in the Northern Region in particular and the Upper East and West regions in general may benefit directly from the project.
For further information contact
Dr. Wilson Dogbe
CSIR-SARI
P. O. Box TL 52
Tamale
0244 60 34 14
Afua Ohene-Ampofo
IFDC
P. O. Box ER 542
Tamale
0264 57 33 28
Yakubu Iddrisu
GAABIC
P. O. Box ER 542
Tamale
0207 82 91 49
Tamale Metropolis
Tolon-Kumbungu
Savelugu-Nanton
Gushiegu
Karaga
East Mamprusi
West Mamprusi
Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo
Saboba
Chereponi
Yendi
Nanumba North
Nanumba South
Kpandai
East Gonja
Central Gonja