By Anthony Adongo Apubeo, GNA
Paga (U/E), May 24, GNA – World Vision Ghana, a Christian relief and advocacy organisation has held a pre-season agricultural market linkage fair for agriculture value chain actors in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region.
The fair dubbed, “Boosting the agricultural value chain through market fairs and linking of the actors,” is under the auspices of the European Union funded Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation (EU LEAN) project.
It sought to promote visibility of value chain actors, promote partnerships, enhance business-business opportunities, and build a network to support sustainable access to markets and services of key products.
It was most importantly to link local smallholder farmers and producers to service providers in the agriculture value chain such as input dealers, extension service providers, financial institutions, relevant government institutions among others to help farmers prepare for the farming season and improve food production.
In a speech read on his behalf by Mr Joseph Edwin Yelkabong, the EU LEAN Project Officer, Mr Francis Gumah, the Northern Regional Operations Manager, World Vision Ghana, said contribution of smallholder farmers to Ghana’s food security systems could not be overemphasised.
However, he said, there was some disconnection between farmers, inputs dealers, service providers, processors, and consumers, hampering the farmers’ ability to expand production, increase yields, create employment, and reduce poverty.
“Agricultural value chain actors are oblivious of where to access products and services that enhance their various business interests. In situations where farmers have produced to sell, it is difficult to find favorable market conditions,” he said.
He said the situation continued to worsen the plight of smallholder farmers and there was the urgent need for stakeholders including the District Assembly, players in the agribusiness among others to support to address the challenges for farmers to increase production.
“To address this situations, World Vision uses the Local Value Chain Development (LVCD) approach. An approach that helps agriculture business by creating partnerships between producers, processors, and marketers to improve quality, increase efficiencies and market differentiated products.
“This agriculture market linkage fair will therefore help promote inclusive and efficient food systems that better integrate smallholder farmers and small and medium agribusinesses into value chains.
“This will generate greater structural transformation in families; better access to farm inputs (seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides), technology, and extension services to our local farmers. It will also improve their access to markets, generate decent employment, and make nutritious food available for our children,” he said.
The EU LEAN Project Officer, said the objective of the project is to support national and local efforts to conserve biodiversity, improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers, build climate resilience, and reduce emissions from land-use changes across Ghana’s high forest, savannah, and transition zones.
Mr Mohammed Bukari, the Kassena-Nankana West District Director of the Department of Agriculture, said the pre-season fair was timely as the farmers were preparing to undertake their farming activities and urged the farmers to take advantage of the fair to increase production.
“Most of the programmes that we have, help farmers to produce but we do not have specific aggregators for them but fortunately under the phase two of the Planting for Food and Jobs government has recognised that gap and we hope World Vision will maintain this exercise,” he added.
Mr Gerard Ataogye, District Chief Executive for the area, commended World Vision Ghana for their investment in the district over the years and added that it had contributed to transform livelihoods and reiterated the commitment of the Assembly to support activities that enhanced development.
GNA