NEWS

Supporting small businesses to access finance for COVID resilience


The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many businesses, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the cocoa sector that provide critical services to smallholder farmers in Ghana. These small businesses, when provided with the needed support, play a vital role in improving the livelihoods of farmers through yield enhancements and market linkages.

Access to timely and affordable finance is, therefore, essential to fuel the growth of these enterprises during this pandemic.

Preparing SMEs for investment

Solidaridad, through its Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana, has been building the capacities of participating SMEs to roll out service delivery models, referred to as rural service centers under the programme.

Through an investment readiness support model, Solidaridad prepares these service centres for commercial funding to grow their businesses.

Meet Yahaya: The young poultry farmer who 'cannot be stopped by a virus'

Success is for the daring. It is only those who are ready to press on in life that can succeed in any endeavour. That is what has accounted for the success of a young poultry farmer in Tamale, capital of the Northern Region in Ghana.

He started life as a trained teacher but later found love with birds and decided to switch professions. Find out as he shares his story with the B&FT how he is keeping his business afloat despite the threat of coronavirus.

Yahaya Abdulai is a product of the Ghana Senior High school in Tamale, where he studied science. From there, he moved on to the Tamale Training College where he gained training as a professional teacher.

After teaching for a year, he took a study leave to study for his first degree at the University for Development Studies. He graduated with a degree in Agriculture Technology.

Implement ECOWAS Veterinary Pharmaceutical Protocol in livestock sector

The Women in Poultry Value Chain (WIPVaC) has called for the speedy implementation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Veterinary Pharmacy Protocol in the country.

The group, which is an umbrella organisation of women poultry value chain actors, believe that supporting the implementation of the ECOWAS Veterinary Pharmaceutical Protocol will allow Ghana's livestock sector actors to prioritise action that safeguards the development of the livestock value chain.

The National President of the apex body of Women in Poultry Value Chain (WIPVAC-Apex), Mrs. Victoria Norgbey said the government's agricultural productivity programmes such as the Rearing for Food and Jobs stand to increase its impact following the implementation of the protocol.

Poultry project keeps market for local Chicken active amid COVID-19

Poultry producers in Ghana are exploring new ways to facilitate training and conduct business online, while restrictions from the global outbreak of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt their livelihoods.

As many markets close and business move toward remote working, the Ghana Poultry Project, which is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and implemented by ACDI/VOCA, is helping the poultry sector adapt.

Online animal husbandry training

Training sessions that once happened in person are now happening online using Zoom. In partnership with several government agencies, staff recently set up a five-day, online training of trainers on animal husbandry to business service providers in the field to deepen their understanding of the sector and ensure more effective service delivery to poultry producers, even beyond the project.

Coronavirus: Poultry farmers cry out for help as industry near collapse

The Vice-Chairman of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers, Napoleon Agyemang Oduro has said the industry needs massive funding and incentives from government to save and sustain the country’s poultry industry.

Domestically produced broiler meat has fallen from nearly 60 per cent of all poultry consumed in Ghana since 2000 to less than 5 per cent as at 2020.

At the same time, imports have increased from 13,900 metric tons to over 155,000 metric tons. This signals the near-collapse of the poultry industry in Ghana.

Chief executive officer of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson, summed up Ghana’s poultry industry as broken.

“Something as simple as poultry, something as simple as egg production, who is now talking about increasing our production”, he chided, and added, “The supply chain is broken. Can you imagine the number of jobs that can be created that way?”

Ghana's pig farmers association makes big strides in 2019

Mr Kwame Appiah Danquah, Interim President, believes that "we have assumed office at just the right time. Farmers are recording decent increases in performance, and government has expressed its readiness to provide policy and practical support. We are mobilising members for a major push forward."

The interim executive was ushered into office soon after the July meeting between the Association and the Animal Production Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. At that meeting, the idea of the Pork Value Chain Platform was agreed upon, to mobilise ideas to give the pork industry a badly needed boost. A major objective of the Platform is to bring together all operators in the value chain in order to facilitate the provision of various services and to enable them enjoy economies of scale. The PFA committed itself to mobilising its members to make them more effective. Mr Danquah says, "previously...individual farmers made their own marketing arrangements, with obvious risks. One of the issues that will engage our attention is the development of an efficient pork market, which will give customers easy access to good quality pork products, and assure farmers of a reliable market. Ghanaians are showing increasing preference for pork. We want to encourage them to enjoy more."

Ghana: Livestock Industry Set to Improve Significantly - - President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday launched the Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) Campaign at Wa, in the Upper West Region, which is targeted at increasing domestic production of livestock, as well as, reduce the importation of livestock products into the country.

The campaign, which is a module under the government's flagship programme - "Planting for Food and Jobs", is expected to begin from 2019 to 2023.

According to the President, the campaign will develop a competitive and more efficient livestock industry that will improve livelihoods of livestock value chain actors, as well as contribute to employment creation.

President Akufo-Addo deplored the decline of the country's livestock sector, which had largely been attributed to the high cost of production, as well as, the importation of cheap livestock and its products, pushing most livestock producers out of business.

“Rearing For Food And Jobs” Will Develop Ghana’s Livestock Industry – President Akufo-Addo

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has launched the Rearing for Food and Jobs (RFJ) campaign, another module of his administration’s flagship programme – “Planting for Food and Jobs”.

The campaign, which will run for five years, from 2019 to 2023, according to President Akufo-Addo, “will develop a competitive and more efficient livestock industry, that will increase domestic production, reduce importation of livestock products, contribute to employment creation, and improve livelihoods of livestock value chain actors”.

Launching the campaign on Monday, 25th June, 2019, in Wa, in the Upper West Region, the President bemoaned the steep decline of Ghana’s livestock sector, which has been largely attributed to the high cost of production, and competition from cheap imports of livestock and its products, forcing most livestock producers to stop producing meat, and to concentrate solely on crop production.

Ghana told to remove barriers impeding livestock production

Mr Samba Djiby Diallo, a Senegalese livestock expert, has urged the government of Ghana to remove barriers impeding livestock production and trading in the country to promote growth of the sector.

The difficulty in accessing improved breeds, veterinary services, feed and ready market for the livestock, he noted, were some barriers inhibiting livestock production in Ghana and deterring many youth from venturing into it.

Mr Diallo, a livestock trainer in the Association in Research and Education for Development (ARED), was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Tumu on the side-lines of the launch of the Raring for Food and Jobs (RFJ) programme.

Reviewing Ghana's livestock policy with scenarios approach

Climate change, socioeconomic and political uncertainties are likely to impact future developments in Ghana’s livestock sector. A review of Ghana’s livestock policy using a scenarios-guided multi-level approach was therefore deemed essential to improve its robustness to future uncertainties.

In the quest to produce a new and robust version of Ghana’s livestock policy, currently being finalized by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the Ghana National Science-Policy Dialogue Platform initiated and organized a three-day workshop held between 13 and 15 July to review the livestock policy of Ghana using the scenarios-guided approach. The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Animal Production Directorate of MoFA, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).