The World Food Programme (WFP) has admonished smallholder farmers in Ghana to pull their resources in the course of their practice so as to raise the quality of their expertise leading to an increase in demand for their services.

Speaking at a session on Custom and  Contract Farming during the 8^th Pre-harvest Agribusiness Exhibition and Conference held in the Northern Regional Capital of Tamale from October 3-5, 2018, the Sustainable Food Coordinator of World Food Programme, Nanga Kaye stated during a discussion with participants, (mainly the youth) that it was very necessary for them as smallholder farmers to come together so as to get stronger and by so doing be able to create more job opportunities for themselves as customs and contract farmers as well as offer various farming related services to farmers and marketers at a fee with zero to little start-up capital to a point where major technologies can be adopted.

Services that Customs and Contract farmers can offer include, weeding, harvesting, transportation of produce to the market and sales.

Mr. Kaye indicated that services of custom farmers are critical in reducing post-harvest losses and therefore if those offering the said service deliver timely and effectively, there will be a scramble for their services.

Two other important sessions were led by the World Food Programme at the same event. These are, Sustainable Food System, which focused on food safety, proper warehousing and food storage methods and the Commodity session with focuses on soybean, rice and maize.

For the Sustainable Food System session, farmers were advised on the need to come together as players in agribusiness so as to be in a good position to meet the huge logistical demands of the industry. This is necessary because little will be achieved in the industry if the appropriate logistical and supply chain systems are not in place.

The challenge was thrown to them to stop at nothing until they have at least a facility for storing a hector of grains. This is because with a storage facility, the phenomenon of post-harvest losses can be drastically reduced, the quality of grains can be maintained and the right value can be attained for produce. 

The third session brought together experts mainly in Rice, Soybean and Maize productions to share ideas on best practices that will lead to high yields and the quality of grains.

In an address during the opening of the Exhibition and Conference, the Country Director of the WFP, Mrs Rukia Yacoub expressed the Programme’s delight at using a platform of this nature to support smallholder farmers who produce the majority of the food consumed yet remain among the most food-insecure livelihood groups in Ghana.

She enumerated the Programme’s plans and hoped that ultimately, it would help agro-processors in Ghana produce for the West Africa sub-region and other markets. This according to her will mean more markets for smallholder farmers’ produce, more income and better opportunity for them to extricate themselves from food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty.

The World Food Programme is a United Nations Agency presently focusing its support to national governments on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 – Zero Hunger and SDG 17 – Partnerships globally.

This year’s event brought together about three thousand, one hundred twenty-two (3122) participants, one hundred and forty-four (144) exhibitors and value chain actors in the agriculture sector including farmers, buyers, processors, transporters, input dealers, equipment dealers, financial institutions, research institutions, development partners,  policy makers, Government officials,  among others.  The aim was for them to discuss and come up with practical ways by which the sector could be made more attractive and profitable through best practice as well as networking.  Partners and sponsors of the 8^th Annual Pre-harvest Exhibitions and Conference event included the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Northern Development Authority, USAID ADVANCE, Yara Ghana, Ecobank, Mel Consulting, Kosmos Energy, Interplast, Dizengoff, RMG, Hatuom Trading and LK International

Background – The Call

Various speakers at the 8th Pre-harvest Agribusiness Conference and Exhibition that took place at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium in Tamale, from October 3 to 5, 2018 have called on stakeholders in the agriculture value chain to support in the transformation of agriculture and agribusiness into a more inclusive, equitable, climate-smart sector, oriented towards the improvement of the lives of rural poor food-insecure people.

The event which was on the theme “Agri-business in Northern Ghana- The Future starts now”, brought together about 3,122 participants and 144 exhibitors who were  mainly  into machinery and equipment, processing and packaging, inputs, transport, research institutions and regulatory bodies .

It was three days of activity full of in-depth insights, actionable and practical tools of engagement models, methods and mechanisms that were presented to participants by an array of very knowledgeable and skilful speakers who are experts in their various fields of endeavour.

Other participants, who took part in the event which is arguably Ghana’s biggest agriculture interventional platform were major players in the various sectors of the agricultural value chain such as farmers, buyers, processors,  financial institutions, policy makers and service providers.

The annual event aimed at linking smallholder farmers to markets, assisting farmers and agri-businesses to expand their businesses before and after harvesting, helping  farmers adopt best practices and creating an effectual interactive avenue to enable businesses share innovative ideas and partner for progress was organised by Agrihouse Foundation in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), USAID ADVANCE,  Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Northern Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and the Northern Development Authority (NDA).

The three day event was opened by the Minister of State in charge of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Gyeile Nurah who represented the Vice- President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. Other speakers at the opening ceremony were World Food Programme’s Country Director, Ms. Rukia Yacoub, Her Excellency, the Canadian High Commissioner, H.E. Heather Cameron, H.H. Ron Strikker, Netherlands Ambassador, Managing Director of Yara Ghana, Danquah Addo-Yobo, Managing Director of Ecobank, Mr. Dan Sackey, Madam Lucy Quainoo of Mel Consulting, Mr. Owusu Akoto, who represented the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Salifu Saeed.

Speeches’ Highlights from the Opening Ceremony

The Vice –President’s representative, Dr Gyeile in his opening remarks called on the private sector to take advantage of the government’s One District One Factory (1D1F) initiative to
establish agro processing factories in rural areas of the country to add value to farm produce for export while, the WFP Country Director, Mrs Rukia Yacoub expressed WFP’s delight at using the Preharvest platform to support smallholder farmers improve on their productivity. She hoped that the Programme’s plans will ultimately, help agro-processors produce for the West Africa sub-region and other markets, which will mean more markets for smallholder farmers’ produce, more income and better opportunities for them.

The Managing Director of YARA Ghana, a leading crop nutrition company, Mr. Addo Danquah Yobo on his part said YARA Ghana was keen on building the right partnership and support at all levels towards transforming Ghana’s agriculture sector while the Managing Director of Ecobank Ghana, Mr. Daniel Sackey in his address disclosed that, Ecobank has invested an additional $16 million to support Ghana’s agriculture value chain for the benefit of actors including farmers.

Mr. Sackey encouraged entrepreneurs and farmers to leverage on digital solutions and technology to make their businesses more productive and efficient.

The Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ms. Heather Cameron and the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Ron Strikker both pledged the support of their countries to Ghana’s agriculture sector to enable smallholder farmers to improve on their yields and increase their incomes.

The Director of External Relations and International Trade, Mel Consulting Limited, Ms. Lucy Quainoo stressed the commitment of her organisation to support smallholder farmers  to enhance their livelihoods and help reduce  rural poverty through their various financial services while Head of Business Tata/John Deere’s dealers in agriculture machinery ,  Mr. Aashish Rastogi expressed his company’s preparedness to collaborate with all stakeholders in the agriculture sector to provide tailor made solutions for the sector, especially smallholder farmers .

The Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Salifu Saeed on his part said his region was delighted to host such an initiative and that they are always open to programmes that put smiles on the faces of farmers and their families.

]About 600 farmers and actors participated in these sessions which were facilitated by from WFP’s Sustainable Food Coordinator –  Mr. Nanga Kaye.

Mr. Kaye who also led a discussion on Sustainable Food Systems, supply chain, logistics, warehousing and storage challenged smallholder farmers to ensure that they have storage facilities to minimise post-harvest losses.

A Panel discussion on the government’s flagship programme “Planting for Food and Jobs, the progress so far”,  indicated that,  it has led to an increase in maize  and rice production in the  country and created about 745,000 jobs.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Dr.  Abdul Majeed Haruon, a panellist, gave the assurance that his outfit would collaborate with farmers to make the Planting for Food and Jobs successful whiles Mr Addo Yobo of Yara Ghana called on government to shift attention on the program from percentage of subsidy and instead focus on the quality of inputs, timely availability of input and access.

Over one thousand five hundred (1500) of the Participants’ capacities and knowledge were built in other sessions, including Modern Agriculture Technologies, where Participants were encouraged to use existing technologies to improve their businesses. The New Developments In Agribusiness Financing session also encouraged farmers to form associations and use that as the means to attract funds.  At the Quality Seed Systems session, we learnt from a MOFA rep., Dr. Marfo that government has put in place measures to ensure that every seed is traceable, thus producers whose seeds are below standards, will eventually be out of business, whiles the Educational field demonstrations and Model farm tour, to a rice and maize farms at Chegu and Sang respectively, gave actors, insights on good agronomic practices to enhance their productivity. Resource persons for these sessions included Ecobank, Injaro, Bank of Ghana, Dizengoff, Tata John Deere, Mel Consulting, Interplast, Yara, NASTAG, GAIP, OCP, Kosmos, IITA, USAID ADVANCE, CSIR and RMG.

There was also a session on Development Partners and their Programmes for Youth In Agribusiness that discussed how the youth can tap into the various programs and projects of Development partners in the country. The resource persons from AGRA, KOICA, Kosmos Innovation Centre and WFP all submitted that, they remain open to supporting brilliant initiatives from people that can boost agribusiness.

EXHIBITIONs, BUSINESS DEALS & CONTRACTS

The 144 Companies that came to exhibit in all, were happy about the sustained patronage of the program throughout the period, majority recorded tremendous sales and were impressed about the quality of business deals struck and long term relationships built.

About 15 women, who are into processing of rice, soyabean, shea, millet, maize expressed their excitement for the long term business supply deals they signed at the event and knowledge they gained, to improve on the packaging and marketing of their products.

Visitors including expatriate acknowledged the quality of the organization of event, the patronage and variety of products that were on exhibition. “The event was very detailed, satisfactory and captured the core of agribusiness” – A visitor summarized.

Some of the smallholder farmers expressed their satisfaction at the event in totality, deals they signed with buyers, contacts to  input dealers and service providers for the next season, the impact of the  training programs, lessons learnt that will enable them, improve their businesses. “The impact was so great and we look forward to future programs”, said an exhibitor and a farmer.

Others also called for consistency and urged organizers to sustain the program and introduce other initiatives that will make Ghana’s agribusiness one of the best in the sub-region and Africa as a whole.  Some also called for the continuity of the event and more avenues for collaboration.

Agrihouse Final Remarks

The Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa, expressed satisfaction about the way the event went and assured that, some of the concerns raised, will be considered to improve upon future events. She also expressed gratitude to all the Exhibitors, Resource persons, Panel discussants, Government officials, Development partners, the media, Chiefs and people of the 3 Northern Regions, value chain actors, all participants and sponsors including Yara Ghana, Ecobank, Mel Consulting, Kosmos Energy, RMG, Interplast, Dizengoff, Hatuom Trading, LK International and Tata John Deere, who supported technically and financially in making the event a success. She also commended USAID ADVANCE for their technical support and congratulated WFP, their   organizing partner and main funding body, for their commitment to seeing Agric transform in Ghana and beyond.

Meeting the food demand of a rapidly increasing global population is an enormous task which worryingly, is not helped by the niggling albatross of post-harvest loses.

With global population expected to reach 9.1 billion people by the year 2050, and about 70% extra food required to feed them, the issue of postharvest loses is one that requires an urgent and practical solution.
Tackling post-harvest losses is a sustainable solution to increase food availability, reduce pressure on natural resources, eliminate hunger and improve farmers’ livelihoods.

Postharvest losses consist of food loss across the food supply chain, specifically from harvesting of crop until its consumption by end users. The losses are generally characterized as weight loss due to spoilage, quality loss, nutritional loss, seed viability loss, and commercial loss.

Postharvest loss accounts for direct physical losses and quality losses that reduce the economic value of crop, or make it unsuitable for human consumption. In severe cases, these losses can be up to 80% of the total production.
Across the African continent, postharvest losses have been estimated to range between 20% and 40%, which is significantly high considering the low agricultural productivity in several regions of the continent. According to a World Bank report, sub-Saharan Africa alone loses food grains worth about USD 4 billion every year. For a continent that is still on the fringes of hunger and malnutrition, this analysis makes for grim reading.

Apart from the grim economic and social repercussions, postharvest losses also impacts negatively on the environment , as the agricultural inputs used to produce the lost food inevitably go to waste-just like the food.
Post-harvest loses doesn’t just happen. Indeed the stages in-between harvesting through to consumption are crucial to preventing or causing crop loses. Poor handling, lack of adequate processing facilities, and poor transportation are chief among the broad causes of post-harvest loses. In Ghana where crop harvesting is performed mainly manually using hand cutting tools such as sickle, knife, scythe, cutters etc., poor handling is easily one of the areas deserving of urgent attention, if food security will be achieved.

A study by the Africa Post Harvest Losses Information System in 2016 revealed that the country loses about 318 thousand 514 tonnes of maize annually during the post-harvest period. The three Regions of the north where poverty is predominant account for 34 thousand, 189 of the figure with the Upper West Region having lost 779 tonnes to post harvest management cases. In these regions the major crops which are often affected by perennial post-harvest losses include maize, sorghum, rice, groundnut, cowpea and vegetables.

Similarly, a 2016 study by Dr Bruno Tran, an expert in post-harvest losses management with the Africa Post-Harvest Losses Information System (APHLIS) estimates that Ghana loses about 318,514 tonnes of maize annually to post-harvest losses. This figure according to the study represents 18 % of the country’s annual maize production; with the Northern Region being the largest contributor with 20,411 tonnes annually, followed by Upper East Region and Volta Region which also contribute 13,000 tonnes and 8,983 tonnes respectively.

Upper West, Brong Ahafo and Central Regions are the least contributors with 778 tonnes, 734 tonnes and 636 tonnes respectively. The author identified failure of farmers to thoroughly dry harvested maize before storage as the reason for the huge incidences of maize loss particularly.

According to the report as much as 60 % of yam produced in Ghana, for instance, did not make it to the final consumer, adding that the level of losses occurring in maize production, ranged between 5-70 per cent. Between 11-27 % and 5-15 % of rice and millet/sorghum cultivated also never made it to the consumer.

WAY FORWARD 

To achieve success in the charge against post-harvest loses; farmers must be made to play a central role. Indeed without the involvement of farmers nothing meaningful can be achieved. Most farmers are notorious for being resistant to change and so a carefully structured capacity building forum to help local farmers appreciate and embrace new trends designed to halt post-harvest loses is a path worth threading.
Getting farmers to unlearn negative and timeworn practices which are largely responsible for aiding post-harvest loses will benefit both farmer and the economy. First the farmer will have more to sell at a competitive price while an improvement in rural folk livelihood will soar.

A wholesale improvement in Transportation across rural Ghana is also hugely important. If delicate and often perishable products like fruits and vegetables are able to reach the market without delay and attendant rough-handling, then the un-refreshing statistics made possible by post-harvest loses could well be reversed in the nearest future.
The emergence of expansive Storage facilities is also encouraging and must be improved on. Proper storage facilities will hold and preserve perishable goods until trucks and other haulage vehicles are brought in to cart these goods to the market. While at the market awaiting consumer purchase also, a good storage facility to hold these goods will ensure that goods remain in good condition for the journey from farm to consumer.
Stakeholder support cannot be underestimated in the quest to eventually alleviate the challenge of post-harvest loses. Indeed the monumental effort of stakeholders in the agric sector, particularly agric industry firms must be harnessed and used to help the crusade for an agric sector devoid of preventable post-harvest loses.
Ghana’s agric sector has a telling influence on the local economy and all hands are required on deck to help institute a lasting and effectual solution to the perennial post-harvest loses that has so consistently robbed the hardworking Ghanaian farmers of the reward for their sweat.

CONCLUSION

Though Ghana’s effort at achieving zero tolerance for hunger by 2030 seems well on course, post-harvest loses remains a lively threat which should be targeted and defeated, if we are to take the agric sector to deserving heights and consequently propel our economy towards unfettered growth.

The effort of Policy makers is crucial as specific initiatives aimed at tackling post-harvest loses is only possible through a calculated series of interventions that guarantees results.

Post-Harvest loss of precious crops is a challenge we can defeat summarily. But any compressively won battle is never achieved without a well-though out strategy. This is why we must burden ourselves with the noble task of proffering and initiating a comprehensive and efficacious solution to ensure that the marauding canker of post-harvest loses is stopped in its tracks.