Ghana loses about $1.9 billion of its crop production to post-harvest losses annually, the Head of the Food System at the World Food Programme (WFP), Steven Odarteifio, has disclosed.
“We have been able to estimate that we are losing $1.9 billion in post-harvest losses every single year,” Mr Odarteifio said at a day’s stakeholder engagement and sensitisation workshop of the ABINBEV pilot project in Sunyani last Friday.
The huge losses were attributed to factors such as lack of processing and storage facilities as well as poor road network. However, Mr Odarteifio said the WFP was committed to supporting agriculture industry players with post-harvest equipment to halt or reduce the losses.
ABINBEV Project
ABINBEV is a pilot project initiated by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the WFP in the Ashanti, Bono and Upper West regions to reduce post-harvest losses and enhance the productivity of smallholder maize farmers.
The goal of the project is to improve the livelihoods and incomes of approximately 2,100 smallholder maize farmers in the beneficiary regions to supply Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), a beverage company, with 5,500 metric tonnes (MT) of maize annually.
The focus of the project is also to strengthen the local supply chain. Under the project, smallholder farmers will be supported to improve productivity through the adoption of good agricultural practices and technologies.
Additionally, the partners will build the capacity of farmers on post-harvest loss management to reduce losses and improve grain quality. The farmers will also be supported to access affordable financial and insurance services to enhance the adoption of good technologies, services and management practices.
In addition, the implementers will facilitate access to structured markets to promote trade and increase income and investment. The WFP said the rationale was to provide sustainable livelihoods and meet essential nutrient needs resilient to local and global financial, climate and geopolitical shocks and value chain disruptions by 2028.
Commitment
Mr Odarteifio said the WFP was committed to the training of farmers and would provide them with farm inputs to boost production. He explained that the project would support the farmers to get access to the market and produce quality products to attract good prices to maximise their income.
“We have heard notions about the private sector being the engine of growth, but I think the real engine of growth that had held this country together for the past 60-plus years is the smallholder farmer”, he said.
He said the WFP was also working on a $50 million MasterCard Foundation project to support the production of six commodities, namely rice, maize, millet, tomato, pepper and onions.
Expected results
The Programme Policy Officer, Food System at WFP, Albert Akafari, said the ABINBEV project was expected to stimulate increased production and productivity of maize among smallholders from the current approximate 1.5 mt to 1.8 mt per hectare to approximately 4.0 mt to 6.0 mt per hectare.
He said the project would help increase the number of smallholder farmers applying good agronomic practices and improve post-harvest technologies. Mr Akafari said the project targeted female and youth smallholders.
Partnership
The Bono Regional Director of the MoFA, Denis Abugri Amenga, said the region was already in partnership with the WFP to roll out the Agribusiness for Youth Employment Project (AgYE) to reduce post-harvest losses and create jobs.
He said the project was also to improve food safety and quality standards of about six targeted commodities. Mr Amenga thanked the WFP and ABL for selecting the region to pilot the project.
He said the ABINBEV project would help create an enabling environment for the supply of quality maize and address barriers facing female farmers. Mr Amenga pledged MoFA’s commitment to collaborate with other relevant institutions to implement the project.
Crucial commodity
For his part, the Head of Legal and Corporate Affairs of ABL, Solomon Ayiah, said maize was a crucial commodity in the production of beverages such as Club Beer. He explained that maize constituted 50 per cent of the raw materials used to produce Club Beer.
Mr Ayiah said the partnership was to support farmers to produce more quality maize to feed the company and benefit the farmers.
