Four NGOs support vegetable farmers
Three international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have collaborated with a local one to find a solution for permanent markets for vegetable farmers in the Greater Accra and Volta regions.
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They are the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), The Hunger Project and Agro Eco in collaboration with the Associates for Sustainable Rural Development (ASRuD).
For some time, farmers had persistently asked “who will buy what we have produced?” and this had captured the attention of the NGOs, leading to the joint collaboration to venture into finding a solution to the age-long problem facing small-scale farmers in the country.
ASRuD, therefore, organised a workshop for the value chain actors made up of tractor services providers, input dealers, vegetable farmers, aggregators, buyers, retailers, transport owners, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), financial institutions with the view to arriving at a solution to the problem.
The project is being undertaken in the Ada-East and West districts of the Greater Accra region, the Kpando municipality and the North-Dayi district of the Volta Region and targeted at 1,500 vegetable growers and dealers.
Addressing a workshop at Kpando, the Chief Executive Officer of ASRuD, Mr Cosmos Y. Abiwu, said the overall goal was to improve income from fresh and safe vegetable cultivation for the domestic market and where possible, for export.
He said it had been noted that about 50 per cent of the targeted group were women and when they were empowered, it could strengthen homes and reduce poverty.
The Partnership Building and Resource Mobilisation Officer of the Hunger project, Mr Isaac Olesu Adjei, said his organisation was committed to the sustainable end of world hunger and would empower people to lead lives of self-reliance, meet their own basic needs and build a better future for their children.
For his part, the SNV country sector leader for agriculture, Mr Quirin Laumas, expressed a readiness to be part of the solution and added that a workable marketing strategy was to be formulated with the collaboration of ASRuD to assist the value chain to operate efficiently and effectively.
The Director of Programmes of ASRud, Mr Geoffrey Awudi, stressed that a sustainable link among all stakeholders was required at all times in order to reduce waste and achieve success in good time.
By Tim Dzamboe/Daily Graphic/Ghana