The Ghana Grains Partnership

GGP aims to strengthen the market through improved infrastructure, closer collaboration and improved efficiency throughout the grain value chain, with an emphasis on food crop production, especially maize. The GGP builds on the favorable experiences from similar public-private partnerships in which Yara is involved in Tanzania (TAP) and Malawi (MAP). The initiative was made in direct response to the fact that food shortfalls in maize – both nationally and regionally – are a major problem in Western Africa.

The GGP consists of public institutions and private companies: an international and national consortium of private sector actors Yara and Wienco; the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF); farmers and farmers’ associations; the Ghana Ministry of Food and Agriculture; commercial banks; and output buyers (including processors) and traders.

The GGP aims to coordinate political and commercial objectives at the national level. Attention is given to complete agricultural value chains A holistic approach aims to meet the needs of farmers with respect to efficient inputs and finance, and to address constraints to more effective agricultural commodity output markets. Key objectives of the partnership are: to ensure farmers have access to affordable inputs and profitable output markets through effective institutional arrangements; and the establishment of a revolving credit fund acting as a catalyst for wider private sector participation in rural agricultural finance.

Building on an initial maize partnership pilot with field testing during the 2008 season, the GGP leverages resources to trained Ghanaian smallholders to improve access to appropriate credit, suitable inputs, and profitable output value chains in Northern Ghana. In its initial phase, the GGP has focused on improving transaction efficiency and distribution options at the demand end of the value chain, currently characterized by a large number of small domestic buyers. The partnership also examines how maize deliveries to new regional grain markets and a national school meals program could benefit from improved warehousing systems.

In a bottom-up process, Yara began by identifying the main challenges preventing Ghanaian farmers from producing better yields. Part of the challenge was to change the mindset of farmers who have often experienced that when they increase production, the local market crashes and prices plummet. To stabilize and optimize maize production and market prices, not only productivity but also warehousing, cleaning, packaging and infrastructure issues had to be addressed.

We therefore started to work with local government, donors, private-sector players, scientists and farming communities in a structured effort to strengthen and streamline the infrastructure for marketing, warehousing, logistics and input services.

In the absence of initial external financing support, we have – together with the Ghanaian inputs trader Wienco – financed the initial inputs requirements and logistics through Yara Ghana, establishing a revolving fund for input credits. Yara Ghana also coordinated the supply of fertilizers to the project.

After the successful implementation of a fast-track in 2008, a large-scale roll-out model was developed. The actual roll-out of GGP started in 2009 with the establishment of the growers’ association Masara N’Arziki (‘Maize for Prosperity’), covering Ghana’s three northern regions. A sensitization exercise was undertaken in early 2009 to explain the benefits of joining the Association. The response to the marketing and sensitization drive was good, and for the 2009 season about 2,200 farmers signed up with Masara N’Arzikid and over 10,000 acres were cultivated. Through relevant training, extension and inputs distribution, average yields improved considerably already in the first year.

Several warehouses have been rented for maize storage. The Association purchases the farmers’ total maize crop and pays them for the maize supplied less the cost of inputs they have received.