Washington Fellowship for young African Leaders.

The Embassy of the United States of America.

Today, we feature Moses Nganwani Tia, a young Ghanaian from Gambaga who is passionate about agriculture.

Moses is an Agricultural Development professional with rich experience who’s often contributed to youth, particularly in Agricultural development in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations of the world.

In 2009, he founded Savannah Young Farmers Network to address the increasing decline in youth engagement in Agriculture in the Northern Region. He is also a member of the International Fund for Agriculture Devevelopment/Government of Ghana in-country Program Management Team, with the responsibility of promoting youth in agriculture in Ghana. 
Through Moses’ hard work, SavaNet currently works as a regional organization, with representation in: Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Tia’s hobbies include listening to music, walking and watching documentaries.

Congratulations Moses Nganwani Tia! We hope you will expand your organization across Africa through the Washington Fellowship and help countries achieve food security. ‪#‎YALI ‪#‎YALIGhana

SavaNet News: CTA's Youth Strategy 2013-2017.

The Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) will like to share with its readers the CTA's Youth Strategy 2013-2017.

www.cta.int/en/article/2014-04-10/ctars-youth-strategy-2013-n-2017.html

The purpose of the Youth Strategy is to boost the engagement of young people in Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) for the growth of ACP Agricultural economies and to improve youth livelihoods.

It will achieve this by facilitating the development of targeted policies,sustaining young professional's engagement in ARD, enhancing their capacity to use ICT for Agriculture,supporting their innovations and ensuring that they reap full benefits from improved value chains.

The Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) is happy to have played a role in the development of the CTA Youth Strategy document, as it among other activities, participated in a Youth Stakeholder Workshop in Wageningen the Netherlands from the 14th-16th of November, 2012.

SavaNet News: InterRice Monthly Report No 121- March 2014.

Locally cultivated and processed Rice.

As Rice continues to be a major staple in the West Africa sub-region, the Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) will like to provide its readers the latest InterRice Monthly Report (March 2014) to enrich your knowledge on the Rice Industry. The report also contains the InterRice Monthly Report for February and January 2014 as well as  June-December, 2013.

http://www.infoarroz.org/portal/en/content.php?section=15

The National Youth in Agriculture Initiative; programme policy, strategy and sustainability.

Introduction

Within the developing agenda of Ghana, agriculture is identified as one of the economic pillars. The nexus/connection between agriculture development and Ghana’s ability to achieve its food and nutrition security goals are inextricably linked.

Agriculture is important to the development of any nation, Ghana being no exception. Development must include the youth and therefore the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) seeks to encourage their participation in the agricultural sector. This effort seeks to change the negative perception the youth have of participation in agriculture, (farmers) as uneducated, unskilled, physical labourers with extremely low economic return. Modern agriculture is more than tilling the soil and animals. The sector today offers career opportunities in research, environment, financial management, engineering and other technical areas for the youth to explore.

The introduction of the Youth in Agriculture Programme (YIAP) is necessary and vital to facilitate food and nutrition security because of the following reasons but not limited to:

1. There is compelling evidence of ageing farmer population in the country which must be addressed to facilitate sustainability in agriculture production. The average age of farmer in Ghana is 55 years and life expectancy averages between 55 – 60 years.

2. Ghana’s food import bill for rice, cooking oil, frozen chicken and meat (have become staple food) continues to rise. If this trend continues the availability of food in Ghana in the near future will depend on imports making the country vulnerable to catastrophic events and other exogenous shocks that have negative impact on food production from external source. The youth is strategic to the success of any effort to boost Ghana’s food production.

3. The poor image of persons involved in agriculture, especially in the rural communities needs to be changed and the youth are the  ideal catalyst such change given their greater prosperity and wiliness to adapt new ideas, concept and technology which are all important to changing the way agriculture is practiced and perceived.

4. Increased employment particularly rural employment is required as youth unemployment is on the increase.

5. Increase productivity in agricultural sector depends on the youth who compromise about 20 – 30 of Ghana’s active population. Their energy and numbers provide tremendous opportunities for increasing agricultural productivity.

6. YIAP provides productive alternatives for the engagement of the youth to reduce crime and other social problems.

7. Diversified, modern farming practices.

8. New crop varieties and animal strains/breeds.

9. Less soil pollution since there will be regular advice and supervision from MOFA.

10. Reduction in rural-urban migration.

The Youth in Agriculture Programme (YIAP) is a Government of Ghana (GOG) agricultural sector initiative with an objective of motivating the youth to accept and appreciate farming/food production as a commercial venture, thereby taking up farming as a life time vocation.

The YIAP has the task and responsibility of mobilizing the youth to take up farming and its other related activities as life time vocation. By so doing the following benefits will be derived from the employment for the youth, through the provision of tractor services and agro – inputs;

The youth in Agriculture Programme has the objective of

1. making youth accept farming as a commercial business venture;

2. Generate appreciable income to meet farmer’s domestic and personal needs;

3. Youth will improve their standard of living-through improved income.

4. Youth will be motivated to stay in rural areas, as inputs will be delivered at their farm gate, on credit basis and interest free,

5. Produce enough food crops, meat and fish using modem methods.

Components of the Youth in Agriculture Programme (YIAP)

The Youth in Agriculture has four (4) components namely:

i. Crops / Block Farm

ii. Livestock and Poultry

iii. Fisheries/Aquaculture and

iv. Agribusiness

Crops/Block Farm

This System has two sub-components, general crops and the block farm Block Farm, under this Scheme, state land or land acquired from chiefs or private individuals is ploughed and shared in

blocks among ; young farmer under supervision of MOFA staff. For now, the crops under YIAP include maize (seed and grain), sorghum, soybean, tomato and onion.

Other enterprises will be included as the programme expands. Under the block farm, YIAP provides farmers with tractor services, inputs at subsidized prices all on credit and at interest free. The land is ploughed and shared amongst young farmers in blocks. In the long run, big commercial farmers are to be made from Block Farm and the other component of the Youth in Agric Programme.

With regard to the general system, farmers clustered in an area may be considered under the programme. At the end of the season, farmers are expected to repay the facility in kind. This system takes care of their marketing responsibilities and post harvest loses. Farmers may sell their produce to the Buffer Stock Company established by MOFA or’ any customer of their choice.

Livestock and Poultry

This component targets young unemployed men and women to take to production of livestock and poultry (broilers layers, guinea fowls and piggery to begin with. Beneficiary youth will be assisted with day old chicks in the case of broilers, layers and guinea fowls, They will be provided with housing, feeding, drugs and vaccine, utility until they are weaned off the programme in about a year.

Similarly breeding sows and pigs together with the other inputs will be provided. There is a programme for other animals such as cattle, sheep and goats and other stocks such as rabbit and grasscutter will be added. Since animal production is a specialized area, participating farmers will be trained.

Fisheries/Aquaculture

The Youth in Aquaculture Programme is first of all being driven by the demand for healthy fish and inadequate domestic fish production. Traditional harvest fisheries are cither fully exploited or near full exploitation and cannot meet the increasing demand for seafood.

The youth are especially targeted to form the focal point of the project.

Who can join the Programme

1. Any person interested in farming

2. Group of young men and women in the community interested in farming.

3. Any institution training farmers.

How to Join the Youth in Agriculture Programme

1. Contact any MOFA office at the Regional or District level in Regional and District capitals.

2. Contact the National secretariat of the Youth in Agriculture Programme,  MOFA, Accra,

3. For block farm participants, you must be in groups with elected leaders.

You must apply in writing and state your area of interest, location to access to any agricultural productive resource .

Youth in Agriculture Programme

1. Tractor services where your land is ploughable

2. If your land cannot be ploughed you have to clear it yourself.

3. Supply of inputs such as seeds, agro-chemicals, sacks, and facilitate marketing of your produce.

4. Technical support from Agric. Extension staff of MOFA.

5. Training of farmers free of charge, where the need arises.

The role of the District, Municipal and metropolitan Assemblies

1. Supervision

2. Assist to acquire land

3. Provide land and equipment

4. Monitor activities

Exit Strategy

An organization or individual without an exit strategy  may be in a quagmire. At worst, an exit

strategy will save face; at best an exit strategy will peg a withdrawal to the achievement of an objective worth more than the cost of continued involvement.

Any business, be it farming, commerce or e manufacturing needs to grow. In any business’ formative years, a push is needed. This push could be in the form of capital, land or management. In terms of h agriculture, resources such as land, capital and labour s need be expanded or intensified. The Youth in Agriculture Programme is the channel through which the Government of Ghana is giving a push to the youth.

In order to allow the youth to grow in their farming businesses, young farmers participating in the various, components of YIAP need to be weaned off at a point. , However, this will depend on which component or enterprise the young farmer is involved in, because the gestation period of each enterprise varies from the other. The young farmer at that point needs to be, partially independent in terms of taking decisions, acquisition of inputs and marketing of his/her produce.

The YIAP will introduce weaned young farmers to the appropriate service providers and Banks such as Agricultural Development Bank, StanBic Bank, etc.

The details of provision of credit to the farmer will be between the farmer and the bank. The YIAP however will continue to maintain contacts with the farmers in order to draw from their knowledge and experience for new participants in the programme.

Crops/Block farm

Each young farmer will have to be encouraged to open a bank account with the agricultural inclined banks as a first step. A young farmer who is able to continue repaying his/her debts with YIAP will be allowed to continue up to 3 years. After 3 years he has to look for his/her own land, because it is expected that he/she will expand his farm from 2 hectares to 5 hectares and above hectares.

Livestock/Poultry

Each young farmer will be encouraged to open a bank account as a general policy of the programme. Since the production cycle of poultry, rabbits and pigs allow several in a year; a young farmer will be with the programme for 2years. It is expected that at the end of the second year, the farmer would have gained enough knowledge and experience to be on his own. Financially he would have saved some funds to enable him construct a simple animal house.

Aquiculture/ Fisheries

Young farmers will be weaned off after 1 year. The Cost-Benefit analysis show that after two successful production cycles (will make about 50%of working capital invested as income),

young farmers should be able to save to construct their own cages. The banks should be able to provide the farmer with working capital as credit to enable them put into use their cages constructed.

Agribusiness

This component involves training of the youth in processing, marketing and consultancy in various areas of agricultural production. The YIAP will be able to keep participants up to I year. After 1 year, a young participant will be weaned off the programme. To begin, especially for the processors, simple processing equipment would be provided to them on credit basis. For the working capital, weaned young participants would be introduced to the appropriate financial institution.

SavaNet News: Entice Youth to take to Farming- say’s Ghana’s Ambassador to Italy.

Mrs Evenly Anita Stokes Hayford
Ghana's Ambassador to Italy.

Mrs. Evenly Anita Stokes-Hayford, Ghana’s Ambassador to Italy has urged the Government to look for innovative ways of making agriculture attractive to the youth. She suggested, for instance, the provision of start-up capital, inputs, and land for the youth who are interested in venturing into agricultural production, as well as the creation of a ready market for the produce.“By so doing we would attract a lot of Ghanaian youth into farming to undertake large scale food production to feed the nation and even export the surplus”, she stated.

Mrs. Stokes-Hyaford made the call in an interview with the GNA on the sidelines of the 28th Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Regional Conference for Africa in Tunis. Mrs. Stokes -Hayford said over the years the older generation of farmers had made farming unattractive even to their own children due to the use of crude implements and archaic methods of land cultivation that did not motivate the younger generation to aspire to farming as an occupation.

“If we stick to the old crude ways of agriculture, we won’t be able to attract the youth especially the graduates from our universities”, she said, adding that farming is a very lucrative venture, through which farmers in countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe had become very prosperous.

She praised President John Dramani Mahama for personally encouraging Ghanaian to patronize made in Ghana goods, saying it was one of the major themes that dominated discussions at FAO meetings. “Africans must eat what they produce and reduce their reliance on imported products."

The Ambassador indicated that she was scouting for a company in Italy to invest in the preservation of tomatoes in a community in the Volta Region to reduce post-harvest losses. “It is unacceptable that this community in the Keta District loses about 40-50 per cent of their produce due to the lack post-harvest storage facility”, she said.

Touching on family farming, Mrs. Stokes-Hayford said the concept was not expanding in Ghana because most farmers did not apply innovative ideas and modern farm implements.

She said the FAO was focusing on family farming because it would ensure food security and prosperity, adding children going to school would not be hungry since there would be sufficient food at home. The FAO Regional Conference for Africa took place from March 24 to March 28, 2014 in the Tunisian capital.

A total, 54 African member countries participated in the conference, 30 of which were represented at ministerial level. In addition, Austria, China, the Dominican Republic, France, Italy, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America attended the conference as observers.

Delegates discussed issues relating to the current state and of food and agriculture in Africa, bringing the African youth into the food sector, rural development, and the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) with a special focus on smallholder farmers and family farming.

The Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP).

Background

The Government of Ghana (GoG) has engaged the World Bank and USAID in supporting agricultural development project – the Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP), with the principal objective of improving the investment climate for agri-business and developing inclusive Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) and smallholder linkages aimed at increasing on-farm productivity and value addition in selected value chains.

‘Modernizing agriculture’ remains the overarching theme of Ghana’s agricultural policy as well as the new private sector development strategy. It focuses on a stronger role for the private sector in transforming agriculture from a low-productivity subsistence-based sector to one characterized by high-productivity, integrated value chains, and extensive value addition. Government interventions are focused on the enabling environment and other targeted measures to facilitate such investment, alongside more direct interventions targeted at food insecure areas.

Ghana’s current agricultural policy framework and national development plan emphasizes the importance of graduating from a subsistence-based small-holder system to a sector characterized by a stronger market-based orientation based on a combination of productive small-holders alongside larger commercial enterprises engaged in agricultural production, agro-processing and other activities along the value chain.

To maximize the impacts of private investment in agriculture on development, a particular focus is to facilitate small-holder linkages with other commercial businesses through, for instance, contract farming and out-grower schemes. Recognizing some of the challenges of past efforts, the Government is adopting a new approach of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in which complementary and targeted public support serves to leverage of facilitate private investment in the agriculture sector.

A major thrust of the new approach centres on enhancing the role of commercial agriculture and strengthening agricultural value chains. Under the program the Government is seeking to broaden and deepen private sector investment in agriculture – noting that it is already occurring but can be augmented – in the following ways:

   1. Additional large-scale commercial farms in the cereals sector has the potential to utilize large tracts of unutilized land to meet domestic consumer demand (rice, white maize) and as lower-cost imports to the poultry industry (yellow maize) and, ultimately, for export to the region.

  2. There are additional opportunities for multinational investors to expand the horticulture sector, given Ghana’s established market presence in Europe and favorable geographical position, to raise export revenues.

   3. Additional agro-processing especially in the horticulture sector can provide alternative markets to local production that is unable to meet European requirements (tastes or standards) and create jobs.

    4 .More private input dealers can extend the availability of seeds and fertilizer to raise productivity across the sector.

   5.Additional private enterprises engaged in the marketing and processing of food staples for local consumption, for instance by aggregating output from small-holders for bulk distribution and processing to generate economies of scale in the value chain.

Innovative institutional arrangements between large(r) scale investors and small-holders can generate mutual benefits and provide effective mechanisms for bolstering small-holder productivity. For instance, out-grower schemes provide linkages between vertically integrated plantations and surrounding small-holders. Contract farming arrangements can provide benefits for input and output dealers and small-holder farmers. To this end, the Government is keen to develop the Accra Plains through Public Private Partnership (PPP) and provide support to encourage the development of nucleus investment arrangements for the benefit of local smallholder farmers.

The Proposed Project

The project development objective is increased access to land, private sector finance, input output  markets by smallholder farms from PPP in commercial agriculture in Accra Plains and SADA Region  and increasing on-farm productivity and value addition in selected value chains. The main outcome of the project would be an improved investment climate that delivers more – and more inclusive – private sector investment in agriculture. Accordingly, project success would be defined by the following results:

   1. Increased private investment in agriculture should increase across a range of related enterprises including large(r)-scale commercial farming, agricultural processing and marketing industries and small-scale entrepreneurial farmers.

   2. An expansion of marketing arrangements that link small-holders with larger commercial entities. (These commercial entities could be engaged in production, as in the traditional nucleus-out grower type model, or in downstream marketing or processing, in the case of contract framing.)

    3. Increased productivity of small-holder farmers brought about by a combination of (input and output) market access improvements, improved technology and behavioral shifts resulting from lower risks and/ or improved incentives generated from a stronger private-sector led agricultural sector.

Proposed Project Approach: 

The proposed project would be based on four main concepts:

  1. Support and strengthen the Government’s ability to promote a sound enabling environment for commercial agriculture investment (large and small; foreign and domestic) by improving the enabling environment and developing a more pro-active investment promotion orientation.  This could include the provision of critical infrastructure in key locations.

   2. Address the fragmented nature of existing policy and capacity by consolidating core functions into a streamlined institutional structure (perhaps a one-stop-shop).  Also to improve the oversight and monitoring capability to promote sustainable agro-industry.

  3. Adoption of a ‘transaction based approach’ by seeking to identify, package, negotiate and secure specific investments, with a PPP element where necessary.  It is envisaged that a set of viable discrete projects would be identified during project preparation such that these could be mobilized rapidly upon project effectiveness.

   4. Social and environmental issues to be at the core of the project, with all commercial agriculture investments to adhere to national and World Bank standards.

The project would adopt a ‘proof of concept’ approach and would aim to adapt to experience on two fronts.  First, the limited application of PPPs in Ghana means the details of successful partnerships would be learned through application.

Second, the fragmented institutional architecture would need to be resolved early through an interim arrangement constructed around a project implementation unit while a longer term solution is identified (as part of project activities).  Consequently, the project would need to be flexible to adapt to experience.  A transaction-based approach would help retain a sharp focus on results while allowing for a pragmatic implementation modality.  This flexibility is reflected in the project scope outlined below.

Project Scope

The proposed project would have three components, with the first being focused on improving the overall investment climate for agricultural development in Ghana, and the second and third directly targeting private sector led agricultural investment involving smallholder farmers through PPP arrangements.  The second and third components would initially be focused in the SADA Region and Accra Plains regions.

Proposed Project Components

Component One:  Strengthening investment promotion infrastructure, facilitating secure access to land and project management. This component would ensure that Ghana attracts investors willing and able to invest in strategic subsectors that contribute most positively to national development gains. It would promote a secure investment climate – particularly with respect to access to land – that reflects rights and obligations of investors, government and affected communities.

This component would establish a ‘one-stop shop’ for investment promotion, drawing on the competences from existing Ministries, Department and Agencies in a streamlined institutional architecture. This would transform the current fragmented and ineffective regime to one in which agriculture-related investment promotion efforts are focused on securing domestic and foreign investments in activities/ locations/ business models that most contribute to Ghana’s national development goals. It would also strengthen the oversight capacity of Government to ensure investors’ development plans are being fulfilled and to develop more orderly exit of failing investors and the reallocation of land to new entrants.

This component would also support an improved mechanism for facilitating access to land by reducing the search costs to potential investors through an expansion of a database of land suitable for investors and by actively matching potential investors with suitable land owners. In the case of land under traditional ownership, due diligence and sensitization of surrounding communities would promote an understanding of the rights and obligations from subsequent lease agreements. A ‘model’ lease agreement would be developed to form the basis of all subsequent investor agreements, and which includes indicative arrangements for managing leasehold payments and other community development-type funds.

Component Two:  Securing PPPs and small-holder linkages in the Accra Plains This component will conclude a transaction for a PPP in an irrigation investment in the Accra Plains. The entire Accra Plains Plains area extends to around 150,000ha and the ultimate objective of the Government is to fully develop the entire area.

It would also assist with land acquisition under the one-stop-shop proposed above.  It would also include additional support to extend nucleus investments for the benefit of small-holders through various means including assistance to expand necessary infrastructure into out-grower lands as well as direct support to the smallholders to ensure they are capable out-growers.

This component would focus on the Accra Plains, where an area  has been proposed (in general terms) for a substantial irrigation investment to be managed under a PPP and which would supply water to both large commercial farms and an out-grower scheme.

Component three:  Securing PPPs and small-holder linkages SADA Regions

This component would involve the identification and realization of private investments in the value chain through PPPs.  Investors could be local or international.  Investments could be in production or processing and ancillary businesses.

This would provide assistance for the establishment of large commercial farms as nucleus farms with appropriate linkages under out-grower schemes.  Support to the nucleus would include critical access infrastructure including roads, power connections and primary irrigation facilities.  This would include support to warehousing and storage through the rehabilitation and concessioning of publically owned marketing infrastructure (including the development of warehouse receipts system).  It would also include support for agri-business centers that provide essential services and inputs to small-holder farmers.

This would initially focus on the Northern Region, but would be responsive to opportunities in other regions if these were of sufficient scale.  (It would be important to avoid supervisory activities being spread too thinly across a wide area in order to keep management costs down.)

For all investments so assisted, the project would seek to leverage small-holder participation.  Project activities would include developing a framework for out-grower schemes and contract farming arrangements that would sensitize potential small-holder participants in order to align expectations of both small-holders and the ‘nucleus’.

This project would support start-up costs resulting from institutional demands of sustainable small-holder linkages as well as any investment costs from new agronomic practices etc. that maximize the impacts of marketing linkages.  Activities could include:  organizing small-holder participants into groups and building their capacity to become capable partners, recognizing the greater demand for business acumen in negotiating beneficial arrangements with investors; grants to meet the establishment costs of small-holder farmers (land preparation, planting material, etc.); and/or working capital for out growers to procure necessary farm inputs (improved seed, fertilizer).

To encourage investors themselves to finance small-holder linkages as part of their integrated business model (and thereby maximizing the use of IDA resources), while recognizing the increased financial risks from doing so, this would include a risk sharing mechanism (eg. first loss cover).

An Article on the Utilization of Ghana’s Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s) to promote ICT4Ag Development.

Introduction

As nations across the world have recognized the developmental opportunities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s), they continue to explore ways of facilitating their development process through the development, deployment and exploitation of ICT’s within their economies and societies.

It is in line with this that the Ghana ICT4AD policy has been designed to aid in the country’s accelerated development process as the country’s ICT industry continue to offer cutting edge innovations for national development.

As contained in Ghana’s ICT for Accelerated Development (ICTAD) policy, the Community Information Centre (CIC) model has been adopted to provide a hybrid not for–profit community resource centre’s and for profit telecentres across the country.

The Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s) works to assist in bridging the digital divide between rural and urban areas, create ICT awareness in rural areas, disseminate Information to rural communities in the areas of health, Agriculture, local government, the environment etc.

The Utilization of ICT Innovations is essential
for Ghana's Accelerated Agricultural
Development.

Ghana’s CIC’s also seeks to offer ICT training in rural areas, support business activities in rural communities as well as provide rural communities with information to enhance national integration.

Under a Government of Ghana (GoG) and Government of India (GoI) collaboration, over seventy (70) community information centres have been commissioned across the ten (10) administrative regions of Ghana; an initiative to be replicated across the two hundred and seventy five (275) constituencies of the country.

These CIC’s provides access to internet enabled computers as well as fax, printing, photocopying and telephoning services. These Community Information Centres (CIC’s) are also equipped with televisions to offer rural dwellers the opportunity to be informed, educated and entertained to enhance community development.

Owing to the strategic location and operational model of these CIC’s, the Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) recommends the utilization of these CIC’s to promote Ghana’s ICT4Ag development.

This article therefore explores the various services that these Community Information Centres (CIC’s) can offer as they employ ICT innovations to promote Ghana’s accelerated Agricultural development.

The Community Information Centre’s of Ghana can therefore be utilized in promoting ICT4Ag Development through the following:

Agribusiness Development Service: following the essential role that the Agribusiness sector play in economic and national development, the CIC’s dotted across the country should be equipped with software’s on farm budgeting and analysis to offer smallholder rural  farmers the opportunity to receive technical support in developing and running analysis on business oriented farm budgets.

These informed farm budgets and analysis will help enhance farmer’s investment in Agriculture in order to address the disappointment many farmers encounter after the production season; owing to their inability to manage their farm enterprises with realistic farm budgets.

The Agribusiness development services that the Community Information Centre’s will offer farmers, will also enable them efficiently manage their production resources for increased Agricultural production.

The ability of the smallholder farmer to develop well informed and business oriented farm budgets will enable them effectively engage financial institutions for Agribusiness loans to enhance their investment in Agriculture for increased production. The farm budget and analysis services that the CIC’s will offer via innovative ICT software’s will also enable farmers understand basic Agricultural economics in order to enable them effectively manage and develop their Agribusiness enterprises.

In their bid to deliver Agribusiness development services, the CIC’s can utilize innovative ICT software’s and on-line platforms to support farmers and Farmer Based Organizations (FBO’s) develop efficient Agribusiness plans that promotes increased Agricultural production.

Innovatively, the CIC’s in Ghana can offer on-line marketing service for farmers in the rural communities in order to link them to produce buying companies, produce aggregators, consumers etc. Advertising the produce of farmers and Farmer Based Organizations (FBO’s) via on-line marketing platforms will improve their market access; thus enabling farmers increase the productivity of their Agribusiness enterprises.

The Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) also recommends the use of the CIC’s to offer on-line and off-line training on farming via games. The Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s) can therefore employ farm stimulation games e.g. Farmer defender by the market research firm ICN group International that gives future farmers the platform to develop their capacity on the fundamentals of farming in their climatic zones.

This service will contribute significantly in promoting the active engagement of the youth in Agriculture to develop viable Agribusinesses across the Agricultural value chain.

The provision of e-Agriculture Advisory Service: following the strategic location of the Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s), these facilities can be utilized for the provision of demand driven e-agriculture extension service on Market information.

The CIC’s in partnership with relevant institutions e.g. the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet), esoko etc can access current market information e.g. food staff prices at different markets across the country, contract opportunities with produce buying companies etc.

This will provide farmers and Farmer Based Organizations (FBO’s) a one stop platform to access profitable markets in order to enhance their investment in Agriculture for increased Agricultural production.

In their commitment to providing demand driven e-Agricultural Advisory Service, Ghana’s CIC’s can deliver weather updates aimed at equipping farmers with the information needed to engage in precision Agriculture for increased Agricultural production.

As technology dissemination remains essential for the capacity development of farmers, Ghana’s Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s) in collaboration with the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) etc can disseminate Agricultural technologies to farmers.

With the technical support of Agricultural extension officers, the CIC’s can disseminate Agricultural technologies employing interactive videos in order to offer farmers a participatory learning platform to develop their capacity in Agriculture.This service will thus contribute significantly in addressing the challenge the rural stallholder farmer face in accessing new Agricultural technologies to enhance their Agricultural productivity.

Furthermore the Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s) under an e-agriculture advisory service initiative can offer the rural smallholder farmer current news on Agricultural development. This will ensure that they are better informed as stakeholders in Ghana’s Agriculture sector on interventions by Government and Non-Governmental Organizations in developing the Agricultural sector.

This initiative by the CIC’s will also present the smallholder farmer the opportunity to share their rich knowledge and experience in Agriculture to influence the formulation of innovative and impact oriented Agricultural projects that propels the nation’s Accelerated Agricultural development.

E-Advocacy on Climate Change: following the increasing effect of climate change on Agricultural development and society at large, the Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) recommends for the utilization of Ghana’s Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s) for the delivery of e-advocacy on climate change.

Employing interactive videos, the CIC’s in partnership with relevant institutions can develop the capacity of farmers on the reality of climate change, climate smart Agriculture, civic responsibilities in climate change mitigation and adaptation etc.

These interventions will ensure that the rural smallholder farmer and rural communities come to the reality of climate change and its increasing effect on society. Furthermore, these e-advocacy initiatives will contribute significantly in educating the citizenry on their civic responsibilities in climate change mitigation and adaptation in order to promote their active engagement in addressing the growing influence of climate change on Agriculture and economic development at large.

Owing to the important role that knowledge on climate smart Agriculture play in equipping farmers with the technical expertise required to engage in sustainable Agricultural production, interventions in this regard by the CIC’s will enable farmers adopt climate change adaptive practices in their Agricultural activities.

The contribution of Ghana’s Community Information Centre’s (CIC’s) in carrying out e-advocacy on climate change will therefore strengthen the nation’s commitment in addressing the increasing effect of climate change on national development.

Conclusion

As the introduction of the Community Information Centre concept in Ghana seeks to introduce innovative use of ICT in the provision of information service to promote economic development, the Savannah Young Farmers Network (SavaNet) calls for pragmatic measures to be instituted to ensure the judicious utilization of the CIC’s to promote the nation’s ICT4Ag development in order to propel the accelerated development of Ghana’s Agricultural sector.