The Grains for Growth Programme by the social enterprise IDH is impacting lives in Ghana.
The Grains for Growth programme aims to develop inclusive and economically viable grain supply chains that will offer employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, contribute to better incomes, and improve the livelihoods of farmers, especially women and youth.
IDH has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation under its Young Africa Works programme to implement this three-and-a-half-year grains value chain development programme in Northern Ghana.
Through a market-led approach, the programme will contribute to the development of the grains sector – maize, rice, millet, fonio, and sorghum supply chains, support the inclusion of smallholder farmers (SHF), and create jobs, with a central focus on women and youth empowerment.
The programme’s components and anticipated results include Diagnostic and Service Delivery Model (SDM) analyses, SME technical, operational, and managerial support, improved production and mechanization, digitalization for SHF engagement, business development, and access to affordable financing.
Robert Asugre, Country Manager, IDH Ghana, said IDH believed that there was a congruent interest to create more impact at scale, and that was why they partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to develop the Grains for Growth Programme.
“We are able to reach out to so many farmers and the off-takers and the brands to be able to do this project and support industrial processing and food security,” he added.
Razak Bongo, a beneficiary of the programme, said that life was difficult for him before IDH came in to support because when he was unable to get money to buy farm inputs to apply to his farm to get more output.
“DEGAS has supported me with seed for planting, weedicides, and fertilizers and trained me on how to farm. I was doing only one acre but when DEGAS came in to support now, I am doing up to three acres, I am farming maize two acres and groundnut one acre,” he added.
Another beneficiary of the programme, Kadiri, CEO and Founder of Agromart Ltd, said that through the programme in 2022, she was awarded a contract to supply 200 bags of NPPK and 200 bags of millet seeds, which totaled $23,000 in 2022.
She also said that in the 2022/2023 cropping year, she was awarded a contract to provide mechanization service and also supply inputs which the total amount was $47,000.
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