‘See farming as a business venture’

The Director of the Food Research Institute (FRI) Mr. Manam Tay Dziedzoave has advised that farmlands should be managed as a business enterprise and not as a pastime project in the interest of food security, income maximisation and job-creation.

Speaking at a stakeholder lesson-learning workshop for actors in the root and tuber crops production value chain organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)in Accra, he said it is by doing this that farmers can deploy best farming practices to increase their gains from the sector.

“It is important that people see farming as business venture in order to become more productive, to generate more income and create employment; but on the contrary, there is this general lack of business-sense among farmers because of the wrong notion that it is a pastime venture.

“When one is running a business, he/she puts in place mechanisms to reduce cost while increasing productivity; and it is this mindset that farmers need to adopt to ensure they deploy the best practices and measures to at least expand their farms and improve yield -- in the interest of income-generation, job-creation and food security,” he said at the one-day workshop on“Empowering Cassava Value Chain Actors to Enhance Incomes, Employment and Food Security”.

Mr. Dziedzoave cited the lack of new markets, farm inaccessibility and low yields to be some challenges facing smallholder farmers in the country, and touched on the need for innovation and value addition to staple food crops, especially cassava and yam, to help tackle post-harvest food losses in the country.

“There are a number of challenges facing farmers, including getting new market for food surpluses -- especially for cassava. But ironically, because of farm inaccessibility as a result of bad road networks, some local food crop processors have to look to neighbouring countries for supply.

“The current average cassava yield per hectare is between 10-15 tonnes, which is much lower compared to other markets; this leads to high farm-gate prices that go to make the farmer uncompetitive.

“But in the midst of these challenges, we can devise innovative ways of getting new markets for farm produce: for instance, cassava surplus can be processed into industrial products that can be used in our industries and as cassava cake that can be mixed with flour for either pasta or bread.

A research conducted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) on post-harvest losses in 11 African countries showed that almost half of food crops produced in the country go to waste.

The report said as much as 60 percent of yam produced in the country, for instance, does not make it to the consumer.

Ghana is the third-largest cassava producer in Africa, with incomes from production and processing accounting for about one-fifth of the national agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Presently, it is Africa’s second-most important staple food in terms of per capita calories consumed. It is projected that by 2020 over 60 percent of global cassava production will be in Africa within the context of a fast-growing population -- making it an accessible and favoured source of carbohydrates and serving as a food security crop.

The Food Research Institute was established in 1965 to conduct market-oriented applied research, provide technical services and products to the food industry, assist in poverty alleviation through the creation of opportunities for income generation and contribute to food security and foreign exchange earnings.