Beginning in January of this year, The Hunger Project-Ghana has entered into a partnership with two leading agencies: SNV Netherlands Development Organization and Agro Eco-Louis Bolk Institute. This joint project aims to positively impact the productivity, incomes and livelihoods for about 80 percent of the farmers working in three epicenters (Fesi-Bame, Tokome and Matsekope).
As The Hunger Project’s central focus of activity, epicenters are clusters of rural villages (comprising 5 to 15 communities) that are mobilized to pursue development objectives together. Through the Epicenter Strategy’s food security programs, farmers have achieved higher yields. However, this production needs to be complemented by other activities, especially market access, in order to have the most impact on income from farming and to generate employment. This is where the new partnership comes in.
Over a period of one year, through this project we will analyze the value chain of select agricultural commodities (such as vegetables like okra or sweet potatoes, fruits, food crops like maize and cassava, and cash crops like cocoa). Multi-stakeholder groups will then prioritize next steps in order to develop the value chain and enable small-holder farmers to participate more effectively in local and regional markets. The project also includes business development and resource mobilization support; technical assistance for implementation; and knowledge development and dissemination.
At the root of this partnership is a strategy for capacity development that assures sustainability. Through the project, smallholder farmers (both women and men) will enhance their agricultural, organizational and business capacities, which will make them reliable partners in attractive markets. They will own and lead the innovations as the drivers of the action plans. Moreover, THP-Ghana will use the experiences and lessons learned through this project as a model for all of THP-Ghana’s epicenters, potentially benefitting 30,000 farmers and their families.
Find out more about the Epicenter Strategy in Ghana.
About Our Partners
SNV Netherlands Development Organization supports small farmers and their organizations with the objective of enhancing their role as key actors in rural development, specifically to increase income and employment, to improve livelihoods and food security, and to strengthen the environmental sustainability of agricultural production.
The Agro Eco-Louis Bolk Institute advises the private sector, NGOs, governments and international organizations in the development of markets for quality products and thousands of small-holder farmers are profiting from access achieved to markets with the institute’s sustainable agriculture development projects.
February 21, 2013
