Development of business capacity and organization of commercial business of farmer based organizations in the northern intervention zone in Ghana: A case study of nine-farmer based organizations
The Agricultural Component of the Millennium
Challenge Account Ghana Compact was to alleviate poverty and improve
livelihoods of farmers through commercial development of farmer organizations
in the intervention zones in Ghana. In Ghana, there were three intervention
zones as Southern Horticultural Zone, Afram Basin Zone and Northern
Horticultural Zone. Nine Farmer Based Organizations (FBO’s) of 450 farmers
consisting of 65.1% males and 34.9% females in the West Mamprusi district of
the Northern Horticultural Zone were trained by authors under the Millennium
Development Authority (MiDA) Agricultural Project. Farmers of the FBO’s were trained on nine modules on Business
Capacity Building and five modules on Organization of Commercial Business over
a period of six weeks. Age range of trainee farmers was 30-39 years for males
representing 37.54% and 40-49 years for
females representing 29.94%. Educational level of trainee farmers was 9.90%
males and 1.91% females who completed primary school. Trainee farmers who
completed senior high school were 2.73% and 0.64% for males and females, respectively. There were no university graduates among the trainees of the nine
farmer groups trained. Among the educated trainee farmers was 81.91% male
illiterate and 91.72% illiterate. Trainees’ farmsize was 0.4-2.0
hectares representing 57.43% males and 66.45% females. Attendance of male
trainees over the period of six weeks was
89.76% and 10.24% absentees, whereas attendance of females over the same
period was 88.96% and 11.04% absentees. Nine Action Business Plans were
developed for the nine FBO’s to access financial support from the MiDA
participating financial institutions in the horticultural zone for the
commercial development of farmers’ organizations.
This paper presents a case study analysis of Business Capacity
Building and Organization of Commercial
References
[1]
Stefano, L.A., Hendriks, S.L., Stilwell, C. and Morris, C. (2005) Printed information needs of small-scale organic farmers in KwaZulu-Natal. Libri—International Journal of Libraries and Information Services, 55, 56-66.
[2]
Zimmerman, M., Newton, N., Frumin, L. and Wittet, S. (1996) Developing health and family planning materials for low-literate audiences: A guide. Program for Appropriate Health Technology, Washington DC, 7-9.
[3]
Garforth, C. and Lawrence, A. (1997). Supporting sustainable agriculture through extension in Asia. ODI Natural Resources Perspective, London.
Carter, I. (1999). Locally generated printed materials in agriculture; experiences from Uganda and Ghana. Education Research Report No. 31, Department for International Development (DFID), London.
[6]
Lupele, J. (2003) Participatory materials development in rural Zambia. Southern Africa Journal of Environment Education, 20, 85-96.
[7]
Mody, B. (1991) Designing messages for development communication: An audience participation based approach. Sage Publications, London.
[8]
Turongruang, D. and Demaine, H. (2002). Participatory development of aquaculture extension materials and their effectiveness in transfer technology: The case of the AIT Aqua Outreach Programme, Northeast, Thailand. In: Edwards, P., Demaine, H. and Little, D.C., Eds., Rural Aquaculture, CABI Publications, Wallingford, 307-322.
[9]
David, S. (2007) Learning to think for ourselves: Knowledge improvement and social benefits among farmer field school participants in Cameroon. Journal of International Agriculture and Extension Education, 14, 35-49.
[10]
Dorman, E.N.A., Leeuwis, C., Fiadjoe, F.Y., Sakyi-Dawson, O. and Van Huis, A. (2007) Creating space for innovation: The case of cocoa production in Suhum Kraboa-Coalter District of Ghana. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 5, 232-246.
[11]
Janssen, S. and van Ittersum, M.K. (2007) Assessing farm innovations and responses to policies: A review of bioeconomic farm models. Agricultural Systems, 94, 622-636. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2007.03.001
[12]
White, D.S., Labarta, R.A. and Leguoa, E.J. (2005) Technology adoption by resource-poor farmers: Considering the implications of peak-season labor costs. Agricultural Systems, 85, 183-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2004.07.018
[13]
Glover, D.J. (1984) Contract farming and smallholder out grower schemes in less-developed countries. World Development, 12, 1143-1157. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(84)90008-1
[14]
Glover, D.J. (1987) Increasing the benefits to smallholders from contract farming: Problems for farmers’ organizations and policy makers. World Development, 15, 441-448. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(87)90112-4
[15]
Key, N. and Runsten, D. (1999) Contract farming, smallholders and rural development in Latin America: The organization of agro-processing firms and the scale of outgrower production. World Development, 27, 381-401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(98)00144-2
[16]
Slangen, L.H.G., Loucks, L.A. and Slangen, A.H.L. (2008) Institutional economics and economic organisation theory. An integrated approach. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen.
[17]
Simmons, P., Winters, P. and Patrick, I. (2005) An analysis of contract farming in East Java, Bali, and Lombok. Indonesia Agriculture Economist, 33, 513-525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0864.2005.00096.x
[18]
Singh, S. (2002) Contracting out solutions: Political economy of contract farming in the India Punjab. World Development, 30, 1621-1638. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(02)00059-1
[19]
Sivramkrishna, S. and Jyotishi, A. (2008) Monopsonistic exploitation in contract farming: Articulating a strategy for grower cooperation. Journal of International Development, 20, 280-296. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jid.1411
[20]
FAO (2004) Human energy requirements. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation, Rome, 17-24 October 2001, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation, Rome.
[21]
Mnard, C. (2005) A new institutional approach to organisation. In: Monard, C. and Shirley, M.M., Eds., Handbook of New Institutional Economics, Springer, Dordrecht, 281-318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/0-387-25092-1_13
[22]
World Bank (2007) World development report 2008: Agriculture for development. The World Bank, Washington DC.
[23]
Fafchamps, M. (2004) Market institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Theory and evidence. MIT Press, Cambridge.
[24]
Kwadzo, G.T.-M. (2004) Livelihood, health and socioeconomic characteristics of consumers and street vendors of kenkey, fufu and waakye in Accra. DFID, CPHP Project Report, Accra, 20.
[25]
WHO (2008) Advocacy, communication and social mobilization for TB control: A guide to developing knowledge, attitude and practice surveys. WHO/HTM/STB/2008, Geneva, 1-58.
