By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kamashaki Agribusiness, Kaamil Shakiru Tigwii, has commended the Market-Oriented Agriculture Programme in North Western Ghana (MOAP-NW) for the initiative to enhance market linkage and access to agro-inputs for sustainable agriculture.
He indicated that through the initiative, MOAP-NW has updated the knowledge of agric input dealers in the project communities, who in turn reach out to farmers with advisory services and agro-inputs at their doorsteps.
Mr Tigwii was speaking to the GBC during a field visit to Suke and Samoa in the Lambussie District. He said apart from the project enhancing the capacities of agro-input dealers to have interfaces with farmers, majority of whom are women smallholder operators, it has also, since 2021, been holding annual fora to introduce stakeholders in the agric sector to new innovations.
Mr Tigwii, who operates his agribusiness at Samoa, observed that the partnership with MOAP-NW has enabled input dealers to educate a lot of farmers on the correct use of inputs as well as “the proper and safe application of agro-chemicals, so that they won’t suffer any harm in the long run”.
He stressed that the initiative, in addition to helping to give timely information and inputs to farmers, has also significantly improved the businesses of agro-input dealers and the livelihoods of other beneficiaries, thereby creating a multiplier effect. Mr Tigwii told the GBC that MOAP-NW equally gave input dealers grants last year to support their businesses and entreated the project implementers to do the same this year.
Commenting on the Neem Crop Protector, which is being produced by the Tibourataa Women Group with support from the Upper West Regional Department of Agriculture and MOAP NW, as Upper West’s first bio-pesticide made from neem seeds, Mr Tigwii emphasised that it has become a game changer in the farming sector.
The CEO of Kamashaki Agribusiness stated that the Neem Crop Protestor, because of its organic nature, has no negative effect on the crops, saying, “unlike other pesticides, you can apply it [Neem Crop Protector] same day and harvest your vegetables the same day, without any problem”.
He observed that, apart from the effectiveness of the neem crop protector, its price is relatively cheaper as compared to others and called for its further promotion for wider acceptance and usage. The field visit coincided with one of the weekly meetings of a Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) group at Suke known as “Suke Torffilillo Cooperative VSLA”.
Members of the local VSLA at Suke who were busy in their weekly session equally had the agro-inputs dealers exhibiting their products at the venue of the meeting. At a point in time, those at the VSLA session had interaction with Mr Tigwii and his team for them to be updated on improved seeds and other agro-products for easy accessibility.
A farmer from Suke, Madam Memunatu Issaka, testified that she joined a VSLA in 2019 and that the group [VSLA] has helped her with timely financial support in her farming venture because of the ease with which she was able to access loans. She stated, however, that prior to joining the VSLA, it was very difficult for her to get a loan.
Another farmer resident in Samoa, Madam Ayishetu Abdulai, who is a member of the Ekaweri Women’s VSLA group, doffed her hat for MOAP-NW for assisting her to acquire a Manual Hand-held Push Planter that enables her to plant two acres a day. Madam Ayishetu Abdulai said that before the support from MOAP-NW came, she had to hire labourers to do the planting for her, but now she can use the money meant for labourers for other necessities, which is a great relief for her and her family. She advised her fellow women to also strive to buy the manual hand-held planter to spare them the drudgery of farming without manual push planters.
The formation of VSLAs via the MOAP-NW programme is a catalyst for mobilising funds locally by smallholder farmers through savings to increase investments in their agricultural activities. MOAP-NW, which is a component of the Sustainable Employment Through Agribusiness (AgriBiz) programme, is being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ) and the European Union.
