Small Actions For Enterprise (SAFE-Ghana), a rice production focused non-governmental organization in Ho, in partnership with 2SCALE Projects, has commenced training of certified rice growers in the Volta Region to develop rice agribusiness in the region and improve yields.
The team leader at SAFE-Ghana, Patrick Avumegah, said the first phase of the project would see some selected seed growers in the region undergo training as coaches to introduce other small holder rice farmers in the localities to new methods in rice cultivation.
The 2SCALE project is the largest agribusiness incubator in Africa funded by the Dutch government, which has been working with farmers and entrepreneurs in 12 countries including Ghana, Benin, Mali and Nigeria.
The project develops and supports agribusiness clusters that link farmers to buyers, technical support providers, banks and other partners, helping them to access profitable markets for their crops.
In an interview with Citi News, the West Africa Capacity Strengthening Coordinator of 2SCALE, Francois Dossouhoui, said, “the agribusiness cluster approach is designed to help rural smallholders move from subsistence farming to farming as a business and supply food for local, national, regional, and international markets”.
This was disclosed in meeting with the first batch of trainees drawn from the Krachi, Nkwanta, Biakoye, Hohoe and Ho Rice farmers’ Clusters.
About 6,000 rice farmers from the Volta Region are to benefit from the project.
The region has recently been declared the leading producer of rice in Ghana, by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, with production volume of 190,450 metric tonnes in 2014 alone.
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By King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana