A technologically advanced non-profit oriented organization, Esoko, has opened its branch in Tamale to promote agribusiness within the Savannah ecological zone.
The Tamale branch seeks to empower smallholder farmers within the Savannah ecological zone to improve their yields.
Esoko will also link smallholder farmers to key actors in the agribusiness sector to improve their efficiency.
Esoko’s founder, Mark Davies at the official inaugural ceremony in Tamale, touted Northern Ghana as the nation’s food basket, hence the need to establish the Tamale branch.
He encouraged nucleus and smallholders farmers in Northern Ghana to take advantage of Esoko’s well tailored services and improve their profit margins.
He said Esoko’s presence in Tamale will strengthen market linkages and also scale up smallholder farmers income capacity by 12%.
According to him, smallholder farmers who have subscribed to his outfit’s Information, Communication and Technology networking platform have made significant gains in the agribusiness sector.
Mark Davies reassured Esoko’s beneficiaries of accurate data they need to understand the value of their products which will determine their pricing policies.
He mentioned Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Sudan and Angola among some of the African countries Esoko operates in since 2004.
Esoko’s Managing Director, Daniel Asare-Adjei said t it was established to bridge the gap in information flow between smallholder farmers and key players in the agricultural value chain.
He praised Esoko saying, “We are a pioneer in helping smallholder farmers to do business via mobile telephony.”
He described the Tamale branch as unique against the backdrop that it is the only one established outside the national capitals of countries where it operates.
According to Daniel Asare-Adjei, Esoko will continue to provide market price data, agriculture advisory services and networking to its subscribers.
He said Esoko in 2012 put up a farmers help line covering 14 languages in Northern Ghana. The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Abdullah Abubakari, in a speech read on his behalf commended Esoko management for decentralizing its operations to include the Northern Region.
He admonished the management to support pragmatic measures put in place by government to boost the nation’s food security.
Alhaji Abdullah Abubakari posited that, Esoko’s intervention will enhance government’s Public-Private-Partnership drive.
He reaffirmed government’s determination to roll out new resilient agriculture methods necessary to cut government’s wage bill on rice importation.
Some beneficiaries of Esoko’s services gave testimonies of the positive impact on their livelihood. The Chief of Tamale, Naa Dakpema Dawuni Alhassan showed gratitude to Esoko’s management for opening a branch in Tamale.
He inspired smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana to fully adopt Esoko’s services. Naa Dakpema Dawuni Alhassan promised to rally all his sub chiefs behind Esoko to achieve its goal.
Esoko is an information and communication service agricultural markets networking platform operating in Africa.
The Esoko technology platform includes automatic and personalized local content SMS messaging, SMS polling and more.
It serves as a response to the increasing usage of cellular services across the African continent.
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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana