TITLE:
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
AUTHORS:
Charles Tortoe, Wisdom Amo-Awua
KEYWORDS:
Farmer Based Organization; Millennium Challenge Account; Millennium Development Authority; Horticultural Zone
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.5 No.2,
February
14,
2014
ABSTRACT: 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’ farm size 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 Business modules provided in the
Northern Horticultural Zone to nine Farmer
Based Organizations (FBO’s).