In June 2023, an official letter has been sent to the Government of Ghana to present the PARM technical assistance and process in a country, and opened dialogue to plan a setting-up mission. The ratification of the launch of the PARM process in the country, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, took place on 15 March 2024. The objective being to contribute to better integrating agricultural risk management into Ghana’s policies, institutional capacities, and investments in sustainable development. This collaboration has paved the way for the development of an investment project focusing on three priority crops, identified jointly by the government and its strategic partners, namely poultry, soybean, and tomato.
In Ghana, PARM carried out a rapid agricultural value chain risk assessment study (AVC-RAS) focusing on Poultry, Soybean and Tomato, which served as an internal document to provide the first evidence supporting the guidelines formulated by the government. The rapid AVC-RAS demonstrated that the poultry value chain has a high commercial potential, but its development is impended by two major risks: the feed and chicken price volatility and the risk of bird diseases. It also identified three major risks that hinder the rapid growth of the soybean value chain namely poor-quality seeds, post-harvest losses and price volatility. The tomato value chain is especially subject to risks of plant diseases, post-harvest losses and droughts.
The project design mission in Ghana took place from 12 to 23 August 2024 to consult key stakeholders in the agricultural sector and collect relevant data to inform the project components. The investment project will be developed under the Planting for Food and Jobs Phase 2 (PFJ 2.0) programme. Its key components will include (i) strengthening risk management capacities; (ii) enhancing farmer-based organizations (FBOs); and (iii) promoting agricultural risk management coordination, policy engagement, and advocacy. The mission culminated in the co-development of an Aide-memoire to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) during a technical meeting held on 23 August in Accra whereby the Ministry was represented by the Chief Director, Paul Siameh, alongside senior officials from MOFA.
Upon request from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), PARM hosted a training of trainers’ workshop, dedicated to private sector compagnies beneficiaries of PARM’s donors and partners, from 25 to 27 June in Accra. The workshop gathered over 50 participants including fertilizer companies, farmers organisations, women organisations, exporters, buyers, investors, chambers of commerce and foundations. Conducted in pursuit of innovation, the training aimed at building the capacity of private sector organisations on the holistic approach to risk management, risk assessment and prioritization by value chain and evidence-based, risk tools and strategies and monitoring & evaluation. IFAD Ghana and the Italian Embassy delivered the opening remarks, and the invited experts shared their views and experiences, notably the impact investor Shared Interest (then introduced by PARM to the ABC Fund) and a women-led cooperative certified organic.
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