NGO assists farmers with post-harvest equipment

To help reduce post-harvest losses among farmers within the Sorghum Value Chain Concern Universal an NGO with support from Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA has presented farming equipment worth two hundred and forty-seven thousand Ghana Cedis to thirty farmer groups and three small and medium enterprises in the Upper West and Upper East Regions. 

The equipment are made up of five multicrop threshers, tarpaulins and one hundred and fifty pallets. 

Presenting the equipment to the beneficiaries at Wa the Project Manager of Sorghum Value Chain Project of Concern Universal Antoinette Addo said the organization will continue to support farmers by building their capacity to produce quality sorghum that will meet international standards. 

Radio Ghana’s Upper West Regional Correspondent Sualah Abdul-wahab says the sorghum value chain project started in 2014 to develop functional and inclusive value chain in the three regions of the north and part of Brong Ahafo region. 

The objective is to increase incomes and build resilient livelihoods while providing food security for small holder sorghum farmers. 

The Project Manager Sorghum Value Chain Project Antoinette Addo said Concern Universal has carried out series of activities to build the capacity of sorghum farmers and other players as well as help to streamline marketing for their produce. 

She about eleven thousand farmers have so far been linked to aggregators of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited. One of the challenges facing the farmers is post-harvest losses. This mostly happens during the processing of the sorghum. 

The presentation of the equipment by concern is therefore to address the problem. 

One of the beneficiary farmers in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region Francis Benyongpuo said farmers always process their sorghum in a very laborious way. 

He said the equipment given to them will not only reduce the time they spend in the processing but also enhance quality. 

Farmers will also be encouraged to go into commercial farming of sorghum because processing it will no longer be problem.


GBC