IICD supported project: Eastern Corridor Agro-Market Information Centre (ECAMIC)

Countries: Ghana [GH]

Summary

The ECAMIC project focuses on supporting farmers in the Eastern Corridor through forming cooperative farmer groups. The Social Enterprise Foundation of West Africa (SEND) promotes the cultivation of soy beans in the northeast of Ghana through the ECAMIC project in order to contribute to improving the livelihood of more than 2000 farming families in the Eastern Corridor of Northern Ghana. The potential market for soya beans and their high nutritional value offer potential to enhance income of farmers as well as improve food security.

Introduction

The rural farmer in Ghana is greatly saddled with the difficulty of accessing the right information regarding what to produce and where, when, and how to market. Although marketing is a national problem, the situation of small-scale food crop farmers in the eastern corridor is one of the most serious.

Therefore a market information facility was developed with IICD assistance. This market facility serves as a source of market information and data to twenty four community based farmers’ cooperatives. The members of the cooperatives are producing soybean, maize, and other food crops on an individual basis but they market their annual produce through a cooperative arrangement. By selling cooperatively, individual farmers have become reliable suppliers of products and have profited from an enlarged market and up-to-date information on market prices.

Objectives

The goal of the ECAMIC project is to contribute towards improved livelihood security of small-scale food crop producers in the eastern corridor of Northern Ghana through improved access to market information and data.

Development Impacts

Breakdown of direct target groups:

	Salaga Zone	Kpandai Zone	Total
Population	100,958	88,200	189,158
Organised farmers	288	294	582
Cooperative groups	13	11	24

Management and organisation

Two cooperative marketing centres have been set up in Kpandai and Salaga. Each one will be manned by a cooperative marketing officer. These Market Information Centres will be linked to a central database located at SEND’s Head Office in Tamale.

Results

Large scale buyers benefit from the efficient organisation of supply and transport. Bosbel, a large oil producer, states that the project has ‘been very beneficial for both sides.’ Even though the project is relatively new it already reaches over 10,000 people in 41 communities. According to one estimate farmers’ net income has increased by 20%.

Lessons learned

One important lesson learned has been how to ensure that the beneficiaries of the information could be made to contribute to the operational costs of the centre. It has been highlighted that most people are prepared to pay for the means of accessing the information but not for the information per se.

There were high hopes at the start of the project to eliminate middlemen completely. However it has been recognised that middlemen are not necessarily a bane in the production chain as they often play a positive role such as financing farming activities. The goal is for the farmers and middlemen to have a balanced and fair relationship.

Project Owner : SEND Foundation

Project Partners : IICD and Cordaid

Project Contact : IICD