Project profile — Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana

• Ghana (100.00%)

• Basic Health: Basic nutrition (12240) (5.00%)
• Agricultural policy and administrative management:
Agricultural policy and administrative management (31110) (28.00%)
Agricultural development (31120) (10.00%)
Agricultural extension (31166) (50.00%)
Agricultural education/training (31181) (3.00%)
Agricultural research (31182) (4.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (principal objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (significant objective)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (significant objective)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Nutrition (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project provides direct funding to the Government of Ghana to improve food security and make the agriculture sector more modern, equitable and sustainable. The project seeks to implement a comprehensive market-oriented approach to farming and to strengthen and modernize agricultural extension services. The project covers the entire country at the national, regional and district levels and is expected to benefit 2.8 million farm households, including many female farmers. Project activities include: (1) delivering agricultural extension services and market-oriented training to farm households, with a particular focus on providing information linked to improved cultural practices and the appropriate use of fertilizers, pesticides, tools and machinery; (2) equipping District Agricultural Departments and Regional Agricultural Departments with extension materials, equipment and logistical support; (3) supporting innovative, demand-driven and market-oriented research to address current challenges being faced by smallholder farmers; (4) updating and reorienting a standardized curriculum for agricultural colleges and farm institutes to be more market-focused, gender-sensitive and climate-smart; and (5) improving the enabling (administrative and legal) environment to facilitate access to local and foreign markets for agricultural production.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) increased adoption of relevant, productivity-enhancing technologies, which would result in yield increases in maize and rice, and a reduction of post-harvest losses; (2) increased adoption of market-oriented approaches to farm management, which would result in increased volume of produce marketed and agribusiness agreements signed; and (3) increased private sector investments in sustainable agricultural input supply, production, marketing and processing, which would result in increased number of farmers accessing input suppliers, loans, and equity investment to grow their businesses.

Results achieved as of December 2022 include: (1) facilitated 4,745 agricultural extension agents in completing 1,053,530 farm and home visits, reaching a total of 5,081,432 farmers (compared to 1,300,223 farmers visited in 2016). The agents guided the farmers through the various elements of the value-chain, from pre-planting to agro-processing, to packaging and marketing; (2) increased the number of farmers in commodity-based farmer groups from 87,932 in 2016 to 565,113 farmers in 2022; (3) supported regional and district departments of agriculture in linking 495,321 farmers (of which 40% women) to traders/aggregators and processors; (4) provided support leading to a total of 5,290 students (of which 1,383 women) completing or starting the new market-oriented, gender-sensitive and climate-smart training curriculum. This training took place in five agricultural colleges, which train potential future agriculture extension agents and future entrepreneurs; (5) contributed to the adequate self-sufficiency ratios of major staple food crops; and (6) improved farmers’ livelihoods, including through enhancing their ability to pay their children’s school fees, construct and rehabilitate family houses, acquire assets, expand farm operations and establish commercial shops to diversify their income sources.

• Proactive disclosure