Value chain plays an important role in the complete production, processing and marketing of agricultural produce. In Ghana women have been found to be playing significant roles in this sector to ensure that they satisfy their families and improve their economic lives.
Women have conspicuously been hard working in the value chain processes because of their role in processing, transportation and marketing of farm produce, but their efforts have often been hacked due to inadequate knowledge in these areas of specialization.
Due to lack of technical knowledge and financial constraints, women tend to use much of physique especially in their daily hustle and bustle from farm gates to make a living for themselves and their families.
As a country whose economy depends on agriculture by as much as 80 per cent there is need to look beyond just production to ensure that other segments of production are well coordinated. This, when done alongside supporting in the building of the capacity of women could be a blessing.
When women's roles are harnessed well in the production, processing, marketing and transporting of agricultural produce, they would contribute significantly towards the achievement of the 2015 MDG target on poverty reduction and empowerment of women.
In seasons of glut, women buy and retail farm produce in the market at cheaper prices so as to sell quickly. This is done in all briskness leaving no stone unturned, especially pertaining to perishable food like tomatoes. They go about these transactions without regard to profit, in most instances.
Where they have knowledge of cheaper prices at the farm gates they are ready to go all the way, carrying head loads of such produce from the farm outlets to the markets to sell.
Processing agricultural produce also into value added products have always been a trial and error venture. More often, women tend to dry some of the produce that is in excess. A case in point is tomatoes, pepper among other crops using the common gift of the scorching sun.
Little is done about food produce like garden eggs, onions, over-riped plantain, banana, yellow melon, water melon, oranges and some other seasonal fruits when they are in abundance. Women, and especially small holder farmers, just look on and see their toil rot away.
Farmers have also suffered the most stressful situations, especially when all their labor is dumped at the end of the farming season because of lack of market, and poor prices making their investments go down the drain.
Reports of suicide and threats by some farmers to go on hunger strike due to their inability to repay contracted loans are still fresh on the minds of Ghanaians.
However, no farmer hanged his gloves at the beginning of each farming season because the previous year went bad for him or her and for that matter they would not try again. It is an indication of how much the lives of Ghanaians are attached agriculture.
With so much interest for farming in Ghana, there is the need for policies to help absorb the shocks of smallholder farmers to minimize the problems that are exacerbated by poor climatic conditions. This brings to mind the three northern regions and the Central region where poverty is said to be endemic. Some of the problems include difficulties and late delivery of credit, late delivery of fertilizer to farmers and poor packaging as well as poor feeder roads for effective transportation of farm produce. It is worth noting that the production chain does not end always with harvesting but the ability of farmers to have access to markets.
The big question, then, is how often have farmers made an effort to find the right produce for the market before going into production?
A value chain is therefore a sequence marked by value growth and coordination at each stage of production, processing and distribution driven by consumer demand. This does not only capture profits made by the farmers but also ensures there is no waste, while promoting food security.
For effective management of the value chain, there is the need for more connection and coordination in each stage of the agricultural cycle. However, because of poor farmer network to research into the demands of consumers, they cultivate just what is available with the hope that all would be required at the point in time.
Ghana has a good history of canneries. It is important to mention the Nsawam cannery, the Bolgatanga meat factory for the production of canned beef and beef products, the Pwalugu Tomato Factory (now Northern Star Tomato factory), among other defunct canneries. These factories that would have employed the country's youth and curb migration of the youth to other places are now at a standstill.
The country's supermarkets and markets are rather flooded with foreign products like mackerel, tomato paste and a host of household goods. We are still dependent on neighbouring Burkina Faso for onion and tomato to beef up our domestic consumption. The absence of reliable canneries in the country in spite of the role agriculture plays has been identified as one of the major reasons for Ghanaian market women traveling to Ouagadougou to buy tomatoes for sale back at home. A reverse of the 1970s is being witnessed now.
Since 2011 when civil society put pressure on the tomato factory at Pwalugu to operate, it has not processed tomato paste, not to talk about canning it, thereby compounding the old problem of glut without market in the Upper East Region even though the factory was revamped to produce 250 metric tons of tomato paste per day.
This target is yet to be achieved as farmers continue to produce tomatoes in huge quantities only for them to rot on the farms all because they lack market and other sales avenues.
Factory officials give a number of excuses for failing to produce and can tomato paste – lack of vacuum pumps for the machines, poor quality of tomatoes, problems with fixing prices and lack of crates for receiving the produce from the farmers, among others. But for a vast majority of the people of northern Ghana, especially those in Bolgatanga and its environs, these excuses are rather flimsy.
Government officials have visited the factory on several occasions. One of such visits was made by the former MP for Talensi, Mr John Tia Akologo who was then the Minister for Information. The factory at the time had processed 350 drums of tomato into puree which got caked, moldy and wasted at the factory due to the lack of vacuum pump machines. A lot more of the tomatoes produced got rotten on the farms due to bad roads and lack of transport.
Each year farmers in Ghana look on helplessly to see their produce attract low prices and while most get rotten on the farms.
Many of the youth who would have stayed in the communities to work on the farms are compelled to leave for greener pastures with the notion that farming is not attractive.
Investments that have gone into the establishment of these factories would remain a waste if government does not take urgent measures to turn the prevailing situation around.
A well managed Value chain can improve profits of farmers and livelihoods of women. This therefore calls for stronger commitment on the part of government through policies to empower women and farmers. Processing is an effective way of supporting production, which calls for the equipping of women in the value chain with the requisite skills in processing, packaging and distribution.
In his inaugural address earlier this month, President John Mahama indicated that the commitment to continue to invest in agriculture and the growth of the economy to lift the poor segments of the population out of poverty is a step in the right direction. One cannot agree more.
For the farmers there is the need to be supported to conduct their own research that would enable them to understand the requirements of their consumers before they supply.
The need for a strong network of producers to bring about total innovation in the agricultural sector cannot be over-emphasized.