Greenfield Agricultural Services is planning to expand its farmer support programmes to reach more smallholder farmers across Ghana.
The organisation, which focuses on social impact, works to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers through sustainable agricultural value chain programmes.
These initiatives are designed to increase crop yields, boost farmer incomes and create employment opportunities, particularly for women and young people in agriculture.
To encourage greater female participation in the sector while maintaining high-quality service delivery, Greenfield ensures that about 90 per cent of its extension officers are women with strong academic and professional backgrounds from agricultural colleges and universities in Ghana.
According to the Founder and CEO, Dr Samuel Amissah, Greenfield in 2023 signed a five-year tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with PBC and Pan-African Savings and Loans Company.
The partnership aims to provide sustainable agro-input credit to about 100,000 smallholder cocoa farmers, beginning in the Ashanti Region.
He explained that the programme is designed to increase crop yields, improve farmer incomes and enhance overall livelihoods. Under the initiative, farmers are required to form groups, elect leaders and undergo training in key areas such as financial literacy, good agricultural practices, environmental protection and the proper application of agro-inputs.
After completing the loan application process and meeting the requirements, farmer groups receive microloans from Pan-African Savings and Loans to purchase approved inputs, including motorised and knapsack spraying machines, insecticides, fungicides, personal protective equipment and liquid fertilisers. Repayment is scheduled to coincide with the major harvesting season.
As part of its impact assessment, Greenfield engages beneficiary farmers every crop season to evaluate progress, identify challenges and explore areas for improvement. In line with this, the organisation and its partners recently met with farmers under the GREPP programme at Akutuase in the Asante Akyem District to discuss strategies for expanding the initiative to reach more smallholder farmers.
Dr Amissah further noted that through the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate), Greenfield has also engaged the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the Bosomtwe District to support about 200 smallholder vegetable farmers. He added that the profiling of these farmers has already begun.
