The Tomato Industry In Northern Ghana: Production Constraints And Strategies To Improve Competitiveness
Market-oriented agricultural development is a way to empower smallholder farmers in developing countries who are increasingly getting involved in commodity value chains. The position of smallholder farmers in commodity value chains can be improved by enhancing their distinctive competencies. Entrepr...
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Published in | African journal of food, agriculture, nutrition, and development : AJFAND Vol. 9; no. 6 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Published |
Kenya
Rural Outreach Program
11.01.2010
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Market-oriented agricultural development is a way to empower
smallholder farmers in developing countries who are increasingly
getting involved in commodity value chains. The position of smallholder
farmers in commodity value chains can be improved by enhancing their
distinctive competencies. Entrepreneurs in the northern Ghana tomato
industry are taking advantage of recent government policies to promote
agribusiness. The competitiveness of the industry is assessed in this
paper and possible pathways to empower smallholder farmers to grow from
supply chain actors into value chain integrators and possibly co-owners
of the tomato value chain is discussed. A three-day Participatory Rural
Appraisal (PRA) was conducted at Vea among the 2856 inhabitants living
in 625 houses in 2004. The farming systems and market opportunities of
tomato growing communities situated on an irrigation site were studied.
The staff of the Irrigation Company of Upper Region (ICOUR) Limited who
manages the irrigation site was also engaged in the focus group
discussions during the PRA. Tomato production, despite being capital
intensive was the main enterprise of the communities situated on the
Vea irrigable lands. This typifies the other irrigation sites in
northern Ghana. The root causes of the reduced levels of capital
investment in tomato production were found to be the non-observance of
right production techniques and absence of processing facilities in the
proximity of the irrigation project. The northern Ghana tomato industry
now has the potential to become competitive, and develop into a network
of value chains after the former Pwalugu Tomato Factory, closed in 1990
was re-opened in 2007 under new management and a new name - Northern
Star Tomato Company. This anticipated competitiveness of the revamped
tomato industry in the northern part of the country was analyzed based
on the Porter's Diamond and the typologies of value chains were
proposed. Building competencies of farmers or their organizations to
enable them to play greater roles in chain management is recommended.
It is also of the view that development workers should get farmers
engaged in a few more chain activities that can enhance their position
in the tomato chain to improve their livelihood. The content of the
Farmer Field School concept for technology transfer could be improved
to enhance the business skills of farmers and entire rural communities.
This may diversify their activities into related enterprises upstream
and downstream of the predominant primary production. |
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ISSN: | 1684-5358 1684-5374 |