Good Practice Centres add value to cassava production

Gari processing

Apesika is a predominantly farming community at Tano North in the Brong Ahafo region.

The name of the town is translated literally in Akan to mean 'love for money'. However, money making here had been an arduous task until the establishment of the Good Practice Centre (GPC) in the community by the Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing Programme (RTIMP) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

Today, Apesika is living its name as people from all over Brong Ahafo and beyond visit to learn from their best practices in gari processing.

This has helped to increase patronage of their products and opened up new markets for the farmers and processers.

Several rural communities in eight regions of Ghana are benefiting from the intervention, where processors access technologies to enhance their processing activities. Hundreds of processors have been trained in quality management systems, including packaging and labeling of products.

Prior to the establishment of the Center, the processors were “doing anything anyhow just to show that they were also in businesses. The aspect of processing in a right way such that their profitability will be enhanced they never knew anything about that”, says Vincent Cyril Akoto, processing and post-harvest specialist with RTIMP.

He says the conduct of a needs assessment indicated the processors used rudimentary equipment, which informed the introduction of enhanced technologies to process their farm produce with ease.

Under the GPC scheme, existing small-scale processing centres are selected based on criteria which include profitability.

The processors are technically and structurally supported by specialists in the installation of equipment and application of technical and management practices.

Now the processors are enthused about the quality of products coming out of their processing activities, which has resulted in higher productivity and increased patronage. The quality of gari produced has been improved.

Mensah Abrampah, Secretary to the Adwenpa Cassava Farmers group at Apesika, says he has been overwhelmed by the number of people visiting the village.

“The increased relationship has impacted a great deal on our trade interactions; we have places to market our products and those who need supply call us to deliver”, he said.

Emmanuel Kofi Agyemang, assembly member for Kyeremonso-Ahenboboano, who visited the Apesika GPC described what he saw as an eye opener and fantastic.

He is hopeful the project would be extended to benefit his constituents.

“I believe that to be able to improve our standard of living we need to start from what the people know already and because they are mostly into farming we just want to try as much as possible to add value to the farming that they are doing. And what the people are doing here at Apesika is one of such important things”, he stated.

The processors are recording higher income as their trade volumes have shot up within and outside the country – people from Mali, Benin and Baukina Faso are coming in to purchase their products.

The Good Practices Centres at Apesika serve as hub in the agricultural value chain – the processors now have the capacity to absorb all raw materials from the farmers and this gives the farmers ready markets for their produce.

It's early days yet, however, signs have being pointing to a positive direction, according to Mr. Akoto.

“Already the impact is being felt because a Good Practice Centre operator who did not even have a place to lay his head has built out of his operations, one of them has also bought a truck that will be helping him cart his items from the centre to the market centers. They have being improving on the schooling of their kids”, he noted.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh