AFGRI Ghana To Become Leading Supplier Of Agricultural Equipment

AFGRI Ghana Company Limited, dealers in John Deere mechanised agricultural equipment, has positioned itself as the one stop shop and a leading supplier of agricultural machinery in Ghana and beyond.

Mr Gerrie Jordan, Country Manager, AFGRI Ghana Company Limited, said their outfit do not only sell agricultural equipment, but also builds the capacity of their staff to help farmers with servicing, mechanization planning and ways to find the correct equipment for their needs.

'The lifetime for most tractors in Ghana is about five years, but tractor's lifetime can be anywhere from 15 to 20 years. We educate farmers to take good care of their equipment so that it can last longer', he added.

Mr Jordan said this in Accra when the National Farmers and Fishermen Award Winners Association, Ghana paid a courtesy call on AFGRI Ghana Company Limited to interact and chart the way forward in improving agriculture in the country.

He said the company had established 10 model farms in parts of the farming communities including Tamale, Wa, Yendi, Bolgatanga and Ejisu to improve the yields of farmers.

'We created the model farms to educate and demonstrate to farmers that with the correct mechanization, they can use the same input cost to get better crops. We normally yield 1.5 to 2 tons per hectare, but with our model farms, we are able to get up to seven to eight tons per hectare of crop', he added.

He said the company in 2015 introduced a new agricultural equipment such as slashes, harvesters, plougs, reapers and irrigation implements to improve mechanisation of agriculture, particularly in low income areas in the country.

He said the reaper machine was used for harvesting rice, wheat, soybean, forage grass and other simple Individual plants.

Mr Jordaan, said the company had set up the 'John Deere Financial' to assist farmers to make the equipment more affordable to local farmers.

'We are partnering with Sinapi Aba and John Deere Financial to finance the projects which currently have very low buy-down rate at 21 per cent.

'This makes it affordable for customers to purchase and pay for the equipment in three years' time as they work with the equipment and can pay it back at the same time,' he stated.

He said for the past five years in Ghana, they started off in the market share of 1 per cent and now own 50 per cent share in the market share as far as agricultural equipment supplier was concerned.

'Our turn over in 2013 was 550 million dollars, we are yet to invest in Ghana to make the country the number one hub for food production in West Africa'.

Mr Davis Korboe, Chairman of the Association, said the visit was to acquaint themselves with the operations of the company and move the agricultural sector forward.

Mr Korboe said the Association believes that in achieving government initiative of 'Ghana Beyond Aid', agricultural must be the game changer to drive the agenda and as well ensure food security.

He urged government not to only depend on the technocrat but also work with the right practitioners in the agricultural sector since they were the actual agri business people to improve agriculture in the country.

GNA
By Kodjo Adams, GNA