World Bank Group in its possible best ways has always performed its unique role as a global partner in fighting poverty worldwide, help developing countries (including Ghana) achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments.
World Bank knowing how agriculture is of utmost importance to every developing country, has taken another step to support Ghana in its endeavors, pertaining to tree planting and crops growing, so as to help the nation raise revenue for its sustainability through exports and value chain addition.
The International Development Association (IDA) – a part of World Bank that helps poorest countries, has approved $200 million in financing for the Ghana Tree Crop Diversification Project (TCDP), which will help the country diversify and expand its economy by modernizing agriculture to boost output, resilience, and industrialization.
This financing will directly benefit producers in Ghana like cocoa farmers, cashew growers, coconut, rubber farmers, and entire households of Ghana. As farm production expands through World bank’s assistance, more employment opportunities will be available to the youth and in the long run help reduce the various social vices caused by unemployment.
Even though Ghana’s tree crops industry is very important to the country’s economy and agriculture, the sector can contribute more substantially to Ghana’s economy and society than it currently does – through increased export earning and the alleviation of poverty among the poorest citizens in Ghana.
Ghana’s Agriculture sector has since been facing hinderances such as low and stagnating production, constrained institutional capacity, poor sector governance, and poor climate resilience due to slow adoption of climate smart agriculture technology, hence, impeding the development of the sector and the economy as a whole.
Not limited to that, farmers in Ghana’s value chains for tree crops do not coordinate well, resulting in low value addition to the sector. Ghanaian farmers are known to be vulnerable to pests and illnesses and lack access to better supplies and service providers. Factors like gender inequality, child labor, and deforestation have also been an hurdle faced in the agricultural subsectors.
It is hoped that, the IDA’s support to Ghana’s TCDP will support demand driven research, enhance on-farm productivity and resilience to improve the productivity, profitability, and climate resilience.
It is also optimistic that the project will assist with market access, value addition, and post-harvest management. When possible, it would encourage the use of public funds to crowd in private sector investments in the industry, driving economic change and creating essential value chains for agriculture.
Ghana’s farmer-based organizations as well as the institutional capacity of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) will strengthen – leading to an improvement of the sector’s governance for competitive and sustainable development of tree crops.
It is hoped that the fund improve value chain governance through traceability in tree crops and other investments, technical assistance, and other programmatic support to reform the sector.
The child labor sub-component of the program will be of great significance to Ghana – as that will help identify and mitigate child labor risks in project communities.
World Bank Supports Ghana To Modernize, Diversify Tree Crops Sector
In a statement released, Frank Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, announced the IDA’s plan to support Ghana’s medium-term national development strategy through the Ghana Tree Crop Diversification Project and directly contribute to the Government of Ghana’s priorities for economic and social development in the Coordinated Program of Economic and Social Development Policies, for inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economy.
” The project will support private investments in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in cocoa, cashew, and coconut value chains and in cashew and coconut processing units.”
Frank Pierre Laporte
According to Ashwini Sebastian, Senior Agric Economist and Task Team Leader for TCDP, beneficiaries will be in 11 districts in 6 regions (Western North, Eastern, Savanna, Bono, Bono East, Eastern.
Roughly 185 SMEs in cocoa, cashew, and coconut value addition and processing, she said, will be direct beneficiaries through project matching grants, technical assistance support, and access to markets and services. Of these, at least 60 percent will be female owned SMEs.
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