Boosting the resilience of 
cashew, peanut and vegetable farmers

The cashew, peanut, and vegetable value chains offer considerable yet untapped employment opportunities in Ghana, especially within the Eastern, Bono, and Upper West regions. To tap into this economic potential and attract private investments, products must meet certain organic standards to become competitive on the market. However, many cashew, peanut and vegetable producers do not have the knowledge or the capacity to produce sustainably and meet such standards.  

With support from Invest for Jobs, the start-up company So-B-Green Limited addressed this investment barrier with a comprehensive project that ran from December 2020 to July 2022. Farmers were trained on sustainable production, organic standards, and improvement of yield quality. So-B-Green also provided a guaranteed competitive market for organic produce, consequently shortening supply chains and increasing income for farmers. 

Through the public-private partnership, farmers were trained on sustainable production methods as well as the adoption of organic production principles. They also received necessary supplies and equipment such as organic seeds, water tanks, and irrigation systems. This enabled them to improve yields and quality. It also increased income as demand for organic produce was higher than for non-organic produce. As a result of the partnership farmers are now assured of a ready market for their produce and benefit from a drastic decrease in post-harvest losses.  

Prior to the project, non-organic production had been identified as a barrier for both European and local firms interested in investing in the Ghanaian market. While farmers were trained in sustainable production, market processes were also streamlined by facilitating direct sourcing through established collection centres as well as making product traceability easier through a user-friendly mobile app. The multi-purpose app allowed easy registration and field mapping for farmers, offered them learning material on organic production, and enabled buyers to trace precise produce origin.  

Invest for Jobs supported the project with technical trainings and cooperative formalisation, certification, irrigation and other production kits as well as provision of personal protective equipment like boots, gloves and overalls for farmers to improve on their productivity

The Farmer Resilient Package project enabled 277 farmers to transition to organic production, resulting in improved yields, expanded sales, and farm diversification, including the introduction of beekeeping alongside cashew cultivation. 

‘I had no idea on the existence of this job until the trainer from So-B-Green came into our community and suggested to add beekeeping to my cashew farming.’, remembers Nyin Akua Mina. The cashew farmer, who was struggling with a very low income, was able to improve her livelihood through honey production. 

‘We learned a lot of ways how to produce without chemicals and we were also given organic seedling which are very hard to get in Ghana,’ explains Benjamin Kofi, the owner of a vegetable farm who took part in the training. After being introduced to organic farming, he and other farmers founded a cooperative and started producing organically. A few months later, the farmer was able to employ two more young people on his farm. 

By the end of the project in July 2022, a total of 832 farmers were trained in organic production and farm diversification methods. This led to the creation of 398 new good jobs both at So-B-Green Limited and at the cooperative level (including 156 for women, and 88 for youth between the ages of 15 and 25). Additionally, the project has also improved working conditions for 810 people, mainly in cooperatives. 

To ensure sustainability, the project supported the registration of farmer cooperatives. By the end of the project, 6 cooperatives had been officially registered and were fully operational within the 3 supply chains. Interest in joining the cooperatives continued to grow, particularly among women in surrounding communities. 

A private sector contribution of EUR 269,775.45 by So-B-Green was mobilised, facilitating the procurement of essential equipment like cold vans, the construction of nurseries for the Akuapem South Organic Farming Cooperative (ASOFCOM), and certification processes. 

To implement this project, SO-B-GREEN Limited was supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in the context of Invest for Jobs on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to build the capacities of its suppliers to enable them produce sustainably in the right quantity and quality for offtaking and processing.