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Ghana

Farmers’ Economic Advancement Through Seedlings (FEATS)

2015 - 2021

MEDA, with funding from the Government of Canada, is implementing a 6 year project in the tree crop sector of Ghana.

Overview

FEATS

The project acronym “FEATS” stands for “Farmers’ Economic Advancement Through Seedlings.

Goal

The goal of the FEATS project is to improve the economic wellbeing of women and men farmers in strengthened tree crop industries in Ghana.

Reach

The project will directly benefit 100,000 women and men farmers, and 35 small enterprises and their employees. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are supported with matching grants to expand their operational and technical capacities to grow quality seedlings, while farmers are provided with trainings and purchase discounts to acquire and plant quality seedlings in an environmentally-sustainable manner.

Context

Ghana’s workforce and economy are heavily dependent on agriculture. Over 1.6 million families are engaged in the cultivation of tree crops. However, tree crop production has seen a significant decline due to diminishing yields of aging trees and an inadequate supply of quality planting materials. The declining productivity has significant implications for Ghana’s export industry: this could leave over one million families in Ghana without a stable income.

Opportunity

Ghana’s tree crop farmers suffer from low yields because of older plants and low quality planting materials. Because of this, there is a strong need to reinvigorate unproductive farms and requires a strong quality seedling supply chain that produces affordable and accessible seedlings for farmers. However, with low capital, substandard infrastructure and inefficient business operations, nursery SMEs are unable to produce quality seedlings and in the right quantities to meet farmer demands.

Strategy

The FEATS project is underpinned by four pillars:

High Performance Tree Seedlings and Quality Seedling Supply: Improving the business capacity of SMEs in tree crop industries to produce and distribute high performance and high quality tree seedlings.
Financial Capacities: Increasing the financial capacity of women and men farmers to purchase high performance tree seedlings and quality tree crop seedlings.
Business Capacity: Increasing the capacity of women and men farmers and SMEs to participate in profitable environmentally sustainable tree crop businesses, including farming.
Policy/Strategy Reform: Strengthening the policy/strategy capacities of the government of Ghana, its agencies, and leading private firms needed to foster commercial markets for HPTS and Quality Seedlings.

Project Video

Funder

This program was undertaken with the financial support of Global Affairs Canada.

Partners

Ghana Cocoa Board, Tree Global, 35 small enterprises and 25 tree-sector farmer and industry associations

MEDA – Mennonite Economic Development Associates – is an international economic development organization that creates business solutions to poverty.

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Mennonite Economic Development Associates is a 501(c)(3) status non-profit organization in the United States: EIN 23-7398678.

Mennonite Economic Development Associates of Canada is a registered charity in Canada: No. 107 691 057 RR0001.