ABOUT THE INDUSTRY
Roots and tubers occupy a strategic niche in the Ghanaian agriculture. Smallholders grow them both for household food security and cash crops. It contributes 44% to agricultural GDP and 25% of overall GDP. The relevance of Yam in Ghana as an important cash crop and a staple food cannot be under estimate. In fact, Ghana is the third largest producer of yams in the world, behind Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. Ghana produced approximately 4 million metric tons of yam in 2005, compared to approximately 34 million metric tons produced in Nigeria and 5 million metric tons produced in Cote d’Ivoire. Following Ghana is Benin, with a production of about 2.1 million metric tons, and Colombia, Brazil, and Japan with smaller quantities of production at around 200,000 metric tons in 2005. Yam is an extremely vital crop, not only to the domestic market but also to the export market. Domestically, it is not only a main source of income, but it is a staple crop vital to food security. Internationally, customers desire the sweeter taste of the well known “Ghana yam”. The increasing global demand for yams coming from Europe, the U.S. and neighboring African countries, point toward a potential for higher production and export volumes.
ROOT & TUBER IMPROVEMENT AND MARKETING PROGRAM (RTIMP)
The Root and Tuber Improvement Marketing Programme (RTIMP) is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Ghana (GOG). RTIMP aims at improving food security and incomes of the poor rural households in Ghana with special emphasis on women and other vulnerable groups. Its specific objective is to build competitive and market-based root and tuber commodity chains, supported by relevant, effective and sustainable services that are accessible to the rural poor.
A major constraint in the development of Root & Tuber commodity chain is poor market information flow (eg. between small processors and medium-scale industries) and this has been identified as one of the main causes of significant cyclical fluctuations in production levels and prices, a clear sign of weak integration along the root and tuber commodity chain. Medium and large –scale investors have had disappointments with small-scale producers and suppliers of intermediate products on quality, quantity, price mechanisms, delivery mechanisms and non-adherence to contracts, and small producers are not confident that selling to large firms will be profitable to them. In most instances contract between the players in the chain have been nonexistent or have not been understood by the parties. There are also challenges of small-scale farmers and processors operating within viable associations, improving their economies of scale to be able to have the advantage of collective marketing.
One key intervention of RTIMP is supporting market-driven, product based and toiler-made linkages within the Root & Tuber commodity chains, between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and semi-industrial/ industrial large scale processors on the one hand, and small-scale Root &Tuber farmers and semi-processors on the other hand. This initiative is commissioned to generate information on the organization of the export yam value chain.
Ghana Root and Tuber Information Platform (R. TIP)
Copyright © R. TIP. All Rights Reserved.
Reports should be made to the webmaster: fletcher.jude@gmail.com
About R. TIP