An out-grower sun-drying paddy rice. Photo Courtesy: New Age Agric Solutions
In the past decade, youth entrepreneurs have played a significant role in Ghana’s agricultural transformation. They are using technologies, such as drones for mapping, input applications and artificial intelligence alongside innovations in cultivation and processing.
Sefakor Fekpe, bird story agency
31-year-old native of southeastern Ghana, Emmanuel Narh-Zaidor gazed over an idyllic scene as farmers tilled the soil ahead of this year’s planting season. Hundreds of white ibis birds waded through his rice field in search of insects. A sense of satisfaction came over him, as the owner of a rice farm.
He became self-employed in rice production on his two-acre irrigated land at the Kpong Irrigation Scheme (KIS) Project site in Asutuare, a town situated 92 kilometres northeast of Accra. The KIS is a state-owned infrastructure supporting small-holder rice farmers to produce year round to improve livelihoods and achieve Ghana’s food security objectives.
Narh-Zaidor comes from a family of small-farm holders cultivating a variety of crops, including rice, chilli peppers and okra.
However, after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2019, he wanted to work for Golden Exotics Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French company Groupe Compagnie Fruitiere. Founded in 2003, Golden Exotics is the leading producer of pineapples and bananas in Ghana. The produce is distributed to European markets.
He was not hired. This compelled him to look for land to lease so that he could begin his own rice production operation. He now utilizes distance measurement apps and mechanisation to improve upon the techniques that he saw his parents employ in the past, largely through manual labour and simple farming tools.
One of the major setbacks of small-holder rice farmers in Asutuare in the past was poor processing which affected the quality of the final product.
A local investor saw a business opportunity and invested in a milling centre in 2002. Managed by 23-year-old Joseph Zilevu, the centre has grown to add other features that process paddy rice into different grades for consumer preferences.
“In a day, we mill about 150 bags of rice. The 50 kilogram bags,” says Zilevu.
Residents in the community have come to appreciate the milling centre, referring to it with a nickname – Douglas. It boosts the farmers’ productivity and has created jobs.
“Initially, the milling machines don’t have destoners so anything put in comes out. When you put paddy rice with stones, it brings out milled rice with stones, but we currently have destoners that destone the rice before milling them and the graders have also improved the quality of rice compared to the olden days,” Narh-Zaidor said.
Every grade of milled rice is useful for various local dishes, such as akple, a doughlike starch made from corn flour, and waakye, which is boiled rice mixed with kidney beans.
This means that farmers are able to sell all the rice grades and make a decent profit.
In the past decade, youth entrepreneurs have played a significant role in Ghana’s agricultural transformation. They are using technologies, such as drones for mapping and input applications for aerial insecticide spraying, seed broadcasting, and soil moisture capturing.
Artificial intelligence has come into the mix. The Plantix app uses AI to detect plant diseases from photos. 23-year-old Geoffrey Donkor, an employee with Agrokings Farms, manages more than 500 hectares on a rice farm in Kasunya, near Asutuare. He said Plantix is particularly useful for newbies.
“I gained much experience in the field, but this app also guides me to learn and confirm changes in the plant. It gives you enough knowledge about the nature of rice and what to expect,” Donkor said.
Development Bank Ghana and partners ran a pilot this year for an AI-powered chatbot, called FarmerAI, to advise farmers on how to produce better yields. Thousands of rice farmers will have access to the chatbot via Whatsapp.
“At Development Bank Ghana, our mandate is to strengthen economic resilience and drive sustainable growth. FarmerAI is more than just technology; it’s about giving farmers the knowledge and confidence to improve their yields, tackle challenges, and build a better future for their families and communities. When our farmers thrive, our entire nation benefits,” said Dr. Randolph Nsor-Ambala, CEO of Development Bank Ghana.
Agrokings Farms, Newage Agric Solutions, Cudjoe Abimash Farms and other local commercial rice production companies have invested millions of dollars into the sector, aiming to change the perception of local rice being poor in quality compared to the imported brands.
The general manager of Newage Agric Solutions Ltd, Martin Nartey explained how his company which started as an agro-input trader transitioned into rice production and processing using the out-grower scheme in the last five years since the organization was birthed.
“We provide inputs on credit to small-holder farmers and they repay us back in commodity. The commodity now becomes an input for another arm of our business which is the commodity trade which is currently called Evivi Foods. We have a whole industrial hub for our rice mill, poultry and aquaculture,” Martin said.
The company commenced with five staff members and has grown to 72 permanent employees, with the majority being under the age of 40.
The growing demand for their products has led to the expansion of their operations where they no longer have to rely on external milling centres to package their rice. Newage Agric Solutions has established a 10,000 tons state-of-the-art capacity milling machine which Martin disclosed can process all the paddy rice that comes from their fields.
“Now we’re in the global village so we’re picking technology not only from Ghana but from across the world and our state-of-the-art milling machinery that we have can give us that rice that can compete with other imported rice.”
The company’s entrepreneurship program such as The Chi-Gaba Project where they support women and youth with inputs and services has employed over 16,000 farmers growing rice on land sizes of one to 10 acres per person.
“We have directly supported over 16,000 farmers who by extension have also reached out to over 60,000 individuals who have been engaged along the value chain. This year, we intend to produce 10,000 metric tons of rice on the market. We did barely 4,000 metric tons last year.
Alex Offei, who is in his mid-30s manages Max Industries LTD, a technology-driven company, with dryers and composite mills, that has helped change the face of local rice in the last five years through competitive packaging.
With 17 permanent employees, the 100 tons capacity milling centre usually runs out of space daily during the peak of demand.
Offei wants to see a Ghana-rice industry where distribution channels can compete with the imported foreign ones, an industry where an average Ghanaian irrespective of location can walk to a nearby food shop to buy packaged Ghana rice.
Even though the industry is growing steadily, most local rice brands only have a strong presence in urban areas in shopping malls and selected local shops.
“One of the challenges the local rice producers face is that they don’t really have good distribution channels. They’re not all over so when it happens like that there’s a little down time with respect to processing and receiving raw materials from clients. Nevertheless, we sometimes receive them, however we’re not able to process them. The reason being that they’re not having any demand from their side.”
Agribusiness strategist, Kojo Akoto Boateng, encourages youth to tap into other opportunities in the entire value chain, beyond farming, to meet the growing demand for local rice.
He noted that the by-products of rice, such as the stalk and husk, can yield other businesses, such as furniture-making. This will generate more income for farmers and multiply jobs in the ecosystem.
“For every ton of paddy rice, you will get about 60% milled rice; It’s an opportunity to convert the rice husk into micronised biomass silica boards for furniture. Even the rice straw can be used for that.”
As Ghana’s youth continue to plow through Ghana’s agricultural revolution with innovations, they can unleash a promising future for sustainable growth in the value chain.
bird story agency.
This work was made possible through the support of the #AfricaNoFilter, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.