In Ghana, the project is focusing on the cassava value chain. As with other project countries, cassava is both a subsistence and commercial crop. Due to the growing demand for cassava and its products, it has been identified by The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in its Development Strategy and Investment Plan as a priority crop for strategic intervention.

The project supports public private partnerships and the recently established national cassava platform. The project will focus the value chain development activities on HQCF and starch from Volta and Central region for sale to industrial buyers in the greater Accra region and on gari in the Northern region for sale to smaller buyers in the sub-region.

A project inception workshop in Winneba was carried out that brought together key stakeholders in the cassava value chain and set the course the project’s major activities in the country.

The project is supporting policymakers and institutions important to the sector.

• Strengthening the policy and regulatory framework associated with Ghana’s vision to commercialize the cassava sector by, for example, working with relevant institutions on the policy and legislative framework associated with the inclusion of cassava flour in the bakery and confectionary products.
• Supporting the recently established national cassava platform.

The project is focusing on developing inclusive business models throughout the cassava value chain:

• Developing inclusive business models along the cassava value chain.
• Capacity building for producer organizations and SMEs in value addition and business management. This includes a mentoring programme for farmer organizations and other beneficiary groups, as well as a national training workshop on inclusive business models for SMEs involved in cassava value chains.

Sustainable market-led production intensification is a major area of the project.

• Improving production techniques and practices through Farmer Field Schools.
• Developing a database of improved cassava varieties released in Ghana in order to improve awareness of the various varieties released.

The project is working to strengthen access to financial services and climate change risk management tools.

• Analysing impact of climate variability on production and  price fluctuations of cassava.
• Strengthening capacity of district and regional officers to collect data on production estimates and volumes of trade of cassava in order to provide potential investors with relevant data on which to make their investment decisions.