The African Cassava Agronomy Initiative (ACAI) visited Ghana to integrate AKILIMO in the country. Through the Ghana Cassava Centre of Excellence (GCCE), ACAI linked up with existing private, non-profit, and government institutions and international NGOs that can integrate AKILIMO into their operations. Discussions have been progressing since 2020 via virtual meetings; physical meetings could not be held because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The field trip was to follow up on these previous interactions and assess the willingness of the GCCE to integrate AKILIMO into their operations and improve their relationships with cassava farmers in their networks.
The meeting objectives were to use existing maps developed to benchmark already established major cassava production areas, classify interested partners, and identify which AKILIMO decision support tools (DSTs) or formats are of interest. The ACAI team also aimed to check existing opportunities and the environment where partners work to align AKILIMO DSTs or formats.
The visit also sought to find existing extension agent (EA) structures or commercial interests that can trigger the bundling of AKILIMO with other services to ease its use and ensure that GCCE can be a point of entry to coordinate all other partners in this ongoing initiative.
GCCE organized the field meeting and engaged seven institutions from Eastern, Volta, and Central Regions in discussions. These institutions are Sky 3 Investment Ltd, Asuogyaman Agro Industries and Processing Ltd, Tropical Starch Company Ltd, Caltech Ventures Ltd, Ministry of Foods and Agriculture (MoFA), Kpeve Agric Station, Ghana Export Promotion Authority (Africa Trade House, Accra), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in North Ridge, Accra.
These institutions are private, public, or donor organizations. They are mainly operating in cassava production, processing (garri, High-Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF), starch, and ethanol), seed multiplication (stem cuttings for high starch yielding varieties—for example, Sika Bankye, Ampong, Amansan, Doku Duade, Duade Kpakpa, AGRA, Otuhia, Broni Bankye, Esam Bankye, Bankye Hemaa, etc.), out-grower schemes, extension services, policy advocacy for digital agriculture and access to finance for cassava production.
In a recent development, ACAI team members—Data Scientist Meklit Chernet, Agronomist and West Africa Coordinator Christine Kreye, and Scaling Specialist Thompson Ogunsanmi—discussed how GCCE would train identified partners to accelerate using AKILIMO in Ghana. They also agreed to showcase AKILIMO nationally in the 2021 edition of Ghana’s national farmers’ day.
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