A program to boost the technical and managerial capacity of smallholder farmers in Ghana dubbed, Entrepreneurship for Commercial Seed Incubation Business (ECoSIB), will on Thursday, 30th June, 2016 be launched in Accra under the theme “Increasing availability and accessibility of seeds of superior variety to smallholder farmers in Ghana”

Funded by the Scaling Seed and Technologies Partnership (SSTP) of AGRA through FARA, ECoSIB aims at increasing the availability and accessibility of superior quality seeds to smallholder farmers by building the technical and managerial competencies of seed SMEs and developing cadre of seed business entrepreneurs with the requisite skills to engage in commercial production and distribution of superior quality seeds in Ghana.

The Executive Director of Agri-Impact, Dan Acquaye, believes commercial farming is not just about throwing any seed around and expecting magic for good yield, an unfortunate practice adopted by most smallholder farmers in Ghana. Superior Quality Seed is fundamental to productivity and profitability of every smallholder farmer. Professionalizing operations of seed entrepreneurs and promoting availability and use of high quality seed is a pre-requisite for ensuring the nutrition security as well as agricultural growth.

He added, “ECoSIB, an initiative to strengthen the business acumen of seed enterprises adopts the public private partnership (PPP) approach and provides a one-stop-shop for seed entrepreneurs through mentoring and handholding services, competency-based training for SMEs, establishment of seed information hub and supporting establishment of private-sector led small to medium scale seed processing centers”

KNUST, Crop Research Institute, MOFA, Ghana Grains and Legumes Development Board and the National Association of Seed Traders of Ghana (NASTAG) are the key partners.