OCP Africa launches Agribooster program in Ghana

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OCP Africa launched an Agribooster program in Ghana earlier on this week. A subsidiary of the Moroccan phosphate group, OCP launched the program with a view to boost food production in Ghana. OCP is a company committed to the development of the agricultural ecosystem in Africa.

Also referred to as the farmer-centered market development model, the Agribooster Offer, purposes to support smallholder farmers to get access to good quality inputs and financial services. It also aims to enhance market linkages and benefit from training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). This is with an end goal of helping farmers increase their yields and in turn, their revenues.

Two agricultural input packages; Agribooster Plus and Agribooster would be introduced to the farmers under the program. The former is a compressive package consisting of high performing hybrid seeds, crop protection chemicals and fertilizers. As such, it is offered to lead farmers, who would also benefit from training in GAP and farming as a business. On the other hand the latter consists of fertilizer and cascaded training on GAP and farming as a business.

The main objective of the package is to also demonstrate the impact of training and good application of fertilizers on farm yields, and eventually, convince farmers to switch to compressive package. This is with an overall view to enhancing a sustainable farmer ecosystem and consolidate availability of high quality agricultural inputs.

According to Dr Seth Osei Akoto, Director of Crops, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), who officially launched the program said improving yields of these priority crops would allow farmers to meet deed and food demands. This, he said, is while minimizing the pressure on the need to bring large amounts of new land into crop production. Dr. Akoto also noted that the program was governed by demand and market-driven approaches and as such would in turn lead to an increase in adoption of quality seeds of improved varieties.