COMPANY PROFILE

background

Agriaccess Ghana Limited is a limited liability company incorporated under the Ghana Company code, 1963 (ACT 179), by

the registrar general department with registration number CA-96,354 in the year 2011. The company was formed out of

strong desire to transform lives and impact society through Agriculture, which serves as the major sector for employment

and likelihood for our rural

communities in Ghana.

Agriaccess Limited has positioned itself as a leading sorghum aggregator in Ghana, supporting thousands of farmers in the

process. In 2014, the company committed US$1.27 million in investment to provide inputs to the out-grower market.

Located in Wa, in the Upper West region of Ghana, Agriaccess established the country’s first ever sorghum supply chain; a

value chain that did not exist ten years ago. Using a combination of its own farms, out-grower contracts, and guarantees to

farmers, the company began with 50 metric tonnes of sorghum production and has increased to nearly 6,000 metric

tonnes over the years.

Sorghum can be a difficult crop to grow in this region of the world, often offering low yields. Agriaccess has tackled this and

a number of hurdles by instituting innovative solutions. The company is currently the largest supplier of sorghum to Ghana

Guinness Breweries Limited (GGBL), with an annual supply contract of 4,000 metric tonnes. Agriaccess is the first company

in Ghana to implement a legally binding contract between aggregators and an off-taker. The three-year contract with GGBL

runs through 2017, and gives some security to the otherwise volatile local sorghum market, allowing farmers to commit

more resources without fear of risk.

Our Objectives Becoming stalwart in enhancing agricultural commodity production and marketing in

both local and international markets by building a competitive edge in quality andquantity of supplies;

Establishing a vibrant and formidable lead in the supply chain management in ouroperational theme, working to ensure accountability, integrity, reliability, accessibilityand dependability with our stakeholders;

And also to improve the living standards of farmers by improving performance toreducing post harvests loses by adhering to best practices and methods, with theapplication of modern technology.From its inception till now, Agriaccess Ghana Limited can boldly Affirm based on itsproduction and operations that these Objectives are being met and even exceeded.

Core BusinessAgriaccess Ghana limited in its business operation seeks to undertake the following:1. To 1.Produce, Supply and trade in Agricultural Commodities;2. Supply of farm inputs to farmers;3. To Facilitate farmers to access farm machinery, warehousing and post harvest facilities;4. To Disseminate new technologies to farmers through research;5. To serve as financial intermediary to farmers (Access to Credit).

SERVICES PROVIDED

Technical Services

Input Supplies

Business Development

• Training on best agronomical practices through SARI, MoFA etc

• Extension services and on-farm demonstrations through our Field officers and MoFA extension officers

• Provision of inputs such as fertilizer, seed, ploughing services etc.

• Provision of post-harvest materials such us tarpaulins

• Training in business development and commercialization of their activities

• Training on record keeping and cost analysis

STRUCTURESADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

MANAGING DIRECTOR

SITE MANAGER

SITE SUPERVISOR

SITE WORKIERS

FEILD OFFICERSPROCUREMENT

OFFICER

OPERATIONS MANAGER

STRUCTURES: RELATIONSAL STRUCTURE

structures

STRUCTURE: INPUT SUPPORT & TRACKING

• Agriaccess has extension officers who monitor the fields

and support nucleus farmers to ensure they provide support to

out-growers with regards to best agronomy practices, inputs

supply/application and post-harvest management issues.

• Out-growers are organized through community based

farmer groups, which have an elected executive member

(called lead farmer). Agriaccess’ nucleus farmers currently

manage 200-500 farmers each.

• The nucleus farmer signs up the farmers and hands the

contracts over to the Agriaccess’ extension officers or field

officer. These officers, unlike the nucleus farmers, are

company employees. The extension officer organizes the

inputs and supplies them with the lead farmer. They visits 1-3

times per month and assesses the advancement of the group’s

production and the distribution/application of the inputs.

SORGHUM

FROM

FARMER

TO

OFTAKER

FARMERS

Cultivation, Threshing and

bagging

NUCLEUS FARMER

Mobilization & payment

AGRIACCESS GHANA LIMITED

Quality checks, Rebagging and

loading to GGBL

• Once sorghum is planted and it goes through all the stages till harvesting, it is the duty of the farmer to thresh and bag them.

• Once they have been bagged, Agriaccess field officers together with the nucleus farmer go round and weigh the bagged sorghum so as to confirm the quantities produced by the individual farmers in order to prepare and come back for payment and mobilization

• After weights have been confirmed, field Officers together with the Nucleus farmer set a date/timeline for mobbing the produce, this is communicated to the individual farmers.

• On the set dates, field officers together with the nucleus farmer go round to pickup sorghum and then also buy any excesses after the farmer has paid off he’s/her credit.

Operations: NUCLEUS FARMER MODEL

AgriAccess uses a “nucleus” system, grouping farmers in teams of five to eight. Each group then

“elects their leader to serve as the contact and the mouthpiece of the group, Prices are mutually

agreed upon based on the cost of production for the season.” Agreed-upon prices remain fixed,

typically for a year. In this model, aggregators provide all inputs to smallholders on a credit basis,

to be repaid after the harvest.

While issues in working with smallholders still sometimes arise, the nucleus model discourages

common problems like side-selling, diversion of inputs, and under-declaration of produce. If one

farmer is found engaging in misconduct or in breach of agreements, the entire group is held

accountable. The threat of collective consequences deters farmers from engaging in

malpractices, lest they incriminate the entire group. The nucleus farmer selects his farmers on

the bases of credibility and integrity because he must come from the community and must be

resident in the community. Placing responsibility for credit repayment on a member situated

within the community, instead of on an outside credit lender, results in a much less default rate

than in traditional smallholder models.

Pricing Model

• Prices are reviewed annually

• Cost of production is the basis for pricing

• Prices are mutually agreed upon and once agreed remains fixed

for the period.

• Inputs and all services provided by Agriaccess are on credit and

repaid with sorghum after harvest.

• The sorghum received is then processed, packaged and delivered

to the off-taker - GGBL.

Operations: SCOPE OF OPERATIONS

OPERATIONS

NUCLEUS FARMER

MANAGEMENT

EXTENSION SERVICES

DEMO FEILDS

CLEANING AND

BAGGING SITE

GGBL

Invoicing

Document tracking

IMPACT ASSESSMENT over 2000 farmers provided with credit; received training and extension advise

Other beneficiaries:- over 3000 farmers guaranteed market access (farmers who sell

their sorghum to GGBL through AGL)

Over 200 temporal jobs created in the value chain and 12 permanent employees

Other Jobs Created: there are others created along the chain such as input suppliers,

transporters that are difficult to quantify. For example so far we’ve generated over

GHS300,000 to transporters .

Revenue to Districts and Municipal Assemblies- we contribute to the local government

revenue generation. We have so far paid GHS39,200 as revues to the local authorities

and in transforming the livelihood of rural farmers. Many are able to build better

homes, pay their children school fees etc.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: FARMER DATA

6000

1200015000

20,000

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

2011 2012 2013 2014

Farmer number growth

FARMER GROWTH

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

2011 2014 2013 2014

MALE 4200 8040 9600 13000

FEMALE 1800 3960 5400 7000

Axis

Tit

le

Gender Impact and Growth

SORGHUM: THE CROP

PROTOCOLSAgriaccess Current

Operations Machine/Implement Days after Sowing

Land Clearing (especially for new lands) Manual -14

Ploughing Tractor -7

Harrowing Manual -2

Planting (untreated seed) Manual 0

Weeding Thinning and Transplanting Manual 14

Basal Fertilizer (NPK) application Manual 14-21 (done after weeding

and depending on moisture conditions)

Second fertilizer (SA) application-Top Dressing Manual

35-40

Second Weeding(Ridging Manual 35-40 ( after top dressing)

Monitoring at each stage of the activities to ensure compliance

Bi-weekly visits thereafter till harvesting

Supply Volumes (MT)

Sorghum head

1960

3600

4500

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Agriaccess Revenue

-

500,000.00

1,000,000.00

1,500,000.00

2,000,000.00

2,500,000.00

3,000,000.00

3,500,000.00

4,000,000.00

4,500,000.00

2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Revenue

Amount GHS USD

CHALLENGES/CONSTRAINS

Constraints include.

1. Lack of certified seeds to increase production, Most of our farmers are using

seeds for the past five years, which has reduced the potential of the seed

because of cross pollination.

2. Delay in input supplies: Fertilizer which is crucial to the main production

sometimes come late due to delays from suppliers, which impacts negatively on

the yield.

3. Cleaning facilities: We need a modern cleaning facility to process sorghum to

meet GGBL standard and also improve on the delivery cycle. Cleaning could

separate the seed size and purity to meet the standard of GGBL. ( however

currently this is being worked on together with GGBL)

4. Lack of farm Machinery: Tractors, threshers, harvesters and other machinery

needed to produce on large scale are lacking. The difficulty farmers go through

to harvest, thresh and store sorghum does not give them the appetite to produce

on large scale.