Tiyumba Suweiba Yakubu || Editor Sanatu Zambang
AgroCenta is an Agritech company in Ghana that works closely with other agriculture-based
organizations to improve the agricultural value chain in Ghana. Their mission is to help solve
problems rural based smallholder farmers face, such as access to market and access to finance,
be it formal or informal.
In February 2020, AgroCenta in collaboration with Global Shea Alliance and its partners came together to execute the Shea Business Empowerment program, an initiative that is made up of women in the shea value chain in the three Northern regions.
In all, 90,000 women in the shea value chain from the three Northern regions were trained on
how to increase their knowledge in the shea value chain to enable them have access to dignified
and fulfilled business opportunities in the sector.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Agrocenta, Mr. Francis Obirikorang stated that the
program is geared towards strengthening the various cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises
(SMEs) in the shea value chain in Northern Ghana.
This he said would help provide these shea women pickers and processors access to capital,
critical skills development and market linkages.
“As an Agritech institution, the role of Agrocenta in the empowerment program was to use data
tools and other technological initiatives to connect these women and the shea market as well as
the various value chain actors in the industry” he said.
According to him, AgroCenta has over the last two years made significant strides by providing
the women with tools and technological services that are driving deeper financial inclusion and
access to market for them.
A project officer at AgroCenta, Madam Catherine Issah Gerald on her part said the program is to
improve the livelihood of shea pickers in these beneficiary communities.
She stated that their organization is currently partnering with Enterprise trustee to come out with
a flexible package known as the ‘Boafo Pa’, which comes in three packages namely; the
retirement, savings, and health packages.
“We have digital committee members from the cooperatives who are trained by AgroCenta on
how to use technological tools in the field. To qualify as a committee member, one should be
from 18 years to 35 years, should have basic IT skill, and should also be able to read and write to
understand the basic data points on the platform” she said.
According to her, a member can contribute as low as GHc.10.00 minimum which can either be
monthly or weekly, depending on the member.
“Agrocenta has also partnered with MTN Ghana to provide merchant sim cards to all
cooperations in the five Northern regions where we are trying to digitalize the village savings,
which is known as the ‘Mobi savings on all AgroCenta platforms” she said.
This she said would help cooperatives save their money safely an would also enable them use the
sim cards to engage in their day-to-day activities without having to worry about fraudsters and
hackers.
One of the digital committee members, Ms. Usman Hajarah who is in charge of the Suglo Nbori
Buni Cooperative on her part stated that one of her roles as a digital committee member is to
onboard members within the cooperatives, which involves documenting their basic information
such as name, occupations, age, household and so on.
Another digital committee member in charge of the Tiyumtaba Cooperative, Madam Aliatu
Saaka Have facilitated pension registration indicating that the pension will help provide the
women cooperatives with a long term financial security even beyond this project.
