Visit of Minister Schouten of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire

Nieuwsbericht | 13-03-2019 | 11:35

Horticulture

The Ghanaian and Ivorian horticulture sectors are full of potential, but in need of professionalization to contribute to their national economies, reduce import bills and improve food security.

Quality control for exports

Phytosanitary issues led to an EU-imposed ban on Ghanaian fruits and vegetables in 2017. Working together with the European and Ghanaian authorities, the Netherlands Embassy has played a major role in abolishing this ban. An important feature of this is improved quality guarantees and export controls. During a visit to the PPRSD (the Ghanaian counterpart of the NVWA) at the airport, discussions touched upon the underutilization of the PPRSD, the strict conditions of entering the European market and the removal of rejected products. Disapproved products are often not consumed locally with food waste as a result.

HortiFresh field visit

The field visit in Ghana on Tuesday was centered around HortiFresh, a Dutch-funded program aimed at professionalizing the fruit and vegetable sectors in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The delegation visited Joekopan, a HortiFresh-supported vegetable-exporting business, and their outgrower farmers.

A major discussion point was the nature of Ghana’s food supply: products that could be produced locally are largely imported, and locally produced fruits and vegetables are often destined for export, due to higher prices abroad compared to the local market and low local demand for these products.

Poultry

Although poultry meat and eggs are staple foods in West African diets, local poultry production has become entirely dependent on imports. Nearly all consumed poultry meat in Ghana is imported, and although consumed eggs are still produced locally, necessary inputs such as feed also have to be imported. This is the result of policy choices in the past, where imports took precedence over local production.

Circularity in the Ghanaian poultry sector

On Wednesday morning, Minister Schouten took part in a roundtable on circularity in the Ghanaian poultry sector with Dutch and Ghanaian players. The sector has to be built nearly from scratch, which requires extensive investments in knowledge and infrastructure. The Minister highlighted that this also presents an opportunity to build the foundations for a sustainable and circular sector.

Groundbreaking ceremony Koudijs Ghana Ltd.

After this, the Minister took part in and held a speech at the festive "groundbreaking ceremony" to mark the start of the construction of an animal feed factory in Ghana by Dutch feed producer Koudijs-De Heus. The factory will produce 25% of Ghanaian animal nutrition, of which the aim is to source 50% of inputs locally. This is a great step to reduce Ghana’s import dependency in poultry and other livestock.

Irrigation

Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have a lot to gain in the area of ​​irrigation: the rainy seasons are short and are becoming less reliable, while the water bodies of West Africa remain largely unused. In Ghana, less than 0.2% of cultivated land is under irrigation.

Theme lunch Climate-Smart Agriculture

Minister Schouten took part in a lunchtime session on Climate-Smart Agriculture, with special attention for irrigation and the role of Dutch investments. Invited were Tom Durang and Henri Wientjes, two Dutch entrepreneurs with years of experience in Ghana. They set up a company in northern Ghana which produces food on irrigated fields and supplies irrigation water to farmers in the area. Durang and Wientjes indicated that irrigation promotion, better farm technology, mechanization and access to better seeds can enable smallholder farmers to scale up.

Please read our Agroberichten Buitenland Special on Climate-Smart Agriculture here (in Dutch).

Cocoa

The Côte d’Ivoire-leg of the visit was mostly focused on cocoa production and trade. Côte d’Ivoire is the largest cocoa producer in the world, producing 40% of the world’s cocoa. Ghana is second, producing 20%, and the Port of Amsterdam is the world’s largest importer of cocoa. The cocoa value chain is relatively opaque and its production has been associated with issues such as poverty, child labor and deforestation. On March 26, 2018, the declaration of Abidjan was signed by the Heads of State of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in order to devise a common strategy in the cocoa sector.

Dinner cocoa sector

Wednesday evening, Minister Schouten had an informal dinner with partners from the Dutch Embassy in the cocoa sector. At the table were representatives from IDH, Solidaridad, Fairtrade, UTZ/Rainforest Alliance and Cocoanect. The topics discussed were financing, social issues, ecological issues and traceability/certification.

Cocoa trade program

Thursday morning, Minister Schouten visited a cocoa warehouse, the Port of Abidjan and a cocoa processing facility, together with representatives from the industry and a cocoa cooperative. Over lunch, representatives from Tony's Chocolonely and Barry Callebaut were invited to discuss concerns in cocoa production and trade, in particular traceability, farmers’ incomes, income diversification, and the role of new players in the supply chain (mainly Asian).

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Between 350.000 and 400.000 young people enter the labour market each year, while there is a severe lack of employment opportunities. In Côte d’Ivoire the Netherlands focuses on youth entrepreneurship through the Orange Corners program. The aim of Orange Corners is to contribute to a thriving startup ecosystem, which builds skills, confidence and economic empowerment for the country’s youth and provides them with opportunities that go beyond national borders.

IncubIvoire: MoU with Ivorian Agriculture Minister

The last formal part of the program was a meeting with Ivorian agriculture start-ups. The young entrepreneurs that were introduced base their interventions on modern communication tools, drones and other state-of-the-art techniques, and are currently part of a program called SPEED farmer which is headed by IncubIvoire, a local accelerator. After completing their program in Côte d’Ivoire, the start-ups are invited to the Netherlands where LNV, together with RVO, will link them to Dutch entrepreneurs. This invitation was formalized through an MoU that was signed by Minister Schouten and her Ivorian counterpart, Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly.