Ghana’s Green Gold Farms Is Tackling Poverty Crisis In The Northern Region

Africa’s leading agribusiness Green Gold Farms has announced it has raised $1.6 million to tackle Ghana's food import problem and poverty in the North. The amount was raised with participation from Absa Bank Ghana, Diaspora Capital, Channel Ventures, EPMT Fund, and a number of early-stage seed investors.

Ghana-based Green Gold Farms is tackling the problems of poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and malnutrition, and related illnesses in Northern Ghana through large-scale agricultural production. Despite abundant lands, diverse agro-ecological richness, and plentifully available labor, the majority of the two million people living in Northern Ghana are food-insecure. Limited economic opportunities leave many precariously close to the poverty line of $1.90 per day.

As such, the capital raised will allow Green Gold Farms to invest primarily in capital equipment to scale up production of organic and non-GMO crops such as maize and soybeans; generate large numbers of well-paying, sustainable jobs; and launch an outgrower program for smallholder farmers.

"It's a shame that we have so much rich, arable land in this country, but are unable to put it to productive use," says Green Gold Farms' CEO, George Boakye Sarpong. "Most farmers don't have access to capital or modern farming equipment, which would enable them to scale their production. Thus, they remain subsistence farmers, perpetually trapped in the cycle of poverty. As a result, we spend scarce resources importing food that we should be growing domestically."

Green Gold Farms is also developing an innovative outgrower scheme that allows smallholder farmers to lift themselves out of poverty by training them on regenerative agriculture best practices, enabling them to produce on larger plots of land, and providing them with all of the necessary inputs and mechanization. Over time, the company aims to cede its primary production to these smallholder farmers and move up the value chain into processing and, eventually, into manufacturing.

The company aims to develop and scale a sustainable food production model in partnership with the public and private sectors. The company has partnered with local communities to secure over 60,000 acres of fertile land in the Northern and Eastern Regions of Ghana. The company will use its huge land concessions to engage in commercial-scale food production and, in the process, create tens of thousands of jobs, boosting the regional and national economies.

These land partnerships have already created over 400 well-paying jobs, the bulk of which have gone to women and youth from these partner communities.

"We are excited to be playing a key role in shaping Ghana's agricultural sector and connecting fast-growing companies, such as Green Gold Farms, with our financial resources and services. This will help the company fulfil its bold ambitions of revitalizing commercial farming in Ghana sustainably," Grace Anim-Yeboah, Business Banking Director at Absa Bank Ghana, stated,