Ghana Grains Council establishes warehouse to help farmers reduce post harvest losses

Story& Pix: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga The Ghana Grains Council, (GGC) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Alliance for Green Revolution has initiated steps to address post-harvest losses among small scale farmers. To that end, GGC has established standard 80 metric tonne capacity warehouse each in four districts in the Upper East Region. The facility is located in Bawku West, Garu-Tempane, Talensi and Builsa districts. The facility will serve as initial grain aggregation points for the nucleus farmers. The grains once aggregated will be later transferred to GGC certified warehouse which has the facilities for cleaning, grading, fumigating, packaging and storing the grains to increase their market appeal and provide the opportunity for better prices. According to the Chief Executive Officer for GGC, Dr. Kadri Alfah , the once the out-growers deposit their grains in the facility, the farmers will be issued with a warehouse receipt which can be used as collateral for credit from banks and micro-finance institutions. In an interview with the Daily Graphic at Pwalugu in the Talensi District after a day’s training programme on warehouse management for operators of the warehouse, he said the aim of the training was to help operators understand warehouse practices, grain standards, grading and storage and be able to deliver quality produce the Ghana Grains Council certified warehouse. Dr. Alfah who is also an expert in warehousing, ware house receipting and commodity exchange added that the warehouse receipts system would offer the farmers the opportunity to clean, grade, fumigate, package and store appropriately to increase market appeal. He expressed the hope that farmers will gain valuable skills and derive the necessary benefit by utilizing the facility and adopt the appropriate storage of grains to reduce warehouse post harvest losses. Ghana Grains Council is a non-profit, private, private sector organization formed in March 2010 with members drawn from grain value chains, including farmers, traders, food processors and various services providers, including banks and other financial institutions. It is the leading grain industry association responsible for establishing warehouse standards based on best industry practices for the reduction of post harvest storage losses of grains. -