Ghana constructing 16 warehouses for grains, maize storage

Sixteen additional warehouses are being constructed in northern Ghana to improve the storage of maize and other grains.

Already, the Ghana Grains Council (GGC) has constructed 14 of the 80-metric tonne capacity warehouses, with six of them located in the Tamale metropolis.

The provision of the warehouses is considered a major step towards reducing post-harvest losses, a problem which has been bedevilling the agricultural sector of the country.

The warehouses are being constructed by the GGC for farmer-based organisations (FBOs) and other groups to deposit their grains there, after which they will be issued with documents to cover ownership of the produce.

In most villages’ in northern Ghana, farmers and dealers in grains store their products in insecure market warehouses, on traditional barns or in their rooms.

Those conditions expose the grains to pests, insects, rains and sometimes theft.

The Chairman of the GGC, Dr Alfa Kadiri, told the Daily Graphic that the council had decided to collaborate with the ASI Ghana Arzakinmu Project to construct the warehouses, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Alliance for a Green’ Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

He said the warehouses would serve farmers, traders and dealers in grains in the communities, many of whom did not have proper storage facilities.

He explained that the warehouses would operate in line with standards set by the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA).

Dr Kadiri said farmers and other users of those warehouses would reap numerous benefits because the facilities would enable them to preserve the right quality and’ quantity of grains after harvest and wait for favourable prices on the market before selling them.

He also noted that the grains aggregated by various smallholder farmers could be sold to big marketing companies because the GGC would work to ensure that the grains were produced to meet market standards.

Source: Daily Graphic