Strengthening Food Systems to Promote Increased Value Chain Employment Opportunities for the Youth: an Analysis of the Rice, Maize, and Soybeans Value Chains in Ghana

2022

English

79 p.

WFPVCA009

The WFP / Mastercard Foundation (MCF) Partnership ‘Strengthening food systems to promote increased value chain employment opportunities for youth’, particularly women, aims to support employment through strengthening local food systems focusing on enhancing efficiency, reducing post-harvest losses, increasing access to reliable and remunerative market opportunities, promoting value addition, and introducing innovative digital solutions. The VCA conducted in Ghana under the MCF partnership covered the rice, soybean and maize VCs. The VCA study found that input suppliers, processors, aggregators, and retailers supply products or provide services that cut across the three VCs. The key constraints are the rising cost of inputs, low levels of mechanization in the agriculture sector, low adoption of technology and innovations, lack of access to financial services, limited knowledge of good agricultural practices, poor governance, underdeveloped rural infrastructure including irrigation, low adoption of standard weights and measures, increased prevalence of climate related shocks, access to land, and constraints on women and youth to participate in value chains. A range of recommendations are made to address these drivers of poor performance including that investment is made in post-harvest management, the introduction of labour-saving technology, and the scale of financial models and mechanisms which promote access to finance and the availability of blended finance solutions which bring together public and private investment.

MCF Programme
Electronic ed.

VCA 009

eng

DOC-126154