GhanaVeg Update Joep van den Broek Program Leader

GhanaVeg GhanaVeg: to support the private sector in further investing in and innovating Ghana’s vegetable sector. Our motto is ‘Healthy and quality vegetables from Ghana through new ways of doing business’. The GhanaVeg Business Platform aims to be: – The meeting place for Ghana’s vegetable sector – Setting the agenda for future investments – Preparing strategy and market studies – Driving the public-private dialogue for the vegetable sector.

GhanaVeg focal areas – High-value domestic market and exports – Commercial vegetable crops: tomato, chili peppers, bell peppers, onions, Asian vegetables, eggplant, cucumber, squash, melons and spices. – Private sector: entire chain from input supply to retail and from logistics to private extension. – At farm level the project focuses on: the commercial smallholder farmer, the small investor farmers as well as large-scale farming (with outgrowers). – period

Structure and activity framework GhanaVeg Business Platform Business to Business Activities Business Opportunities Fund R&D Innovation Fund Consultancy Fund Public-Private Dialogue GhanaVeg Secretariat

Consultancy Fund Provides studies for business opportunities and bottlenecks in the business climate Results are: Business cases and recommendations for the Public-Private Dialogue The Public-Private Dialogue aims to address major issues in the investment climate and horticulture regulations Additional support activities could be developed for: – Phytosanitary issues – Pesticides reduction – Statistics on vegetable sector

Business Opportunities Fund To support new entrants and frontrunner companies in the vegetables sector Organized around thematic calls for proposals based on selected key sector bottlenecks Open for Ghanaian and foreign companies Modality: 50% co-financing, maximum of € grant per activity Independent selection committee assesses proposals

R&D Innovation Fund Aim is to improve the innovation capacity of the sector By creating collaboration between the private sector and Ghana’s research institutes On-site research can be supported for e.g. variety and fertilizer trials, new irrigation technology or greenhouse designs The fund is organized around specific Calls for Proposals 50% Co-financing, max. € grant per activity Agronomic backstopping and upscaling through Wageningen UR

Call Cycles Calls are issued every quarter Four rounds of calls for proposals so far concluded – May 5, 2014 – July 7, 2014 – September 1, 2014 – December 1, 2014 New procedures implemeted – Intake meetings – Call quality improvements

Call Outcomes First Call (Chain Integration, Seed Industry, Input Supply) – 11 applications – 5 shortlisted – 2 awarded (Tikola in Seed Industry, ETL in Chain Integration) Second Call (extended for IS and SI) – 4 applications – 3 shortlisted – 2 awarded (Dizengoff in Input Supply, Wienco in Seed Industry) Third Call (CI, PC, IS) – 15 applications – 6 shortlisted – 3 awarded (ACSL in Input Supply, Joekopan and 3As in Chain Integration) Fourth Call just ended on Dec 1.

Thank you