The Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) has partnered with Juaben Food Bank (JFBL) to launch its warehouse operations and the JFBL rice and maize milling plants in Juaben.
Addressing the farmers and community leaders, Tucci Ivowi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Commodity Exchange shared that “With GCX linking the smallholder farmers of Juaben to a larger sample of buyers, they will be able to get more competitive prices for their produce; and this is money that they can reinvest into their business and develop themselves as market actors.”
“Farmers who deposit their commodities with GCX have access to affordable drying, cleaning, and weighing facilities, which allied with the grading process, gives them the opportunity to meet international standards with their produce and be more attractive to international buyers,” he added.
“It is worth noting that, Ghana Commodity Exchange is getting ready to launch rice contracts on its trading platform; a move which is of importance to farmers in Juaben, it’s surrounding areas and the nation as a whole. As it has started to do in the maize, soyabean, sorghum and sesame sector, the GCX aims to contribute to the improvement of the rice value chain and bring stability and value to rice farmers in Juaben and across all rice producing areas in the country,”
Farmers in Juaben will have access to all the grading and storage facilities that will bring value to their crop and allow them to reach a wider market.
The Ashanti Regional Director of Agric, Rev. John Manu said; “For farmers who participate in the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, the Juaben warehouse presents an opportunity to derive value from forward and backward linkages between producers and commodity chain actors created as part of the initiative. These farmers, who also benefit from a subsidy on the cost of inputs, can generate higher profit margins when trading through GCX. The linkage between Planting for Food and Jobs and GCX has the added benefit of achieving the government’s goal of improving food security and reducing poverty among Ghanaian farmers.”
The Juaben Food Bank (JFBL) has constructed a 1,000MT warehouse with an additional structure that accommodates a rice-processing unit and a maize processing unit with daily capacities of 40-tonnes and 100-tonnes respectively. And in order to put to work the MOU signed between JFBL and GCX, this first warehouse will be operated by the Exchange for the purpose of storage and trading of commodities.
“The establishment of this warehouse in Juaben will undeniably enable farmers and crop producers in the area to experience an increase in income from their farm produce. This is due to the fact that there will be an improvement in post-harvest management thanks to the storage handling services and facilities provided by GCX,” Rev. Manu said.
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