Agriculture takes the biggest chunk of money disbursed to beneficiaries under the Women Enterprise Fund programme.

A report by the Gender Ministry on the fund has revealed that women commit 80 per cent of the money advanced to them to livestock keeping, farming and bee keeping, among others.

By December 31, 2011, Sh343.6 million had been disbursed with financial intermediaries loaning out 202.2 million and another Sh141.4 million distributed through the constituency women enterprise scheme to “women groups or chamas.”

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ZAMBIA Sugar Plc last year paid out K210 billion to small-scale outgrowers in Mazabuka District who account for almost 40 per cent of the raw materials the company uses to produce the commodity.

Company managing director John Moult said the K210 billion was in addition to the various forms of direct and indirect taxes the company paid to Government as well as the money it paid to local contractors from the Mazabuka District Business Association.

He said the money the company paid out to farmers was an indication of a 56 per cent turnover from the previous season in terms of supplied cane.

He said the outgrowers were playing a key role in record production and profits for the Illovo Group owned Sugar firm which would keep on promoting their activities.

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Growers in Ghana have appealed to the authorities to provide them with new irrigation facilities. A statement issued by the Eastern Gomoa Export Vegetable Farmers Association said that with the new facilities growers would be able to provide year round produce.

The statement pointed out that demand for exports was currently greater than the ability to produce due to water restrictions. The increased availability of produce for export was likely to have positive implications for the wider economy the statement pointed out.

Source: www.ghanabusinessnews.com

Cotton farmers are questioning the feasibility of government’s proposed cotton price stabilisation fund meant to regulate fluctuating prices.

Farmers who talked to Prosper said a similar setting dubbed – the cotton fund- has been around for the last two years, but it has not shielded them from meeting sharp losses from unstable price.

Mr Matias Osege, a prominent cotton farmer in Sere village in Tororo district, said the ginners deducted Shs600 per Kilogramme from last season’s sales to raise funds that would cover them when prices drop.

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About 300,000 farmers in remote regions stand to benefit from more than 150 livestock service centres being constructed by a franchise.

Sidai Africa Limited, a newly established social enterprise owned by Farm Africa, a UK-based charity organisation, is seeking to fill the gap left when the Government withdrew extension services due to tight budget.

Managing director Anthony Wainaina said Sidai has built 16 franchises in North Rift, North Eastern, Kajiado, Narok and Garissa. “We should have opened more than 150 franchises in the country in the next three years,” he said. The project is estimated at Sh500 million.

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