Scaling village input fairs to improve agricultural access in Ghana

Agricultural productivity in Ghana's northern savannah ecological zone is constrained by a variety of factors. Covering more than one-third of the country's land area, this region includes over 6 million hectares of cultivable land but suffers from semi-arid and arid climatic conditions making it highly susceptible to climate change and environmental degradation. Poor infrastructure and limited access to financial services further exacerbate these challenges resulting in suboptimal crop yields.

One of the critical factors hindering agricultural productivity in Ghana, as well as in broader Sub-Saharan Africa, is the deficient or improper use of essential agricultural inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides (Fosu, Karlan, Kolavalli and Udry, 2016). Several barriers contribute to this issue: input dealers face high costs of reaching rural areas, a lack of reliable data on input demand in villages, and frequent stock-outs during peak demand, high costs of reaching rural areas and a lack of reliable data on input demand in villages. On the farmers' side, limited access to cash and uncertainty around the delivery of purchased inputs remain significant challenges (Magruder, 2018).

These contextual factors create a fragmented input market, hindering farmers' ability to improve their yields and the overall productivity of the region.

The Village Input Fairs project seeks to address key constraints in agricultural input markets and improve input usage among farmers in Ghana. The model focuses on three main objectives:

1. Optimizing input market timing and farmer planning: By organizing post-harvest input fairs, the project helps farmers plan for their next agricultural season and allocate funds for input purchases. This model allows farmers to secure inputs with a small deposit (10%), a key factor that has proven essential to the project's success.

2. Scaling evidence in the Ghanaian context: The project will organize 160 fairs across 120 villages in Ghana. The aim is to evaluate how well the Village Input Fairs model works in Ghana’s agroecological zones. The project will also explore the integration of organic products in the fairs and examine how this influences the behavior of both farmers and agro-dealers.

3. Enhancing the efficiency of the agricultural input market: The Village Input Fairs model also focuses on improving market supply by providing input dealers with better information about demand in rural areas. The project selects motivated agricultural dealers to participate in the fairs allowing them to anticipate demand and deliver inputs on time for the planting season.

This approach addresses both the demand side by encouraging farmers to invest in quality inputs and the supply side by helping dealers meet the needs of high-demand villages. FID will fund the implementation of the Village Input Fairs, support the incubation of two Village Input Fairs enterprises and cover monitoring activities including performance tracking and quarterly meetings.

The Village Input Fairs project aims to benefit 43,200 farmers directly in Northern Ghana. The fairs will help improve access to agricultural inputs encouraging better farming practices and increasing yields. The project will establish two Village Input Fairs enterprises to manage the fairs and expand their operations in the region.

The project will also explore how the introduction of organic inputs at the fairs affects farmers’ purchasing decisions and agricultural dealers’ supply strategies. Overall, the project expects to see improvements in farmers' use of inputs, household income and food security while supporting sustainable business growth for agricultural dealers.