Bayerijua Consult and Service (BACOS) produces and aggregates agricultural commodities (maize, rice, pepper and soybean) from smallholder farmers for processing industries. It is an agribusiness that supports smallholder farmers through the out-grower model by providing agricultural input services, farm advisory services, mechanisation services, solar irrigation services and farmer cooperative produce marketing. BACOS was awarded a seed distribution van and three maize shellers by the International Fertilizer Development Centre under the Agricultural Technology Transfer Project in 2016. In 2019, one of its out–growers won the District Best Farmer and the farmer–based organization with whom the company works won the Best Farmers Group. BACOS operates in seven districts in the Upper East Region and works with 3,000 smallholder farmers (of which 55% are women), with each farmer cultivating on average 2.5 acres of land. It joined MADE in 2019 and in that year aggregated 5,840 MT of maize and 6,710 MT of rice.
MADE interventions
- Recruited, trained and deployed five Farm Enterprise Advisors (FEAs) and one FEA manager.
- Facilitated links with tractor services.
- Facilitated linkages with extension services from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for remote, underserved farmers.
- Provided demonstrations and training (at technology fairs and exhibitions) in good agronomic practices.
- Facilitated commercial relationships with other MADE partners (Akandem Farms, Johil Farmers Solution and Simple Prince Limited).
- Facilitated/strengthened commercial partnerships with other enterprises (Jadoc Enterprise, Judav Enterprise, Salbii Enterprise and Wilphin Foundation).
Impacts
- Increased smallholder outreach from 1,871 in 2017 to 3,000 in 2019.
- Increased access to inputs, credit, markets and other related services by registered farmers.
- Increased understanding of good agricultural practices, proper application of agro-inputs and other services.
- Facilitated timely application of inputs and other related practices by BACOS-registered smallholder farmers.
- Improved financial forecasting and planning for BACOS-registered smallholder farmers.
- Increased yields of BACOS-registered smallholder farmers from an average of 4 to 8 bags (100 kg) per acre for maize, and 5 to 10 bags (100 kg) per acre for rice, between 2017 and 2019.
